Chris Leben is scheduled to be one of the three judges for UFC Vegas 79.
Over the past year, numerous controversial decisions in the UFC were heavily debated, including Amir Albazi vs. Kai Kara-France, Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Cub Swanson vs. Hakeem Dawodu, and more.
As a result, the MMA community has continuously discussed potential solutions for judging. One idea that has been mentioned for many years is assigning retired fighters to score fights. Well, that method will be tested at a UFC event before the end of the week.
On Saturday, September 23, former UFC fighter Chris Leben will be a judge for UFC Vegas 79, which goes down inside the UFC APEX. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi confirmed Leben’s upcoming assignment by saying this on Twitter:
“UFC veteran Chris Leben will be making his debut as a judge in Nevada this weekend on the UFC Fight Night card, per sources. Leben, a pro MMA fighter from 2002 to 2013, has been a judge and referee in California for years.”
Grateful 👊🏻 https://t.co/47qF6Tg0gi
— Chris Leben (@ChrisLebenMMA) September 22, 2023
Chris Leben describes MMA judging as ‘subjective in a lot of ways’
Chris Leben has put in the work to deserve an opportunity to score UFC fights. The 43-year-old spent several years learning the criteria and gaining experience in California. During an interview with MMA Junkie in 2018, Leben had this to say about what he’s learned about the difficulty of judging:
“Some of it is subjective in a lot of ways. One judge might say it’s a 10-9 round, and another judge might say it’s a 10-8 round. You’re supposed to know the difference between almost a 10-8 and a 10-8, and that stuff can be relatively difficult with time and duration to make sure all those criteria are followed properly. I always want to affect the outcome in the correct way.” – Quotes provided by MMA Junkie
Chris Leben’s judging skills will be tested during an eleven-fight event at UFC Vegas 79. In the main event, number seven-ranked Mateusz Gamrot and number six-ranked Rafael Fiziev go toe-to-toe in a five-round clash between top-tier lightweights.
It’ll be intriguing to see how Leben’s scorecards compare to the general public’s opinions.
👊🏻 let’s do this https://t.co/Mn4P27uH8w
— Chris Leben (@ChrisLebenMMA) September 22, 2023
