California State Athletic Commission Andy Foster raised the idea of a new foul in the sport of mixed martial arts.
Following the controversial outcome of the contest between Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira, talks for open scoring were rife. There seemed to be a significant gap between the interpretation of the judging criteria and the perception of how a fight should be scored by the fans.
Andy Foster wants new foul in MMA
In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster talked about the possibility of open scoring and suggested the implementation of a new kind of foul in MMA.
“No, I mean there’s a lot of reasons why. I think the biggest reason, Ariel, is you lose the last round a lot of the time. Okay, if a fighter knows if they’re up, they’re going to fight defensive, they’re going to fight to win”
The former Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission Executive Director did not outright shut down the validity of having an open scoring system and remains open to the idea if proven right.
“I’m open to trying things but the question you asked me was, am I in favor of it? I’m not. I could maybe be persuaded if it turned out to be a good thing”
Foster called for the scoring to include a penalty in MMA.
“In the United States, we call that a timidity foul (yellow card) in some respects, okay. I think that foul is not used enough. I think we need to be implementing that foul.”
Foster gives his opinion on more 10-8 rounds
Andy Foster is a former professional mixed martial artist and has experience inside the octagon between 2004-07. Given the recent confusion surrounding how some rounds were scored to be 10-8 whilst others weren’t, Helwani probed Foster on whether he would like to see judges be more liberal about handing out the unusual tally to more fighters.
“No, because you got three judges. If one judge does it, and the other two doesn’t. You’re going to have a 30 point fight so you’re going to mess stuff up. You don’t have enough rounds to make up for that 10-8 round.”
Considered to be the gold standard by renowned journalist Ariel Helwani, Foster has brought lots of major improvements in the sport like shifting the weigh-ins to the mornings instead of evenings. Keeping an open chain of communication with the audience helps everyone in the sport get a better sense of understanding.
