UFC 99: MMA Still Has Some Evolving to Do

While I considered the overall card to not be worth $50, I thought it was worth $25 so I split it with a friend. As we watched one thing became readily apparent, you never want to leave a fight in the hands of the judges.

That being said, I disagreed with most of what I saw in the three controversial outcomes of UFC 99. These were Fisher vs. Uno, Davis vs. Hardy, and Silva vs. Franklin. Everywhere I look, almost everyone who watched had a problem with the outcome of one of these bouts.

Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno resulted in a 30-27 unanimous decision for Fisher. While the fact that he won is not really my issue, it did show me the difference in how people view fights.

I had it 29-28 for Caol Uno; here is why. The first round goes to Fisher without question. He dominated the stand up game and rocked Uno a few times.

The second and especially the third I give to Uno because after being on the receiving end of Fisher's striking he decided that he wasn't going to endure anymore of that.

So Uno neutralizes Fisher's striking and smothers him. Was this exciting to watch? Not really. But was it effective? Yes, Uno kept Fisher out of his range of the fight and controlled Fisher and thus the fight.

But I can see an argument for Fisher in the second so as I said it wasn't the outcome that bothered me, it was that Uno got no credit for his efforts.

Also coming from the Japanese fight game, Uno would have won this fight in Japan where they score the fight as a whole as opposed to round to round.

The other point to this outcome is in the same event: Heavy weight prospect Cain Velasquez defeated Cheick Kongo via Unanimous decision.

While his ground dominance was more convincing than Uno's, was it only because he threw a barrage of shots at Kongo, even though those strikes did little damage?

Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy resulted in a split decision for Dan Hardy. This one was tough, because while Davis was the aggressor, Hardy was patient and showed cool tact under pressure.

But Hardy landed the more damaging shots, turning Davis's face into hamburger meat. Despite the cosmetics of the outcome, I scored this one a draw 29-29.

I gave both guys a 10-10 in the second or third. But also I use this area of the 10 point must system when I find two fighters have performed extremely well in the face of adversity.

At any rate, this one I didn't complain about too much, because at the very least a split decision means that each fighter's performance was noted and acknowledged.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin: This one resulted in a Unanimous decision for Franklin. Saving the best for last in my opinion this was just an outrage. Franklin clearly couldn't hurt Silva.

That's why Silva just kept coming forward: after taking a few shots, he had no respect for Franklin's power. Now cutting the weight definitely was a factor in Silva's performance. This was evident, as he gassed and fought on by pure heart in the last round.

Even still by the scoring standard of aggression and octagon control, I see this as all Silva. Franklin backed up all night because he had respect for Silva's power after taking a few shots.

Franklin fought a smart fight, but in no way was this a solid landslide victory the judges painted. I scored this 29-28 for Silva.

Again, this one would have gone to Silva in Japan without a doubt.

Also, I think after seeing what cutting to 195 did to Silva, I think it's safe to say his ability to get down to 185 would be questionable at best.

In conclusion

Two things I would like to close with here.

1. As far as the whole Cro-Cop screwing Dana White thing goes, I say who cares. Maybe Cro-Cop prefers to fight in Japan because he won't get booed by the fans there.

Perhaps he likes fighting in a ring better than the cage. Maybe Dream offered him more money or a better deal overall.

All speculation though because there are three sides here Dana Whites, Cro-Cops, and the truth.

2. Something that occurred to me a few days after UFC 99 was that the three fights that I have mentioned as controversial did have one common factor.

I don't know who the judges were, but I theorized that if the judges were chosen locally, they would likely be more experienced judging boxing than MMA. Boxing is bigger in Europe as a whole.

So if we look at Fisher, Hardy, and Franklin, we see that all three utilized a stick-and-move approach, looking more like students of the sweet science. Now if the judges were more experienced in the boxing realm when they couldn't determine what was going on, they went with what they knew.

So perhaps this led to some of the outcomes being so one sided in fights that were more competitive than the numbers would have us believe.

Either way in my mind, it's the scoring system that needs to be polished up. Regardless, the results are written in the records, so it is what it is now.