UFC 99 Post Script

Well folks, the dust has now settled from the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first foray into mainland Europe, with UFC 99: The Comeback drawing 12,000+ to the Lanxass Arena in Cologne, Germany. Dana White and company are banking on their aggressive strategy on international promotion, and last weekends event offered a mixed bag of results and predictions for the future of Zuffa’s worldwide game plan. The card did not disappoint on the fighting side of the equation, however, and fans watching live and around the world were treated to some excitement, some intrigue, and some controversy in equal measure. What does it all mean? I’ll get to that, but I would be remiss if I didn’t start off with...

A Shout Out to Joe Silva
That’s right, the UFC matchmaker himself, the Commissioner Foley of MMA’s biggest brand (an obscure reference to a pro wrestling story line from over a decade ago... this is off to a good start) and the man with the 2nd hardest job in the MMA world (I’ll get to who has the hardest job later). Internet fans the world over tend to heap criticism on Mr. Silva and the company at large for some of their matchmaking decisions, all the while forgetting just how headache inducing a job being the UFC "booker" must really be. Dealing with an army of agents and managers everyday, juggling schedules and injury times and the egos of the fighters while trying to book almost 20 full fight cards a year with provocative, exciting contests. It's a tough job, a lot harder than banging your gavel and calling for a Lingerie Match (Okay, enough with the Foley references). The UFC’s European cards tend to draw a lot of fire for lacking superstar attractions or title fights, and this past weekend’s event was no exception. Headlined by two popular, if not superstar fighters removed from any title picture and competing at an imaginary catch weight class of 195lbs, fans cried foul claiming another lackluster European UFC card. Alright, so it wasn’t Silva/St-Pierre (you're saving that one for Toronto in 2010... right, Dana?) and it wasn’t an insanely top heavy card like the upcoming UFC 100, but for my money, every fight televised was both intriguing and exciting. The UFC offered an unprecedented (to my mind) six main card bouts, and each one was an intriguing toss-up that would answer lingering division questions. Toss in the Davis/Hardy grudge match and the guaranteed fireworks main event in Franklin/Silva, and you had a great card that was well worth the price of the pay-per-view. So props to you, My. Silva, and keep up the good work. As the saying goes (or doesn’t, I don’t really care ) you keep making them, I’ll keep watching them.

Decisions, Decisions
The main story coming out of UFC 99 has to do with judging, and the final verdicts rendered in some close bouts. Now, I said Joe Silva has the 2nd hardest job in MMA, because judges (and referee's, to an extent) have it hardest. Yep, the Jeff Mullens and Cecil Peoples of the world have the toughest, most thankless job in all of the sport (and by the way, that is the last time I throw anything resembling sympathy or support Cecil People’s way). Usually starting off as boxing judges working for an athletic commission, they are thrust into a very different sport with much different judging criteria and then called upon to make a judgment that is either so blindingly obvious anyone could make it, or so close that any verdict they render is bound to be controversial. Sitting cage side, without the benefit of instant replays or Joe and Mike’s commentary, they have seconds at the end of a round to make a decision one way or the other that must stand for all time. That's a lot of pressure, and its no surprise that a judge will slip up every so often (or in Mr. People’s case, get it right every so often). I lump referees in here with judges in the "most thankless task" bracket of the MMA world, because they share a very similar job description, and likewise come from a boxing or other sporting background and are thrust into a world they may not fully understand (Dan Mirgliotta anyone?). What makes me slightly more sympathetic to referees is that in their case, they (ideally) are not the ones who end the fight. Fighters are. They are simply there to make it official. A good referee, like a Big John McCarthy (not the same without you big guy) simply appears at a point, like a submission, knockout, or dominant beating, and makes what is already obvious official, while preventing permanent injury. Their job is fighter safety, above all, and unlike a judge, whose job inherently is to decide who won the fight, their job is simply to see no one gets hurt. Of course, sometimes a referee can make a blindingly bad call that may cost a fighter a fight, but in that case (barring some extreme circumstance) t

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