MMA’s Next Big Step
As I watched the replay of the fight between Georges St-Pierre and B.J. Penn it dawned on me, when is mixed martial arts going to take the next step? To me the sport is the greatest in the world. It has everything a sports fan can ever hope for, the competition, the skill, the drama and of course the intangible. If anyone is reading this and is confused by the idea of the intangible in relation to MMA, I will give you a few examples.
In April of 2007 Matt Serra faced Georges St-Pierre for the UFC welterweight title. In order to get a shot at the strap, Serra defeated Chris Lytle in the finale of the Ultimate Fighter season 4 which was a fight marred with controversy. Many feel (myself included) that Lytle did enough in the bout to get the decision win, the judges however saw it another way and ruled in Serra?s favor. The bout took place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas (It?s probably named something else by now). Going into the bout, Serra was a staggering 8 to 1 underdog, but in only 3 minutes and 25 seconds the underdog became the UFC welterweight champion stopping the French Canadian phenom in spectacular fashion; a feat virtually no one believed possible. That?s what I mean when I say intangible. Here are a few other examples:
K-1 star Cro Cop gets knocked out by NCAA wrestler Kevin Randleman
The forty some year old Randy Couture topples the 6’8″ 275 pound Tim Sylvia
BJJ black belt and rudimentary striker Nino Schembri KOs Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba
In his UFC debut Joe Lauzon KOs former UFC lightweight champion and pro boxer Jens Pulver
What relevance does any of this have when it comes to advancement of the sport?
For starters, the scoring has to be taken into consideration in order for the sport to move forward. I watched the Penn/St-Pierre bout very objectively and came to the conclusion that based on the rules (which you can see below) BJ Penn won the fight. I am sure that for the most part, anyone who saw the fight gave Penn the first round and St-Pierre the second along with the third. If you read the rules and then re-watch the fight I think you?ll see things a different way.
http://www.fcfighter.com/mmac9906.htm
Moving forward scoring should be the most important element when it comes to helping the sport evolve and I think Doc Hamilton was right on the money when he suggested half point scoring. I feel that there is so much emphasis on takedowns in MMA, so much in fact that it can change the outcome of a bout. Does a wrestler deserve points for a takedown? Yes, but it depends on what they do with the takedown. Just because Josh Koscheck, Brock Lesnar, Jake Rosholt or GSP get a takedown, it shouldn?t mean they automatically win the round – they just happened to be better wrestlers. A jiu jitsu player may not care to defend the takedown because it favors them to go to the ground anyway. So why should a ground fighter be penalized for using their base skills to try and win. By introducing a half point for a takedown and another half point for improving your position (Guard pass, effective striking or sub attempt) it forces the lay n pray fighters to be more active.
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