Edgar Penn: Close Fight Doesn't Neccesarily Mean Difficult Decision

Frankie Edgar's controversial decision victory over BJ Penn brings UFC judging back into the spotlight.  Penn and Edgar are two of the five top strikers in mixed martial arts and they put on an incredible show of technical boxing.  This was a very competitive bout but that fact does not neccessarily mean there wasn't a clear winner.  There was and that clear winner was Penn. 

Going in to the fight the advantage that most people felt Penn had was his incredible timing and accuracy and that really was the deciding factor in this fight.  Edgar used textbook, erratic in and out movement to try to throw off BJ's timing and he certainly was able to avoid the kind of damage that fighters like Sherk, Stevenson, and Sanchez received while standing in front of Penn.  However BJ was still able to pick Edgar off cleanly and consistently throughout all five rounds of the fight.  He landed more shots and he landed MUCH more effective shots.  Seriously Penn's 20 or so best shots were cleaner and more effective than Edgar's best shot.  Also the majority of Penn's jabs were cleaner and more effective than the majority of Edgar's power punches. What do I mean by cleaner and more effective?  I mean that the punches Penn landed were solid impacts which transferred almost all of their potential power to their target.  Edgar's punches tended to be grazing shots which Penn had just barely failed to slip. 

Differentiating between more and less effective shots definitely puts us in a bit of a gray area however doing so is absolutely neccessary because effective shots have a much more significant effect on the opponent than grazing blows.  A final note I should make is that I'm not trying to simply say Penn's punches were more effective because he has superior power.  I am saying the video of the fight clearly shows Penn's punches to be better timed, more accurate and, therefore, solider impacts.

This is how I broke it down by round.

Rounds 1 and 2:  Edgar moves effectively enough to avoid getting teed off on but BJ picks him off consistently.  Edgar unable to land any effective shots.  Basically shut outs.

Round 3:  Penn continues to pick Edgar off but near the end of the round Edgar is able to manever inside and land a few shots.  Penn still clearly lands more and more effective shots.

Round 4: Many see Penn slowing down in this round I don't neccessarily.  He continues to consistently land solid punches, Edgar has just figured out how to get inside and is able to land shots too.  This is the round where I really feel the need to make the distinction between Edgar's grazing punches and Penn's clean crisp shots.  Despite the fact that there is not much difference in this round in shots landed, the round still clearly belongs to Penn due to his more effective shots.

Round 5: Edgar really turns on the gas here and this is the only round that I feel like could have gone either way.  Penn's still picking off Edgar though.  Edgar lands more punches, BJ lands the more effective punches.

I scored the fight 50-45 for Penn and the only other scores I sympathize with are 49-46 and maybe 49-47.  There is way too much of a tendency to be ok with subjective judging based on unclear criteria.  Fights should be scored according to damage done and other criteria only come into play only when no significant damage has been dealt.  That wasn't the case in this fight, Penn landed hards shot every round.  Any score other than those listed above is based on somehow seeing Frankie's constant movement as more significant than Penn's hard punches.  There should be no need to compare the significance of Edgar's movement and Penn's punches because the movement, in and of itself, should have no impact on the scoring AT ALL. 

The bottom line here is that even in close rounds it is usually possible to add up the damage done and pick out the clear winner.  That is what judges should be doing and it is ALL they should be doing.  If you did not score the fight 50-45 Penn, 49-46 Penn, or 49-47 Penn it is not because we disagree it is because you scored the fight incorrectly.