Scoring and Judging, however, are areas that are accessible to anyone who can read the rules and observe the fights. I think it's fair to say that the more fights you watch, and the more carefully you observe them, with specific regard to the Unified (HA!) Rules of MMA, the more informed the commentary. I think that we are still establishing experts in the field of MMA judging and the nascent conversations taking place will be formative in the years ahead.
I began my own search for what I thought constituted winning a round by watching every single UFC, WEC and PRIDE event, and any other pre-zuffa MMA, Vale Tudo, NHB, etc, contests I could get my hands on. I watched the evolution to the Unified Rules in North America not in real time, but compressed into an OCD feed of MMA that lasted a year or three. When I got to the Unified Rules era I read the rules very closely (The rules will be examined closely, one at a time in posts to come) and examined the criteria, then used it to judge rounds as best I could, and compared my results to the official record.
I was not too far off on many fights, though I was much more liberal with 10-10 and 10-8 rounds. I think I gave Chael Sonnen a 10-7 against Brian Baker in the WEC. I was getting more draws than TOR (the official record) and I'd like to think I was picking the best person, but I had doubts. Was I weighing things like control and striking evenly throughout the round, or giving greater importance to action later in the round? Did that guy get 2 or three takedowns that round? How do I keep track of advancements and reversals on the ground? What about submission attempts?
I determined that what I needed was a scoresheet where I could record not just the result of the round, but the action as well. I needed to be able to keep an account of the behaviour of the combatants and the results of that behaviour as it was happening so that I could use that information to inform my score. I came up with this: (click here for link)
The essentials are all there: Striking, Grappling, and Octagon(Cage, Ring) Control. The top boxes are where I keep track of who is winning the striking exchanges. In a very dull fight this means counting single shots as they come. In a "Sloberknocker" this means watching closely and awarding marks between engagements based on who came out ahead. The right side of the striking section is to record damage, including knockdowns, cuts, swelling, bruises, etc. I do my best to record damage when it occurs, and not penalize that person further for the same damage, such as when a fighter is cut. That is recorded, but if it continues to bleed in later rounds, that is not.
Grappling is more difficult, but still not magic. Marks are awarded when one person grabs and controls the other. Pushing against the cage gets one mark. Reversing that position would get the other person a mark. Advancing from guard to side-control is a mark. Retaining guard from side-control is a mark. Takedown Attempts and completions are recorded as well.
Finally, Octagon Control, that most mysterious and deadly of the factors to consider. Does this mean moving forward? Laying on top of someone? Controlling position with a tight closed-guard? Who is in control in rubber-guard? I will go into more detail later, but essentially what I did was cop out, break the round down into minutes and assign control to one or the other, or both on a per-minute basis.
I watch the fights live or live-to-tape and calculate my score between rounds in the time allowed during the fights. If I have time I add a comment on why I gave on fighter the round. After the fight I comment quickly on why I scored the fight as I did.
I will be blogging regularly with scores of recent and classic fights. I want this to be a part of the conversation about how and why people won. I expect to have to defend my scores against contrary arguments, and I feel like these scorecards give me a way to defend my scores with evidence. If you plan of challenging them you better bring some evidence of your own.
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