NJ to try judges in a soundproof box
“Promotional executives and event broadcasters sitting cage side frequently view a table monitor as much or more than they view the live action itself.”
New Jersey’s Cage Fury Fighting Championship and the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board worked collaboratively last year, implementing instant replay on November 1, 2014 for the first time at CFFC 43. This was later used the night during the main event when Lyman Good inadvertently poked Jonavin Webb’s eye causing the referee to stop the bout. Because of the instant replay showing the accidental foul, the bout was a ruled a no contest moments after the replay was viewed by the NJSACB that evening.
Ever at the forefront of mixed martial arts, the NJSACB is taking another innovative approach when they plan to analyze MMA judging at the next CFFC event this Halloween at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Credited with the creation of the Unified Rules of MMA used across the country, the NJSACB hopes that this new experiment will further the growth of MMA worldwide. This new approach came to fruition from personal observations made by Commissioner Larry Hazzard and Counsel Nick Lembo, feedback from licensed judges, comments from the media serving as shadow judges at events, and discussion with executives in the industry.
By no means is this a knock on the current judges licensed by the NJSACB.
This agency has been pleased with both the quality of judging and our judging roster in this State, but we recently have wondered about the effects of blocked views, limited angles, sight distance and to a small degree, crowd noise, Lembo and Hazzard stated. Technological advances and skilled camera technicians can now offer the viewing fan base a closer, clearer and more precise visual of the action at hand as compared to what the judge sees cage side. It is noteworthy that promotional executives and event broadcasters sitting cage side frequently view a table monitor as much or more than they view the live action itself.
I’ve often wondered if the hometown crowd and the limited viewing angles in which a judge sees the fight swayed the decision process, stated CFFC CEO Robert Haydak Jr. This is really going to be interesting whether the scoring remains the same or differs in any way.
This experiment, obviously in its first step of actual implementation, will provide data gathering by allowing the review and comparison of three experienced NJSACB judges’ cage side scores, which will still be the official scores, with the scores of three experienced NJSACB judges in sound proof isolated rooms who will be viewing and scoring the fight on a large television monitor showing the actual broadcast without audio commentary, continued in the statement released from the NJSACB exclusively to CFFC.
We’re fortunate in New Jersey to have such a proactive commission, stated Haydak. Nick and Larry have embraced this idea from the very beginning and are now spearheading the efforts to see it to fruition.