Opinion: Time for MMA to Cut the 10-9 Cord

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.
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There are certain things that only mixed martial arts can give us. I went to sleep as the sun rose after watching UFC 273 on Saturday and came to the conclusion that Khamzat Chimaev-Gilbert Burns was one of them. The show ended at 3 a.m. for those of us in Brazil, and I did not get to sleep until 5:30 a.m.—after talking for an hour with Fabricio Werdum, who was infused with adrenaline after serving as a commentator at the event for Combate TV. He confided in me the next day that he had to turn on the PlayStation afterward and could not fall asleep until later in the morning.

However, I must confess that the main reason for my loss of sleep was not the memorable welterweight fight between Chimaev and Burns but the scores the three judges cast in the Aljamain Sterling-Petr Yan co-main event and UFC President Dana White’s belief that Yan should have been declared the winner. I could understand the scores and White’s comments if we were still in the 2000s, when MMA started a process of changing rules to minimize boxing’s influence on the sport. The 10-9 must system had steered MMA’s early days.

Seeing the industry leader continue to cling to old ways of thinking was cause for alarm. What was worse was seeing three judges value a first round where the was little separating Yan and Sterling in the striking department the same as the second. There, Sterling executed a takedown, progressed to the back, punished Yan with punches and tried to finish him for almost four minutes. It was absolute dominance on the ground. If a 10-8 score had been rightly applied, there could have been only two possible outcomes in the event of a three-rounds-to-two decision: a draw, which would have allowed Sterling to retain his championship, or an outright victory for the American. Fortunately, Sterling did enough in other rounds to escape with a split verdict.

In a multi-discipline sport like MMA, effective striking and grappling must carry equal weight. It should not be possible for judges to ignore dominance on the ground. The Association of Boxing Commissions has already urged judges to move to 10-8 and even 10-7 scores in MMA rounds where action becomes overly one-sided. It was baffling to see White—someone who worked hard to transform no-holds barred combat into MMA—insist on viewing the sport through a 2001 lens, all while doing a disservice to the two judges who awarded the fight to Sterling.

Fans, journalists and fighters who understand the importance of ground fighting need to start making themselves heard. Back-grip takedowns like the one performed by Sterling and near submissions like the one with which Mackenzie Dern flirted in the second round against Tecia Torres should offer as much value as a knockdown. Only then can the sport take the next step in its evolution.

A smart first step would be to bring in more former fighters, judo and jiu-jitsu black belts, sambo practitioners and wrestlers to officiate MMA. It should also be mandatory for judges from all of the more than 90 ABC-regulated athletic commissions to take annual courses on rules updates. As incredible as it many sound, only five commissions currently require judges to take such courses. Another point that needs to be addressed is the pool from which judges are chosen. The idea of seeing judges from small commissions who have only refereed boxing matches and have never seen a grappling competition has become maddening. Some of them score ground exchanges as if they are attempts to avoid the “real fight.” This is beyond absurd.

“In the Hands of the Judges”—a book written in English and Portuguese by Brazilian judge Guilherme Bravo (one of the best in the field, according to longtime referee John McCarthy—should be required reading for referees, judges, journalists, fans and managers who want to stay up to date on the rules of our sport.

There is no reason to update rules if judges continue to avoid 10-8 and 10-7 rounds. It is long past time for them to understand that too many people’s lives depend on the professionals who often define what matters most in MMA: the winner and the loser.