I'm a huge UFC/MMA fan and am pretty well versed about the sport in general. There have been several questionable decisions of late and I'm a proponent of a few rule changes to help this great sport avoid the rocky road that boxing has experienced.
1) 5 Round Fights -- The added cardio needed for the 2 extra rounds really seems to help distinguish the winner from the loser by even the most casual of fans. Currently only championship bouts are scheduled for 5 rounds. I'm not sure they need to be lengthened as we need to remember that MMA rounds are 5 minutes as opposed to the 3 minute rounds of boxing.
2) New Scoring Sytem -- The 10 point must system is a leftover from boxing and needs to go as it is antiquated. Also a clearer definition of what scores well needs to be put in place. MMA basically consists of 3 components; Striking, Grappling and Submissions. We need to know how much emphasis to place on a takedown, defending a takedown, submission attempts and submission defense as well as the striking (which is generally the easiest to score).
3) More judges -- I think having 5 instead of 3 judges (maybe even including the referee as a judge as he has a better view than anyone) also gives more assurance that they get it right. Right now many MMA judges are holdovers from boxing and so more training of judges specifically on submission and grappling is DEFINITELY needed
4) Scoreboard Scoring -- One of the problems with these decisions of late is that each corner is relaying to their fighter who they "thought" won the round and it's very difficult for corner men to distinguish reality from their optimism as they are obviously going to be biased. In the Machida/Rua fight Rua's cornermen told him he won EVERY round and although there may be a case for that, the reality was each round was to close to definitively make such a proclamation. If Rua had known how the fight was being scored I can guarantee that his approach to the 3-5th rounds would have been more aggressive. The answer? Lengthen the rest period to 2 minutes and have each judge post their score from the previous round so that it can be viewed by the fighter, the cornermen AND the fans. It's only in combat sports that you don't know where you stand during the competition. I think this rule change, as much as any, would make for better more aggressive fighting because if you KNEW you were down 3 rounds to 1 going into the last you would take more chances in order to end the fight by strikes or submissions.
Glad to see there's some MMA fans around. Most of my buddies just aren't into it and so I'm lacking in the "guy talk" in this department (as if you couldn't tell). Thanks for putting up with my long post!
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Topic: Brandon Vera fighting on Spike tonight.... UFC 105 (Read 3913 times)