Why doesn’t the UFC find better judges?
Show the B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch fight to people who don’t know how MMA is judged, and ask them…
Show the B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch fight to people who don’t know how MMA is judged, and ask them who won. They’d tell you it was Fitch, obviously. But of the three people whose job it was to decide who won, only one said Fitch was the winner. The other two said it was a draw, and so that was the result: No one won the main event at UFC 127.
Too often, the judges just plain get it wrong. What the judges score a round, doesn’t match up with what the rest of us saw.
Why doesn’t the UFC find better judges? In the United States, the UFC often blames athletic commissions for failing to hire and train competent judges. But in Australia the UFC isn’t beholden to any athletic commission and can choose which judges it brings in. It’s the UFC’s responsibility to make sure the judges don’t suck.
So I’d love to see White himself lead the way toward recruiting and training better judges. It’s first and foremost the responsibility of the state athletic commissions, but the state athletic commissions have shown they’re not up to the task.
Australian MMA pioneer Elvis Sinosic corrected the information above:
From: Elvis
Member Since: 1/1/01
Posts: 18469
Yes the CSA does govern all Combat Sports (MMA) in the state of NSW in Australia. I guess the UFC could have flown their own judges in earlier. Organised to have them liscensed by the CSA. But that would seem impartial and unfair. By using the local and liscensed judges you give legitimacy because you’re not controlling the results. Of course Judges in areas that MMA is newer are going to take time to get their skills up to par. Saying that, they still get it wrong in the longer running areas so who knows.
Elvis