The increasingly frequent variation between judges’ scorecards in
individual rounds has been a hot topic for debate in mixed martial
arts.
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Nova Uniao coach Andre Pederneiras and prominent manager Alex Davis
have both recently voiced their support for open scoring.
Meanwhile, Joe Rogan weighed in on judging criteria as well,
telling Aljamain
Sterling on his podcast that he “definitely” won his rematch
against Petr Yan. (For
the record, Sterling did win a contentious split decision at UFC
273.)
Meanwhile, Brazilian judge Guilherme Bravo, author of the book “In
the Judges’ Hands” and recognized by “Big” John McCarthy as one of
the best in the business, not only agreed with Rogan but also
emphasized the importance of normalizing 10-10 and 10-8
scorecards.
“The 10 point system is perfect, I dont see any need to change
rules. The problem is not the rules system. The scores 10-10 and
10-8 are in the rules and must be used more,” Bravo told
Sherdog.com.
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Bravo used two controversial title fights
as examples: the aforementioned Sterling vs. Yan rematch at UFC and
Carla
Esparza vs. Rose
Namajunas at UFC 274.
“The effective grappling of Sterling in the second round should be
considered a 10-8, while the first round of Rose vs. Esparza
[should be a] 10-10,” he said. “If those rounds were scored [like
that], there wouldn’t have been any controversy.”
The push to move to open scoring was dismissed by the CABMMA
judge.
“I really dont see any advantage in that,” Bravos said. “What if
judges award different scores? The corner must bring a calculator
instead of giving instructions to his fighter during the minute he
has between rounds? It really doesn’t make sense to me.”
Brazilian athletes are quite prominent throughout the rosters of
the largest MMA promotion in the world, and as a result, Bravo
believes Brazilian referees and judges should be utilized more
often at UFC events.
“One of the main goals of the World Cup is to bring the best
professionals from each country. If we believe that the UFC is the
World Cup of MMA, why not start to bring the most prepared
professionals?” he said. “I truly believe that three commissions —
Nevada, California and CABMMA — have the best trained professionals
in the sport and they should be used more.
“Names like Osiris Maia and Camila Albuquerque, who are among the
10 best referees in the world, including men, just work at
Brazilian events or when UFC comes here. Why not start using them,
as well as the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation
(IMMAF), who have some great professionals from different parts of
the globe?”