Joe Rogan Shares How MMA Judging Should be Fixed

Joe Rogan offers his opinions on how to improve the judging system in MMA.

Joe Rogan

Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan suggested making a change to mixed martial arts (MMA) scoring recently, however, that change was already made in 2016.

Joe Rogan suggests a change that has already been made

Rogan recently hosted UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling, on his podcast, where the pair discussed the judging and scoring criteria in mixed martial arts (MMA) at the moment.

This comes off the heated debate within the combat sports community fresh off the bantamweight headliner between Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira. Vieira was given the split decision win when it was all said and done.

However, Holm outstruck Vieira in every round. The argument made for Vieira’s victory was that she landed the more damaging shots. Rogan offered the following take on the matter.

Open scoring doesn’t necessarily alter the criteria and procedures for how a fight is scored though it does give fighters and coaches more time to adjust their strategies mid-fight. Each of us has ideas on how to improve the judging process. Now famous podcast hoster and UFC commentator, Joe Rogan recently discussed the matter.

“Maybe there’s a way to score it like you would give points for moments in fights where someone either did damage or someone had control, but control was not worth as much as damage,” Rogan said (via MMA Fighting).

“Because you can survive control unscathed. Just because someone has you down maybe in half-guard, and you’re just clinching and controlling, you can survive that for a couple minutes sometimes, and nothing happens.

“Even though the person’s in control of you, it’s not that big of a deal. But then damage: How much more is damage worth?

“Like if you see the person gets wobbled or you see like a big, impactful kick, you’re like, ‘Wow, that was a significant moment in the fight. So that would be worth more.’ Instead of being attached to this system. It’s just not comprehensive enough, I don’t think.”

However, Rogan’s suggestion was actually already implemented by the Association of Boxing Commissions in 2016. The unified rules and scoring criteria as written by the Association of Boxing Commissions reads as follows.

“Effective Striking/Grappling shall be considered the first priority of round assessments. Effective Aggressiveness is a ‘Plan B’ and should not be considered unless the judge does not see ANY advantage in the Effective Striking/Grappling realm. Cage/Ring Control (‘Plan C’) should only be needed when ALL other criteria are 100% even for both competitors.

“This will be an extremely rare occurrence.

“Legal blows that have immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute towards the end of the match with the IMMEDIATE weighing in more heavily than the cumulative impact.

“Successful execution of takedowns, submission attempts, reversals and the achievement of advantageous positions that produce immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute to the end of the match, with the IMMEDIATE weighing more heavily than the cumulative impact.

“It shall be noted that a successful takedown is not merely a changing of position, but the establishment of an attack from the use of the takedown.

“Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impactful/effective result of their actions, more so than their position.

“This criterion will be the deciding factor in a high majority of decisions when scoring a round. The next two criteria must be treated as a backup and used ONLY when Effective Striking/Grappling is 100% equal for the round.”

Published on June 8, 2022 at 10:46 am
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