Archive for January, 2014

Currently MMA is scored using the same scoring system as boxing. In boxing this means the dominant fighter get 10 points and the opponent gets 9. If there is a knock down then 10 – 8, two knock downs 10 – 7, etc. This system has worked really well for boxing for a long time, but is it suitable for MMA?

This situation happens in boxing as well where in round 1 one person does a little bit more, lands the cleaner shots and edges out a 10 – 9 round. Then in round 2 the other fighter dominates and has the other guy clearly rocked and more or less dominates the round and he scores 10 – 9 for the round. Now after two rounds you have the scores tied at 19 – 19 but one fighter is a lot more damaged than the other. In this situation the score does not reflect the fight.

In MMA there are some very hard calls – how do you judge a round where one guy gets a solid takedown and top control, and the other guy gets to guard and starts attacking off his back. Now the guy on top lands non effective ground and pound and the guard player throws up numerous submission attempts where one gets close but all others are defended. Who would you give the round to? Does the guy on top get it due to control or the guy on his back as he was attacking? Usually the round goes to the guy on top but that should not be the over-riding factor here. Would you score it differently if he pulled guard rather than being taken down?
Just like one guy gets taken down and takes a bit of a ground and pound hiding, he gets back to his feet and starts taking the other guy apart with his striking. Is stand up striking more effective than strikes on the ground, and should one get scored above the other?

It is strange that boxing, kickboxing, muay thai and MMA are all scored the same. Boxing and kick boxing / muay thai are all striking sports based on their feet so you can have a strong argument why they should be scored the same. However MMA has wrestling and BJJ as big parts of its make-up, and in wrestling you get different scores for the dominance of your takedown and how your opponent lands. In BJJ you get points for passing guard, holding position and transitions. The main difference between the two points systems is boxing starts at 10 at then you lose points, whereas in grappling you start at 0 and your points increase.

In MMA could you have a points system where you count up, where landing a punch is less than a shot that rocks you opponent, a single leg takedown is less than a big pick up double leg then on the ground escapes and reversals can rack up points.

At the moment I do not think 10 point must scoring system is up to it in MMA.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
http://www.Lockdown.co.nz/