MMA Judge: Don't Leave Fights in the Hands of the Judges

MMA judges and the entire scoring system in American mixed martial arts has been under extreme criticism as of late.

Most recently, it was Bellator bantamweight champion Joe Warren’s victory over Marcos Galvao which drew some fans to suggest that the fight was fixed.

Despite the fact that just about every member of the media saw the fight in favor of Galvao, all three judges for Saturday night’s Bellator 41 main event scored the bout in favor of Joe Warren.

The fight was close enough that a 29-28 victory for Warren wouldn’t have been too ridiculous, but it was Judge Chuck Wolfe’s 30-27 score for Warren that really turned heads.

While the first and third rounds were much closer, just about every member of the media—and Wolfe’s fellow judges—easily scored the second round in favor of Galvao.

Although he wouldn’t go into any detail on why he believed Warren had won every round, Wolfe stood by his scorecard in an interview, stating that he believed the fight was very close.

"It could be one takedown different, it could be one punch different, it could be one kick different, it could be one attempted submission different," Wolfe told MMA Fighting.

Wolfe cited his history as a professional kickboxer and his knowledge as reasons that he believes he is more qualified to judge fights than the average fan watching from home.

"I've judged and refereed since the beginning of the sport, I've been head official for over 600 different bouts," Wolfe asserted. "If you want to question my credentials, I think I have way more than anyone out there to be qualified to judge. I know fans get disappointed, but I don't think you're going to have Joe Warren fans complain about how the decision went."

In times like this, it is important to remember that judges work independently of the organization they are scoring for, but even Bellator promoter Bjorn Rebney seemed confused about the 30-27 scorecard.

Whether or not the promotion or the fans are upset about the decision is quite irrelevant to Wolfe—he believes it is up to the fighters to finish fights and leave the judges out of the outcome.

"[Galvao] had three rounds to take Warren out if he really wanted to beat him—he had three rounds to dominate Warren, as well as Warren had three rounds to dominate him," Wolfe explained.

"It's up to the fighter. Don't leave it in the hands of the judges, especially when it's a close fight."