Showdown on MMA: Better judgment

It’s hump day, and back to the grind for yours truly. After multiple trips to the West Coast and back, my internal body clock has just about adjusted itself to my home time zone. Fatigue or not, it’s time to “suck it up” and get back to work.

As always, my time in Vancouver was another exceptional experience, but I’m not sure I can say the same for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While I do not speak for the organization, my spidey senses tell me that a third trip to the city may not be an automatic lock for 2012.

June in Van City seems to be the UFC’s preferred timeframe, but with the Canucks such a strong force in the NHL, I’m not so sure they want to gamble the way they did this year.

Facts are facts: just because a team wins the Presidents’ Trophy, it does not guarantee they will make it to the Stanley Cup final, let alone win the cup. Over the past 10 years, this has only happened three times — the odds were in the UFC’s favour when they first booked the Rogers Arena. But unfortunately for them, it did not fully pan out as they had hoped it would.

By most accounts, UFC 131 was a successful venture, but I’m sure, as with most UFC events, the bottom line was hurt with the current Canucks playoff run, as well as the loss of Brock Lesnar in the main event. A (not-so) perfect storm this time around will likely have the organization thinking twice about returning in June 2012. Perhaps July or August may be a better option.

Finances aside, many of the results from UFC 131 have the organization smiling. New chapters from a variety of storylines are being written as we speak, as the stage is now set for some intriguing matchups later this year.

We now know Junior Dos Santos will face heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, likely on Oct. 8 in Houston. I concur with the oddsmakers who have Cain as favourite. I believe he is more well-rounded than Junior, and what he may lack in striking (and it’s not much), he more than makes up for with his wrestling, and overall skill set.

Dos Santos will have to take his wrestling to the next level, namely takedown defence and continue to showcase his “modern day Chuck Liddell” style, which allows him to get back to his feet, nearly at will. If he cannot do this against Velasquez, he likely will not emerge victorious.

As for Junior’s opponent at UFC 131, Shane Carwin, his performance may go down as a loss, but as I stated at the post-fight press conference, this is a moral victory for “The Engineer.” He proved he could go three rounds, and did so with a broken nose and his vision at nearly half capacity.

Once he recovers from his injuries, I’d like to see him square off against Frank Mir or Roy Nelson. I will also not be surprised if the UFC pits him against his original opponent from UFC 131, Jon Olav Einemo.

Speaking of “The Viking,” his walkout to the Octagon was legendary. If you were not there in person, you may not have felt the energy that engulfed the Rogers Arena.

After his opponent Dave (Pee Wee) Herman entered to Culture Club’s “Do you really want to hurt me,” Einemo, draped in a Vancouver Canucks flag, made his way to the octagon, marching to the beat of Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine.” For yours truly, it officially ranks in my top three.

I have been blessed to be in the building with some epic entrances, and this one was outstanding. For those wondering, No. 2 was both Georges St-Pierre and B.J. Penn’s entrances at UFC 94, and my No. 1 was Mark Hominick’s at UFC 129.

While Boston’s, Kenny Florian was labelled as public enemy No. 1 in Vancouver, he did emerge victorious, albeit, barely. After dropping the first round on my scorecard, he did rebound in the final two frames. While many of us expected more from KenFlo, perhaps our eyes should be focused on the vastly underrated Diego Nunes. He proved why he is a top-tier featherweight, giving Florian all he could handle, right up to the final seconds of the last round.

Florian is likely now set to face UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. next, who will likely look to use Kenny’s legs as target practice. Can Florian elevate his Muay Thai striking to the level of Aldo’s, while simultaneously improving his wrestling? If he wants to be the champ, he will have no choice.

The middleweight tilt between Mark Munoz and Demian Maia was an awkward bout to score. When it was all said and done, I had Maia winning 29-28, but as I stated to my media peers octagonside, I would have no issues if it was scored the other way. And when Munoz was announced as the winner, I felt no shame in my own scorecards; that is, until I heard one judge scoring it 30-27 for Munoz.

This was coupled with the fact that during the very first bout of the evening, a featherweight tilt between Darren Elkins and Michihiro Omigawa, outrage poured out from the stands, from Omigawa, and post-fight from UFC president Dana White. I will reserve judgment and my thoughts until I get a chance to view the bout. I was unable to view all the prelims, save for the Sam Stout-Yves Edwards bout, as I was in our Sportsnet Pacific Studio preparing for our live UFC 131 preview show.

Despite the controversy, the Vancouver Athletic Commission sent me the following statement:

“In the first round, Elkins backed Omigawa up with punches the entire round. He controlled the center of the cage. He was throwing a lot more shots, and landing more — and in combination. If there is any controversy as to the outcome of the fight it must be because of the second round. That was a very challenging round to score. An argument can be made in favour of either fighter.

Elkins landed more punches. At one point, when Omigawa came forward, he was stopped dead in his tracks by Elkins’ combination punches, and at another point he was slightly buckled. Due to Omigawa’s unusual stance and balance, it was difficult to tell exactly whether he was rocked by some of these shots.

However, you could see Omigawa’s leg bend, and the control shift to Elkins as he landed the combo, stopping Omigawa in his tracks, taking the center of the cage, and going on the attack again. These sequences, as well as the total effective strikes landed, could reasonably warrant awarding the round to Elkins. Elkins didn’t land many more than Omigawa, but he did land more. (The FightMetric numbers agree.) As to the blood — it represents something, but a cut can be caused by a glancing blow and some fighters just cut more readily than others.”

They concluded with “That’s a round about which reasonable people can disagree. Close rounds like Round 2 of Omigawa vs Elkins serve as useful examples for discussion, to assist in refining and evolving the community’s understanding of the scoring criteria, generally. And that is a good thing for the sport.”

As I mentioned above, later this week I will dissect the bout and offer my thoughts. In the meantime, I will address many of the Twitter responses and theories regarding MMA judging.

For some fans, they want more fighters to become judges. For others, they believe cageside monitors should have fixed the issues with MMA judging.

I disagree on both fronts.

First off, former fighters are not the answer. In discussing the Unified Rules of MMA with many of them, some of which have competed at the highest level of the sport, they had more questions for me than they had answers. Many are not aware of how an MMA bout is scored, even though their livelihood depended on it. They were unaware of what a judge “should” be looking for, let alone what a judge “thought” or even “knew” about the sport. Just because you competed in a sport, does not mean you qualify as a judge. You can make the same argument for any player from the NHL, NFL, MLB, or NBA. Just because they played, does not mean they can officiate or judge.

As for the monitors, I have addressed this in the past, but I will say it again (and will do it until people finally understand this concept). The monitors are a band-aid solution, and simply offer the judge a viewpoint that they may not see when the fight is 30 feet across the cage from them, or when the athletes are in a particular position that a different angle will help determine which fighter has the advantage.

But when you have judges who do not understand the various positions, transitions, submissions, throws and takedowns that separate MMA from boxing, what good does a monitor do for this type of judge? They still are unaware of what they are looking for, and which fighter has the advantage.

To bring MMA judging to the highest possible level, ALL judges must be certified. This falls on the laps of the decision makers at each and every athletic commission, as well as the Association of Boxing Commissions. No officiating or judging licence should ever be handed out to anyone, unless they have proven they understand the intricacies that make up MMA. And to do so, they must pass an accredited course that proves they know what is happening inside of the cage. No certification, no licence. That’s the bottom line.

If I can get certified as an official and as a judge, by a course that has been signed off by the ABC, then why can’t “real” refs and judges do the same?

I did it to for my own self-education and to prove that I can base my arguments, thoughts, opinions and comments on fact. If I do not know what I speak of, I should not be speaking about it. I went through the courses and passed, and firmly believe all licensed refs and judges should do the exact same thing.

As I mentioned to Dana White at the UFC 131 post-fight press conference, it’s time for his organization to attack this issue with all their might.

They should mandate that all referees and judges an athletic commission will be using during their events prove that each and everyone has been certified. Let’s face it, they are paying for it via sanctioning fees. It’s time for the UFC to start getting their money’s worth and stop allowing a sub-par job affect their business.

And by the way, it is also up to the athletes, their management and everyone in the MMA industry to speak up as well. Don’t point the finger at Vancouver, but instead direct it at the whole industry.

Tell the ABC, as well as your local athletic commission that you’ve had enough. Ask them “how many refs and judges are licensed under their jurisdiction” and “how many of them have been certified by an accredited course signed off by the ABC”?

Then let me know what your reaction is once you hear the numbers. Feel free to send your thoughts via Twitter @showdownjoe.