Brendan Schaub has called for a change in MMA judging, again.
Every single week there is a horrible split or unanimous decision. It has become a weekly thing, and there is no fix in sight. This past weekend Holly Holm lost a split decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 55, in which 18 out of 20 media outlets scored the bout as a win for Holm. Four fights prior, Eryk Anders lost a controversial split decision to Jun Yong Park, in which a majority of the media scored for Anders.
Judges are ruining fighter’s careers
There is a judging problem in MMA. On a recent episode of his MMA podcast, Schaub went on a long rant about MMA judging for the 300th time, but this time, he said something must be done.
“It’s been coming a long time and finally it’s at a threshold where everybody in this space, whether you’re a former fighter who rant at camera like me, or your current fighter, or you work in marketing for the UFC or your Dana White, or your Big John McCarthy or Josh Thompson, if your Ariel Helwani or your Luke Thomas, we have all got to just quit saying ‘ah, can’t leave it in the hands of the judges,” Schaub said on The Schaub Show. “That’s not okay with me, because it’s ruining fighter’s careers. They’re getting half their paycheck because these judges don’t know what they’re doing. We have got to address it. We have to. How long do you want to wait? It’s a huge issue in the sport, and we all know it. I don’t know anybody in this space, who goes ‘ah, the judges are trying their best.'”
Schaub’s experience getting robbed
Schaub has been on the wrong side of the judges, and he referenced it in the episode. At UFC 174, he fought Andrei Arlovski and lost a very controversial split decision.
“I beat Andrei Arlovski. I beat that guy. They gave it to Andrei Arlovski because he’s more famous than me. Way more famous especially at the time. They gave it to him off fame, dude. That’s not okay. But then again, in my head, I was like, ‘I should have done this instead, I should have done this and that. No, dude. I shouldn’t have. You should be okay with it going to professional judges,” Schaub said.
Many ideas have been thrown around for potential fixes, but nothing has happened. Some states and MMA promotions have implanted open scoring, but it seems like that is split down the middle. The former UFC heavyweight turn podcaster says the judges should not be sitting cageside.
(And before I get to the quote, let me break the fourth wall. I totally agree with Schaub about the judges not sitting cageside. When I was cageside at the UFC Apex or the T-Mobile arena for UFC 266, it really was tough to see what was going on. There is absolutely no way the judges are seeing everything to make a clear opinion on who won the fight. No way. Okay, back to the quote.)
No more cageside judging
“If you’ve ever been to a fight. Been to a ton of them, I’ve been in there. If you’re cageside, where those judges at, you can’t see everything. There’s no way. It’s human error. You can’t see everything. They should be in an undisclosed location, fu*king Alaska, wherever, L.A. They can fly them in to see, fly them into fu*king Vegas, put them outside the strip in a closed facility,” Schaub said.
He also wants more than three judges. “It’s more than three, so it’s better, it’s five, do ten. So we know exactly who wins. They should not be cageside. Cause they’re going to be swayed.”
Unfortunately, this won’t be the last time MMA judging will be brought up. I’m willing to bet a UFC Vegas 56 on June 4, there will be a shitty split decision, and we will be complaining about it.
All we can do is hope that the major organizations like the UFC or Bellator or PFL will step in and help.
