Matthew's Take
MATTHEW: Frustration and Outrage Over Despicable Judging in MMA
Dec 6, 2010 - 8:00:21 AM MATTHEW: Frustration and Outrage Over Despicable Judging in MMA

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By: Sam Matthew, MMATorch Contributor

Last night the MMA world witnessed something that might turn out to be truly revolutionary. As the judges' split decision was called out and Leonard Garcia's hands were raised at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, the crowd unleashed a fury of boos and insults directed at the two ringside judges who scored the bout 29-28 for Garcia.

The fans' shock and anger even turned into loud chants of “bulls***” that echoed around the small space of The Pearl at The Palms and required some hasty censoring from SpikeTV. This reaction, along with Joe Rogan's tirade that lasted well into the next fight, pales in comparison to the fury and dismay expressed by the thousands of die-hard fans on the internet today.

With even the winning fighter Garcia himself respectfully agreeing he'd lost, have we reached a new age in the world of MMA where shady athletic commissions and piss-poor judging is no longer acceptable? Nam Phan, the true winner of that fight, deserves better after pouring himself into that war and clearly coming out on top. If our beloved sport is going to gain any legitimacy in the eyes of the majority public we have to start here and now by holding these idiotic judges accountable for bad decisions. And that means firing inept judges based on weak performances just like how it works in the cage, and the real world. The fed-up fans at The Pearl thankfully let their angst be known and I believe they were perfectly justified in booing the ringside judges for ruining an amazing "Fight of the Night."

Earlier this week, the California State Athletic Commission's absolute mishandling of both Chael Sonnen and Josh Barnett's high profile cases really made clear just how poorly organized even a major athletic commission can be. Amidst much confusion, and after an immediate 3-1 vote response to a 2-2 stalemate, the CSAC reduced Sonnen's suspension to six months, despite the fact that essentially no evidence whatsoever was provided as proof of Sonnen informing the CSAC of his taking testosterone for hypogonadism before his title fight.

Claims by Sonnen of having provided this information beforehand could not be verified by the CSAC, who might have at one time received pertinent faxes from his doctor on the matter, but certainly didn't file them away and could not be found. All this tells me is that some of the state's athletic commissions are run by very stupid people who know nothing about mixed martial arts, who hire even dumber people (likely close family members and boxing relics) to judge these fights while they make a mockery of our sport.

While Joe Rogan was quick to jump on the bandwagon and tear the judges a new one, he was just as quick in rebutting claims that Zuffa is corrupt and claimed they have no control whatsoever over the state athletic commissions and the judges they pick. Well, perhaps that needs to change. This is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed and honestly Dana White and the UFC should tell these commissions if they want to generate money in their state and host a big event, then they need to agree to some concessions. Make a rule that the UFC has to approve all judges for a Zuffa event. Monitor their decisions and if blatantly wrong simply choose not to hire them again. Conversely, bring back the good judges to keep consistent scoring and allow the sport to evolve instead of regress like boxing has.

Speaking of similarities to boxing, anybody else notice that eight out of eleven fights on the TUF Finale last night went to a decision, including every main card bout? Make note of that for your fantasy predictions as well people. Seeing so many decisions is sometimes a result of two very tough fighters simply not giving an inch, it's sometimes a result of a well-executed but often boring gameplan (wrestling like Jon Fitch or point striking like Michael Bisping), and often it's a result of there being only three rounds in which to work for a finish. Oddly enough the threat of a bad judging decision does provide some motivation for fighters to finish, but obviously not enough.

The TUF Finale disappointed me with some of the production decisions made as well. Now, I understand that with every main card fight going the distance, there's not a lot of room to televise prelim fights. But how does the "Knockout of the Night," a stellar flying knee from Pablo Garza to KO Fredson Paixao not make it on the air? That seems ridiculous to not find time for a fast, 51 second knockout that even won the KO bonus.

It happened recently at UFC 122, considered one of the weakest cards of the year. The Fight of the Night between European debuting fighters Mark Scanlon and Pascal Krauss was shockingly not broadcast despite the fact it could have boosted ratings and the morale of bored fans worldwide.

Reading how the Will Campuzano and Nick Pace fight played out, particularly the third round in which Pace came back from a beating and improvised a self-titled "Pace choke" to finish with half a minute left, made me wonder incredulously how this finish was not televised. The main reason for not showing these fights is undoubtedly time restraints, as with all the main card bouts going to decisions the program still went 10 minutes past its three hour time slot. But please Zuffa, just cut out some of the hype and commercials, or at least give us a short highlight reel of the undercard at the end. It's not enough that you bombard us with advertisements and hype for the upcoming PPV events, but now we have to pay $2 to see any decent prelim fights on your website? Greed, as well as seemingly corrupt or inept officiating should be reserved for the devolving world of boxing, so let's leave it there and not tarnish the authentic image of MMA we've all been working so hard to achieve.