MMA Judging: 5 Reasons Judging Is Holding Back the UFC and the Sport as a Whole

Mixed martial arts is supposed to be a sport where the better competitor is determined in pure, man-to-man competition. But that theory has been tested recently, particularly in the UFC, with the continued terrible decisions coming from the people who are supposed to understand the sport more than anyone else—the judges. 

Over the last year, we have seen awful decisions such as Sean Sherk defeating Evan Dunham at UFC 119, Leonard Garcia defeating Nam Phan at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale and Nick Ring’s UFC 127 victory over Riki Fukuda. Unfortunately, it seems to only be getting worse.

These poor decisions very frustrating for fans and the fighters themselves alike. As Joe Rogan famously said, “You should be able to leave it in the hands of the judges. You should be able to just fight.”

The reality, though, is that this sport looks completely amateur every time these uneducated judges screw up another decision. Judges are holding the sport back in countless fashions, but here are five of the most destructive ways that the evolution of MMA into the mainstream is being stifled by these so-called “experts.”

5. Lack of Betting

Like it or not, one of the biggest aspects surrounding a sport’s popularity has to do with the amount of money that is being invested in it by sports betters. It’s not that the betting directly impacts the money that each organization makes, but the more money that is being invested means that there will be additional resources to cover the event and just a general increased hype surrounding the event.

But when a gambler is in Vegas and looking to make a bet, he or she has to seriously consider the fact that if the fight goes to a decision; their guy, who may have clearly won the fight, might be ripped off by the judges.

It’s not like other sports like basketball, football, hockey and baseball where there is a clear, decisive winner. Even in boxing, there are so many rounds that a terrible decision is rare. But in MMA, given that fights are generally three rounds, there is just a lot that can go wrong at the judging table.

4. Pissed off Promoters

As much as UFC President Dana White has done for the sport, it is sometimes the man himself who is most critical of what is happening around him. 

Never one to shy away from controversy, White has been extremely vocal about his opinions of how fights have gone, the mistakes being made by referees and also the embarrassingly bad decisions that have been handed out by judges.

Now that we live in the Twitter world, White's reactions are often immediate, strong and often times vulgar. But even when he has a chance to compose himself after the event, there have been times where he is notably furious about judges' decisions.

Most recently, White spoke out after UFC 131 regarding two very odd decisions. The first came in the semi-main event when Kenny Florian was somehow awarded a 30-27 decision on one judge's scorecard even after being knocked down and nearly finished in the first round of his fight against Diego Nunes.

“Something has to be done about the judging, it’s so bad. Not only does it affect people’s lives, it ruins everything for people that are watching,” White said after the event. “You watch it and you’re like ‘What? 30-27? What fight were you watching?’

But at least the right guy won that fight. 

Earlier in the night, an even worse decision came when Michihiro Omigawa was absolutely robbed on all three judges' scorecards (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in his fight against Darren Elkins. This one had the UFC President so heated that he decided to reward Omigawa with his win bonus anyway.

“We’re going to pay him his win money. I don’t care what the judges said, he won the fight. I say he won. Overruled.”

As awesome as it is to see Dana sticking up for his fighters and doing the right thing, it is equally negative on the sport that there seems to be this constant battle between the UFC itself and the athletic commissions who assign the judges for the fights. 

3. Disappointed And/or Hostile Fans in Attendance

At the end of the day, as we’ve heard many times from even those in positions of power, mixed martial arts is about entertaining the fans. It’s rare that fans leave the venue unhappy, but there are cases when bad judging is so obvious that even a night that was supposed to be a blast is spoiled by the three people closest to the action in the arena who appear to be paying the least attention of anyone. 

Imagine if you went to the UFC 131 event and witnessed the monumental beatdown that Junior dos Santos laid on Shane Carwin. Now imagine if, at the end of the fight, the referee was raising Carwin’s hand due to another awful decision. 

Would you be pissed off? Hell yes, you would!

Thankfully, the awful decisions as of late have been mostly subject to the undercard fights, but at this pace, it’s only a matter of time before we see a riot at a UFC event when someone like Georges St-Pierre dominates a fight and still somehow loses his title.

2. Fighter Rankings

Mixed martial arts rankings are already some of the most vague and highly controversial rankings in any sport. If you’re not a fan of the sport, you can almost compare it to the college football BCS system. Except, instead of there only being one or two Boise State’s, there are literally hundreds. 

Where do these undefeated (or nearly undefeated) fighters from smaller promotions fit in the worldwide rankings against the guys fighting against top-level opponents in the UFC? What about when they make their debut in the UFC—how many fights do they have to win before they’re in the top-10 or title contention?

It’s all so subjective to begin with... And now we’re adding in judges’ decisions that make absolutely no sense? Great.

Whenever there are controversial decisions, the rankings get completely screwed up. Take, for example, the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida fight from UFC 123 this past November.

Officially, Jackson won the fight 29-28 on two judges’ scorecards. But many fans and experts would agree that Machida should have been the one who won the fight 29-28. Even Jackson himself admitted immediately after the fight that he thought he should have lost the fight and would be looking to award Machida with a rematch as soon as possible.

The rematch hasn’t happened and now we see a chaotic light heavyweight division where there are at least three fighters who are logical No. 1 contenders for Jon Jones’ title. 

Rashad Evans got robbed out of a title shot because Jones got hurt. Now Rampage Jackson steps in as the contender for the title later this year because he defeated Machida and then won his subsequent fight against a non-top-10 fighter in Matt Hamill. 

Meanwhile Machida, who beat Jackson by most accounts, destroyed Randy Couture and is still at least another fight away from a title shot because he was given the “loss” to Jackson.

To the UFC’s credit, they have gone out of their way to look past the worst decisions and give win bonuses to the rightful fighters, but things still get screwed up when judges don’t know what they’re doing.

1. Fighters Are Forced to Change Their Style

All of these other reasons have been bad enough, but perhaps the most detrimental thing that has happened in MMA because of judges is the change in styles we have seen from many fighters.

What’s even worse is that it seems to affect fighters in different ways on a case-by-case basis. We don’t know whether the fighter is going to be more aggressive in attempting to finish the fight or less aggressive in order to control their opponent and grind out a win on the judges’ scorecards.

UFC lightweight Nate Diaz had some harsh and very true words to say about the judging in MMA earlier this year.

“Sometimes it comes down to less fighting will win you the round,” Diaz told Heavy.com. “Sometimes maybe we need to fight less to win the round.”

“I think the scoring should be like, say a guy gets a takedown, it should count for a takedown for sure. What is a takedown in wrestling, two points? In a grappling match it’s two points, so he gets a takedown,” said Diaz. “But if he takes you down and lands in your closed guard and gets punched in the head forty times, is he still ahead on points?”

The debate continues to wage on as many believe that the concept of fighting off one’s back is a lost art, at least on the judges’ scorecards.

In the early days of the UFC, there were no judges. If a fight went to the time limit, it was simply a draw. This resulted in some serious action.

Of course, the regulation of the sport has led to the growth of the sport, so it’s hard to debate that judges are needed in some form. But  fighters today are also significantly more skilled and a significantly higher number of fights are going to judges’ decisions.

As fans, we want to see the big knockout or the crazy submission. It’s because of this that fighters such as Jon Fitch, Sean Sherk and even Georges St-Pierre have taken heat from fans in recent years for “not trying to finish fights” and fighting “too safe.” 

But is it any surprise that these fighters tend to also be the top fighters within their divisions? While their opponents are looking for the knockout punch or the submission from the bottom, these wrestlers know that they can use their debatably superior position to score points on the judges’ scorecards while avoiding any real chance of being submitted or knocked out. 

But as long as the judging continues to be as flawed as it has been, it’s hard to knock these fighters for their change in style. The art of lay-and-pray appears to be here to stay.

And honestly, who wants to watch that?