Chico
22-10-2007, 17:23
http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/10423232/1
CINCINNATI -- I'm going to put this to potty-mouthed UFC president Dana White in terms he can understand: Your sport has a major f---ing problem.
It's the scoring. At best it's a joke. At worst it's corrupt. Those are the choices, and they are the only choices, as we were reminded again Saturday at UFC 77: Hostile Territory.
Maybe you don't know what I'm talking about. The latest outrage -- the latest absolute joke -- happened before the UFC 77 card went live on pay-per-view television. It was the first fight, between lightweights Matt Grice and Jason Black, and Grice dominated. He destroyed Black for most of 15 minutes, winning the first and third rounds and controlling most of the second until Black mounted his only offensive late in the round. At worst, Grice won two rounds to one, which on the UFC's 10-point scoring system would be a 29-28 decision. And an argument could be made that it was 30-27.
The fight was announced as a draw. One judge had Grice winning. One had Black winning. The third had it even.
The crowd went nuts. Grice was stunned. Black was embarrassed. The crowd booed for more than a minute, even as UFC announcer Joe Rogan was interviewing Grice over the public-address system (and saying he thought Grice had won). Grice was in the middle of explaining his shock when the frazzled director of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato, lumbered into the octagon and whispered something into Rogan's ear.
This is where a bad situation got ridiculous. Profato was whispering to Rogan that a mistake had been made. Rogan was relaying the information to the crowd. Grice was celebrating. Black was nodding. The crowd was cheering.
Me, I'm steaming.
Because this was bad. This was really bad. Understand what happened, and don't gloss over it. Don't excuse it, as White did afterward.
Here's what happened: After two minutes of outrage, an official scoring decision was reversed right before everyone's eyes. Given UFC judges' history of baffling scoring decisions, it's reasonable to believe the judges honestly called the fight a draw. And that White reacted to the crowd's outrage or his own personal shock and sent word to the judges that their decision was wrong, that one of them needed to change his card so the official outcome could reflect what had actually happened in the octagon.
That's a scary proposition, the UFC manipulating the result of a fight, but the only other alternative is just as frightening:
UFC judges can't add small numbers.
White blamed it on the math.
"They added it up too fast," he said, addressing the issue without one of his signature f-bombs. "They looked at the wrong columns. At least they figured it out. At least they got it straight."
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Yes, but only after the crowd went nuts and Grice nearly had a heart attack and Black didn't know what the hell to think. Only after all that, only after several minutes, was the mistake caught.
Sad to say, this problem isn't exclusive to Saturday night. At UFC 63 in September 2006, Jorge Gurgel dominated Danny Abaddi and then literally jerked his head in disbelief when the first judge's card was announced as 29-28 for Abaddi. The UFC later amended that decision, saying the judge meant to score the fight for Gurgel.
Meant to. But didn't. Scary.
This has been going on for years. After his UFC debut in 1999, Jens Pulver had his hand raised in victory. Moments later Pulver's glee became gloom when it was announced that a mistake had been made, that his UFC 22 fight with Alfonso Alcarez had actually been scored a draw. Oops.
Now there's the Grice-Black debacle, which wasn't even the only scoring embarrassment from Saturday night. Here were some others from UFC 77:
• Josh Burkman's victory against Forrest Petz was announced as a majority decision, then changed to reflect that it was actually a split decision. As an added bonus, all three judges originally thought Petz's last name was "Perez." On their cards, "Perez" has been crossed out and replaced by "Petz."
• Stephan Bonnar beat Eric Schafer by technical knockout, but the official ballot originally listed Schafer as the winner. Somehow that mistake -- unlike those involving Grice-Black and Burkman-Petz -- was caught before being announced to the crowd.
• Two official ballots listed the wrong referee. Two had a judge wrong. And one judge thought victorious middleweight Yushin Okami's name was Okami Yushin.
Taken individually, each of those smaller mistakes is a humorous footnote. But taken as a whole? On a night when Matt Grice's demolition of Jason Black was originally announced as a draw? This isn't funny.
This is a problem.
It's a big problem, Dana White. Fix your f---ing sport.
CINCINNATI -- I'm going to put this to potty-mouthed UFC president Dana White in terms he can understand: Your sport has a major f---ing problem.
It's the scoring. At best it's a joke. At worst it's corrupt. Those are the choices, and they are the only choices, as we were reminded again Saturday at UFC 77: Hostile Territory.
Maybe you don't know what I'm talking about. The latest outrage -- the latest absolute joke -- happened before the UFC 77 card went live on pay-per-view television. It was the first fight, between lightweights Matt Grice and Jason Black, and Grice dominated. He destroyed Black for most of 15 minutes, winning the first and third rounds and controlling most of the second until Black mounted his only offensive late in the round. At worst, Grice won two rounds to one, which on the UFC's 10-point scoring system would be a 29-28 decision. And an argument could be made that it was 30-27.
The fight was announced as a draw. One judge had Grice winning. One had Black winning. The third had it even.
The crowd went nuts. Grice was stunned. Black was embarrassed. The crowd booed for more than a minute, even as UFC announcer Joe Rogan was interviewing Grice over the public-address system (and saying he thought Grice had won). Grice was in the middle of explaining his shock when the frazzled director of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato, lumbered into the octagon and whispered something into Rogan's ear.
This is where a bad situation got ridiculous. Profato was whispering to Rogan that a mistake had been made. Rogan was relaying the information to the crowd. Grice was celebrating. Black was nodding. The crowd was cheering.
Me, I'm steaming.
Because this was bad. This was really bad. Understand what happened, and don't gloss over it. Don't excuse it, as White did afterward.
Here's what happened: After two minutes of outrage, an official scoring decision was reversed right before everyone's eyes. Given UFC judges' history of baffling scoring decisions, it's reasonable to believe the judges honestly called the fight a draw. And that White reacted to the crowd's outrage or his own personal shock and sent word to the judges that their decision was wrong, that one of them needed to change his card so the official outcome could reflect what had actually happened in the octagon.
That's a scary proposition, the UFC manipulating the result of a fight, but the only other alternative is just as frightening:
UFC judges can't add small numbers.
White blamed it on the math.
"They added it up too fast," he said, addressing the issue without one of his signature f-bombs. "They looked at the wrong columns. At least they figured it out. At least they got it straight."
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Yes, but only after the crowd went nuts and Grice nearly had a heart attack and Black didn't know what the hell to think. Only after all that, only after several minutes, was the mistake caught.
Sad to say, this problem isn't exclusive to Saturday night. At UFC 63 in September 2006, Jorge Gurgel dominated Danny Abaddi and then literally jerked his head in disbelief when the first judge's card was announced as 29-28 for Abaddi. The UFC later amended that decision, saying the judge meant to score the fight for Gurgel.
Meant to. But didn't. Scary.
This has been going on for years. After his UFC debut in 1999, Jens Pulver had his hand raised in victory. Moments later Pulver's glee became gloom when it was announced that a mistake had been made, that his UFC 22 fight with Alfonso Alcarez had actually been scored a draw. Oops.
Now there's the Grice-Black debacle, which wasn't even the only scoring embarrassment from Saturday night. Here were some others from UFC 77:
• Josh Burkman's victory against Forrest Petz was announced as a majority decision, then changed to reflect that it was actually a split decision. As an added bonus, all three judges originally thought Petz's last name was "Perez." On their cards, "Perez" has been crossed out and replaced by "Petz."
• Stephan Bonnar beat Eric Schafer by technical knockout, but the official ballot originally listed Schafer as the winner. Somehow that mistake -- unlike those involving Grice-Black and Burkman-Petz -- was caught before being announced to the crowd.
• Two official ballots listed the wrong referee. Two had a judge wrong. And one judge thought victorious middleweight Yushin Okami's name was Okami Yushin.
Taken individually, each of those smaller mistakes is a humorous footnote. But taken as a whole? On a night when Matt Grice's demolition of Jason Black was originally announced as a draw? This isn't funny.
This is a problem.
It's a big problem, Dana White. Fix your f---ing sport.