from:
http://marcoantico.com/fightingwords...the_myths.html
Dispelling the Myths - 04/12/2005
by Marco Antico
As an avid follower of the sport, I believe there are some common myths and
misunderstandings in the MMA community that are worth discussing. If nothing
more, these points serve as food for thought.
The UFC and PRIDE FC do not compete
The UFC and PRIDE FC operate in different markets. Neither organization influences
the pay-per-view sales of the other. They operate autonomously from one another.
Neither organization has ever stolen a fighter from the other.
All the fighters that have crossed over have done so because one party wasn’t
interested in renewing their contract. Per the internet message board, it appears as
if every UFC star is considering going to Japan and that DSE President, Mr.
Sakikabara, is thinking of poaching every UFC superstar. However, the fact is that
has never happened. The UFC and PRIDE FC appear to have made a conscientious
effort not to compete for talent and thus drive up salary costs.
K-1 and PRIDE FC are fierce competitors. Zuffa Inc. currently doesn’t have anyone
who threatens their livelihood. However, as MMA continues to grow, it is only a matter
of time before another major organization enters the North American market place.
The philosophy of PRIDE FC judging is “WHO ALMOST WON”
From the PRIDE FC website:
… A decision is made according to the following: the effort made to finish the fight via
KO or submission, damage given to the opponent, standing combinations & ground
control, aggressiveness and weight (in the case that the weight difference is
10kg/22lbs or more). The above criteria are listed according to priority. The fight is
scored in its entirety and not round by round..
PRIDE FC scores the fight in order of priority. Therefore, if one fighter clearly made
more of an effort to finish the fight they will be declared the victor. The other
categories become inconsequential! Perhaps you think I am oversimplifying the
equation. If it so pleases the court, I would like to enter Exhibits A through D into
evidence:
A: Mark Hunt over Wanderlei Silva (Hunt almost knocked Silva out)
B: Antonio Nogueira over Ricco Rodriguez (Nogueira nearly submitted Rodriguez)
C: Ryan Gracie over Ikuhisa Minowa (Gracie nearly choked out Minowa)
D: Daiju Takase over Carlos Newton (Takase nearly submitted Newton)
All of the above decisions can only be explained by awarding the decision to the
person who came closest to ending the fight (ie. “who almost won”). In PRIDE FC, if
you manage to nearly knock out your opponent (Hunt vs. Silva) or nearly submit your
opponent (Rodriguez vs. Nogueira) you may lie on your back for the rest of the fight
so long as you never look in danger of being stopped. Whether that is a good
philosophy to score a fight or not is open to debate.
We should also take note as to what things are not mentioned in the judging criteria
above. There is no mention of there being more importance placed on activity in the
later rounds as opposed to the early rounds. PRIDE FC broadcasters have been
guilty of propagating this misconception over the years. The rules have evolved over
time. Perhaps there was such a rule at one point in time. However, this rule certainly
does not exist right now as attested by Matt Hume, a judge for PRIDE FC, in his
broadcasting comments at a previous Bushido event. The fight is scored in its
entirety. Damaging strikes are worth the same in the first minute of the fight as it
would be worth had it occurred in the last few seconds.
Weight is mentioned in the rules above as the last thing in the list of priorities.
However, at PRIDE Shockwave 2004 both Matt Hume and Monte Cox asserted that
this rule had been removed. Hume was a judge for the event and told reporters that
there was nothing about weight on the judges’ score card. Cox told MMARadio that
he attended the rules meeting and that the only issue concerning weight differences
was whether the lighter fighter would allow their opponent to use knees on the
ground (four point attacks).
The philosophy of UFC judging is “WHO LOOKED BETTER”
Jiu-jitsu (specifically, submission attempts) is not highly valued in the UFC.
Wrestling (specifically, takedowns and top position) is highly valued in the UFC. This
is a fundamental philosophical difference between North American and Japanese
judging. UFC jedges look at the fight more superficially. They generally believe that
the man on top is doing better than the man on the bottom.
Brazilian fighters have lost an uncanny number of close decisions in the UFC for this
exact reason.
Pedro Rizzo versus Randy Couture I
Vitor Belfort versus Tito Ortiz
Murilo Bustamente versus Chuck Liddell
Hermes Franca versus Josh Thomson
Hermes Franca versus Yves Edwards
Renato Verissimo versus Matt Hughes
In fact, it’s difficult to think of a Brazilian fighter that has ever won a close decision!
Does this mean that the judges are being explicitly told to screw over all fighters from
Brazil? I think not. These decisions were mostly influenced by the perceived
importance assigned to take downs and maintaining top position.
A fighter’s worth isn’t always defined by wins and losses
Society places unrealistic expectations on fighters. People want to think of fighters
as indestructible superheroes. Perhaps we’ve seen one too many movies where the
good guys always win. Perhaps we’ve been brainwashed as children into believing
Lex Luther could never defeat Superman. But these fighters are playing pretend,
sometimes real life heroes lose.
Everyone seems to agree with this statement, but very few fans actually practice it.
Chuck Liddell automatically became a second rate fighter in everyone’s mind after
losing to Randy Couture and Quinton Jackson. Evan Tanner was a bum after losing
to Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin. Rich Franklin was no longer a threat to the UFC Light
Heavyweights after losing to a relative unknown in Japan. Tito Ortiz became washed
up after losing back to back.
Matt Hughes once said “you’re only undefeated until someone beats you”. Some
famous dead guy once said, “to error is only human but to forgive is divine”. It may
sound odd to say that we as fans need to forgive our favorite fighters, but that is
exactly what we need to do. The term “bandwagon fan” is meant to describe those
individuals that only cheer for the winners. We are all guilty of this offense, just in
varying degrees.
The UFC never protected Tito Ortiz
The UFC always gave Ortiz the toughest available opponent.
UFC 13 – Tito enters into the UFC tournament as an alternate. There is no need to
critique the choice of opponents here as they were not predetermined.
UFC 18 - Jerry Bohlander was 9 -2 as a professional fighter and trained with perhaps
the best MMA team at the time, the Lion’s Den. This was only Tito’s third
professional fight.
UFC 19 - Guy Mezger was 20 – 6 as a professional fighter, also trained with the Lion’
s Den and had already defeated Ortiz.
UFC 22 - Frank Shamrock was considered by most to be the best MMA fighter in the
world and perhaps of all time.
UFC 25 - Wanderlei Silva. Some people think that Silva wasn’t a very good fighter
back in these days and somehow developed all of his abilities in the last 4 years.
That’s an absurd assumption.
UFC 29 - Yuki Kondo, a Pancrase legend, had fought and defeated the who’s who of
MMA.
UFC 30 – Evan Tanner, he was 21-1 and had been destroying all of his UFC
competition.
UFC 32 – Elvis Sinosic earned the designation of number one contender after
defeating Jeremy Horn.
UFC 33 – Vladimir Matyushenko was a last minute replacement after Vitor Belfort
withdrew due to injury.
UFC 40 – Ken Shamrock. The UFC gave the fans what they wanted to see. At the
time, people were split between who they thought would win this fight. No one
anticipated the dominating performance Tito would put forth.
UFC 44 – Randy Couture is considered to be one of the greatest fighters of all time.
UFC 47 – Chuck Liddell is one of the best light heavyweights in the world and a
tough style match-up for Tito.
UFC 50 – Patrick Cote was a last minute replacement after Guy Mezger pulled out.
The UFC first offered this fight to Tre Telligman and Vitor Belfort but both fighters
turned the fight down.
UFC 51 – Vitor Belfort has only ever lost to top competition.
The statements of “Tito had it easy” or “the UFC protected Tito” or “Tito’s scared” are
debunked when you look back on Tito’s career.
The outcome would most likely not be any different in a rematch
No matter what excuses the fighters come up with or what has happened since they
last met, the best indicator of what could happen in a rematch is what actually
happened in the past. Everything else is just speculation.
Many fans believe that Wanderlei Silva would destroy Tito Ortiz in a rematch. Has
Silva improved? Yes, most definitely. Would Ortiz be able to hold him down for 25
minutes in a rematch? No, probably not. Would Silva crush Ortiz in a rematch?
There’s just no evidence to support this.
Bandwagon fans are the ones that feel most adamant that Silva would destroy Ortiz
in a rematch. Tito’s glory years are over and Silva’s are at hand. But, these fighters
compete in different organization, against different opponents and with different
rules. Styles make fights in MMA. Wrestlers have proven capable of neutralizing
strikers. Ortiz may be the underdog in a rematch but he still does have a very good
chance.
Being religious is not a bad thing
Just because you are a religious person it does not mean you aren’t going to
perform to the best of your abilities. People were all over Vitor Belfort for saying “I
hope neither me nor Tito get hurt” in an interview before UFC 51. Did Belfort ever
look like he was trying not to hurt Ortiz in that fight?
Much has been made about Quinton “Rampage” Jackson being a born again
Christian. People wonder if he’s lost his aggressiveness and killer instinct. He
freely expresses that he does not want to see his opponent or himself get seriously
hurt. People automatically interpret that as a sign of weakness. Jackson adamantly
denies the accusation that his new found faith has impacted his fighting style and
reiterates that he is a professional who will continue to do his job as best he can.
Conclusion
The fight game is unlike any other sport in that it has an enormous amount of wild
cards. Judging decisions are always going to be susceptible to human error. The
best fighter in the world can be knocked out by one good punch landing square on
their jaw. Incidental cuts sometime happen which may influence the outcome of a
fight. Frank Trigg defeating Dennis Hallman twice and Matt Hughes losing to Dennis
Hallman twice does not mean Frank Trigg can defeat Matt Hughes.
The uncertainties and unpredictability are part of what makes MMA so exciting. Yet, it’
s also what makes the sport frustrating at times (ie. bad decisions, cut stoppages,
anti-climatic main events). All this uncertainty brings speculation of why things are
the way they are. Statements such as “PRIDE FC is going to conquer the USA
market”, “Ricco Rodriguez got screwed”, and “Rampage is not the same fighter he
used to be” will continue to be debated until the end of time.
The ideas I express in this article may differ from your assumptions of why things are
the way they are. It’s not necessarily important whose ideas are most correct.
Rather, it’s the reasoning and insightfulness behind these types of discussions that
adds value to our sport. A delicious seven course meal doesn’t appear out of thin
air. It’s the result of all the necessary ingredients. It’s the fruits of a shared group’s
labor. They often say that food tastes best when you’ve cooked it yourself. We are
the grass-root fans of MMA. It will be the fruits of our labor that mainstream America
sees when this sport reaches the masses.
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I would have to say Nog never came close to finishing Ricco. Please direct me to a fight where a skilled Jui jitsu fighter gets subbmitted by a kimura from on top in the guard.
