Maintaining status quo on how judges score MMA fights would be insane | Opinion

(Editor’s note: This is a guest column written for MMA Junkie.)

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

That’s the old adage anyway, and it pretty much describes what we see happening in MMA today. Hardly a weekend passes where fights don’t end with controversial decisions. I do not pretend to know the truth. All I can describe is what I see from my own perspective. Seems to me that different fights are being scored according to different criteria. What is that these judges see that’s different from everyone else?

Sometimes we think, “OK, it’s significant strikes that take priority” only to see another fight where it’s obvious the judges had to be focused on control instead.

I took the time to chat with a few of the more prominent coaches that I know, and I heard the exact same thing, with different explanations on about why this keeps happening – as it did this past weekend in Ketlen Vieira’s split decision win over Holly Holm – and one things is for sure: No one is happy.

There are so many angles to this. I can remember the times when I thought my own fighter got screwed out of a win. But funny thing is, I can’t seem to remember a time when my fighter got a decision that I thought he didn’t deserve. It has happened, but the mind plays tricks.

This is too serious of a subject for us to take lightly. It is also too serious of a subject for us to forget the most controversy and simply move on to the next one. Losses in MMA cost dearly. A string of losses, and your career might never recover.

The good thing is that there seems to be an ever-growing discussion. That is exactly what needs to happen. And I do not mean the discussions happening behind closed doors by the athletic commissions we never get to listen to. I mean the whole medium.

The people who have the most knowledge about fighting in the cage are the trainers and fighters themselves. They watch more fights than anyone. It’s their job. They have a very deep understanding of this. I wonder, are commission officials around the country listening to this pool of knowledge? It doesn’t appear that way.

From my perspective, what needs to happen is an effort to narrow the error margin. To begin with, we need to understand that the 10-point must scoring system created for boxing, which is only punching, is what’s being used to judge a more complex form of combat that includes a wide range of standing and ground techniques. The commissions have to be open to discussing change. Many of the changes suggested, like a decimal points-based sytem, open scoring, or the use of five judges as opposed to three, could be tested so we can measure what works.

Another thing I heard from coaches is that the people officiating should be former pro fighters with a deep understanding of the sport. I, myself, would not go that far, although more of this type of person would probably better the situation. What I will say is that the fighter knows what credentials him to be up in that cage fighting. I think he deserves to know what credentials the person judging his or her fight to be there.

Thousands of planes fly each day without one crash. Science can teleport an atom from one place to another instantly. But we cannot find better ways to score MMA?

There are so many areas of this sport that are stuck in a rut, doing the same old thing over and over again. We need to have the courage to try new things, to see what works and what doesn’t. To change.

If for nothing else, for the beauty of this extremely technical form of combat we appreciate so much.

Alex Davis is a lifelong practitioner of martial arts and a former Brazilian judo champion. A founding member of American Top Team, Davis currently oversees the careers of a number of prominent Brazilian fighters, and he runs a branch of the famed ATT camp in Las Vegas. Davis is a regular contributor to MMA Junkie, sharing his current views on the sport built through his perspectives that date back to the Brazilian roots of modern MMA.