UFC Vegas 55 left plenty of people confused as to how control positions in fights are being scored.
After UFC Vegas 55, Daniel Cormier admitted that he was starting to see a bit of a concerning pattern in MMA judging.
Split decision losses for both Holly Holm and Eryk Anders may have sounded like a surprise to fans before the fights took place, but Cormier maintained his confusion after the fact as well.
“Guys, this is where I don’t really understand what I’m watching in terms of the fight,” said Cormier on his YouTube channel.
“Anders fight, Holm fight, both had so much control time against the side of the octagon that I don’t know how they are losing the fight.”
Holly Holm disagrees with the decision.
Do you? 🤔 #UFCVegas55 pic.twitter.com/y2Yd1894xj
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) May 22, 2022
With control positions not seeming to hold much value in terms of scoring rounds, Cormier has begun to question why it does not aid fighters’ scores more.
“Once again they keep on making these mistakes, I would think… Or we just don’t know what the hell we’re watching.”
“The blame resides in the judging..”
Cormier did not mince his words and clearly pointed to the biggest issue being the judging.
“When I state these opinions, it’s not a direct attack on anyone in particular, this is just me saying what I feel and where I believe the blame resides, and the blame resides in the judging. It really does.
“There’s a lot of times where we are calling the fights and we get lost talking about the judging, what we think the scorecards will be, and how we think the fight will look in the end, and the reality is, when we do that, we are not doing our job. We aren’t.”
Eryk Anders defeated Jun Yong Park on the Verdict Scorecard.
Anders edged out the first 2 rounds.#UFCVegas55 pic.twitter.com/QgkTBd5qFs
— Verdict (@VerdictMMA) May 21, 2022
In his commentary role, Cormier has repeatedly explained the importance and significance of control positions and while that is his job, his predictions can seem a little off when it comes to unusual judging surrounding wrestling.
“My job is not to tell you who is winning the rounds, it’s to tell you how does a fighter get from Point A to Point B, how to do this, this, and the other, how do you manage what goes on inside the octagon.
“From Fighter 1’s perspective to Fighter 2’s perspective. How does Fighter 1 get their hand raised and what does Fighter 2 need to do to not allow that to happen, and vice versa.
“But because the judging has become such a main topic of conversation, now we’re spending time discussing that because we are so unsure what it’s going to look like at the end of the fight.
“Last night was probably the clearest instance in which I felt like I did not know what I’m watching, I guess.
“Because I was on the wrong side of two fights that I thought were going one direction and didn’t.”
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