The Five Biggest Things Wrong in MMA

November 29, 2010 by Brad Oremland • Print Story •
I'm a huge NFL fan. Football isn't perfect. There are a lot of rules, strategies, and league policies I hope will change. Most of them probably won't, but some of them will. I'm also a big MMA fan. In this sport, though, I have less confidence that what needs to change will do so.
Organized professional football has been around for about 90 years. Over that time, the game has changed dramatically. Not just with regard to strategy and skill, but to the rules, which are dramatically different than they were in the sport's infancy. In fact, the rules are still changing today; almost every season, there's an important new rule or "point of emphasis."
Go back 20 years in the NFL, and we had six divisions instead of eight, 10 teams in the playoffs rather than 12, no such thing as illegal contact, far less stringent unnecessary roughness regulations, wedges permitted on kickoffs, the current replay and challenge system wasn't in place, so on and so on. The NFL recognizes that problems arise even in a healthy, popular sport, and when those problems arise the league takes action to address them. MMA needs to start doing the same thing.
:
1) Sub-standard judging.
2) Out-of-date rules, particularly those adapted from boxing.
3) Boring fights with little obvious action.
4) Poor officiating.
5) Match-making handcuffed by reluctance to cross-promote.
Sub-Standard Judging
There are three reasons we see immediate rematches in MMA: (1) freak stoppages due to injury, (2) upset of an outstanding champion, (3) bizarre decision by judges or referee. Last weekend at UFC 123, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson won a controversial split decision victory over Lyoto Machida. Rampage was visibly surprised by the verdict, and admitted in a post-fight interview that Machida probably deserved an immediate rematch. UFC commentator Joe Rogan enthusiastically agreed, as did the partisan Detroit crowd, which had supported Jackson throughout the evening.
Earlier on the card, Nik Lentz won a stunning decision over Tyson Griffin. I didn't see the fight, but I haven't seen anyone defend the decision, either. Nothing — nothing — will destroy a sport faster than lack of legitimacy.

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