Easy Fix for UFC Scoring and MMA Judging

Perhaps the biggest issue in the UFC today is the faulty scoring and judging system that is used. Mixed martial arts employs the boxing system for scoring, a 10 point must system wherein each fighter starts a round with 10 points and the loser ends up with 9. In MMA, there are only occasional and extreme situations where a fighter gets battered badly enough to warrant a 10-8 round under this system. Also opposed to boxing, 10-10 rounds are rarely, if ever, awarded.

Why is The Judging System Broken in the UFC and MMA?

There are numerous problems with using this system of judging for the UFC and MMA. Chief amongst these is that by its very nature the sport incorporates all different methods of winning a fight or controlling an opponent, inflicting damage or escaping it, and on down the line.

The 10 point must system is far too generic, and was never a good fit for the diverse fighting seen within the cage. How do you grade one punch that causes a knockdown versus a submission attempt that almost breaks a guy's arm in the same round? Is stopping five takedown attempts more or less important than succumbing to one?

Adopting the 10 point must system was probably done in an effort to help with sanctioning and acceptance by cautious and confused state athletic commissions. Showing a boxing judge a few MMA fights and telling him or her to score it like they would normally is easier and cheaper than inventing an entire new scoring system and training judges to effectively deploy it. Now that the UFC is firmly established however, this should no longer be a problem.

As an organization, the UFC always reminds its fighters to not leave the fight in the hands of the judges. This is as much to encourage exciting bouts as it is to avoid judging scandal, but instead of simply issuing this mantra, why not make a change?

While there are many different MMA organizations, if the UFC made a change the rest of the organizations would follow suit. The UFC are the big dogs, and from the Octagon to the standard three 5-minute rounds, what the UFC does goes across the entire world of mixed marital arts.

Easy Solution to Fix UFC Judging and MMA Scoring in General

The new scoring system for the UFC and MMA will finally differentiate between different techniques and will allow for different areas of the fight to be won by each fighter. Instead of a generic 10 point must system, each round will be judged based on three different criteria.

Each category holds a value of 2 points to the winner and 0 to the loser, and if a particular segment of the bout is even then both fighters will be awarded 1 point. With three different categories, that's a potential maximum of 6 points being awarded to a fighter in one round, but the scoring can hold any combination of those 6 points, 6-0, 5-1, 4-2, or 3-3, offering a more robust and fair solution for the complicated world of MMA fighting.

Here are the three categories in the new system for scoring and judging the UFC:

Damage Inflicted and Effective Striking: This category rates the striking of the fighters, including standing and ground-and-pound style hitting. Whoever has more effective striking and does more damage wins this category.

Control of the Cage: Control of the cage will look at who dictates the style of fighting, the positioning and pace of the conflict and so forth. If Fighter A takes down Fighter B four times, and keeps him down at will, it's an easy 2-0 win in the category. But if Fighter B stuffs three takedowns, gets taken down on the fourth, but works his way back up, then it could be a 1-1 scoring. If Fighter B denies all of the takedown attempts and keeps the fight standing like he wanted, then he wins this 2-0.

Submission Attempts, Escapes and Other Techniques: This category will judge the effectiveness of submission attempts and escapes. Even without getting a fighter to tap out, if you almost lock in a choke and an arm bar, you win this segment 2-0. Meanwhile, repeatedly escaping submissions without suffering damage, or keeping somebody effectively trapped in your defensive guard without being hit, will award you points. Since jiu-jitsu is not always incorporated into every round, this category also includes other techniques and strategies that could arise in an MMA round. It's a bit all-encompassing, but it will ensure that all areas of the conflict get incorporated into scoring.

This system will much more clearly show how a bout in the UFC and in the rest of the MMA world really plays out. Complete domination in a round can be more fully rewarded, while the entire style of MMA fighting from striking to grappling to submissions will be judged accordingly.

Instituting the new system will be very easy. For a period of six months or so, the UFC can continue to use the 10 point must system, while separate judges start using the new system for training purposes during the same bouts.

The UFC could even announce how each fight would have been scored with the new system to showcase how much more effective it is. Then the fans, the fighters and the judges will be adequately prepared to make the switch, and the UFC and MMA will finally have a unique and effective style of judging.