How would YOU judge a fight...in REAL life

TUFn00b · 01-16-2011, 04:34 PM

And by real life I mean on the street, outside of a sport. It seems obvious to me, but maybe not everyone agrees, that MMA should closely resemble real fighting and that the winner, in the frequent event of the fight ending before a finish, should be judged simlarly to how onlookers might judge a street fight that was broken up before anyone was KOed or cried uncle.

All of the factors that go into MMA judging according to the unified rules are more or less comparable to criteria that shape perceptions of a street fight winner...but the weighting is off. If a street fight lasts five minutes, with one guy holding another against a wall for 4:30 and ending with the other guy tagging the holder with a couple shots the last :30 before getting broken up, most would agree the guy that landed shots won and the guy with the bloody nose lost. If no one landed cleanly, the holder would be considered the "winner" since he did the controlling and not much else happened. A submission attempt wouldn't really count for anything in the eyes of observers unless it was stopped by someone breaking up the fight or it severely exhausted or damaged the target.

The simplest way I judge fights, on the street, in the gym and in MMA, is by answering this simple question:

Which guy would I rather be?

Would I rather be the guy that got lied on for ten minutes or the guy with a black eye? Would I rather be the guy that danced around avoiding contact successfully while occasionally tripping the opponent, or the stalker that landed a couple of hard shots that kept the other guy on the run? If the fight had been allowed to go on, who would likely have won?

I know MMA isn't real fighting, it is in fact a sport with rules, but it began with the goal of approximating a real fight--and most fans and fighters want it to be one. Why shouldn't it be judged like a real fight? Because it is the way it is? Or is there a better reason for today's nonsense fight judging?

DMPunk87 · 01-16-2011, 04:43 PM

Guy who looks the best after the fight. NEXT!

Colts · 01-16-2011, 04:43 PM

what is real fighting Ts ?????

Matt4786 · 01-16-2011, 04:44 PM

I share your opinion, but good luck getting a consensus.

I always score damage inflicted as the #1 criteria.

TUFn00b · 01-16-2011, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colts

what is real fighting Ts ?????

Kimbo Slice, duh.

BlankaGoodwin · 01-16-2011, 04:46 PM

I partially agree with you, just because i sometimes get tired of lay and pray. But MMA would just be low level boxing with some submissions thrown it. If wrestling was graded that low then nobody would even bother with ground game unless they were pretty much guaranteed a sub.

Forkfoot · 01-16-2011, 04:46 PM

Whoever looked like they were controlling things, honestly. If me and my co-workers were watching two guys go at it, I think when talking about it at the water cooler we'd be saying the guy on top landing shots owned the guy on the bottom, even though he kept trying to do crazy shit to the guy on top with his legs and cut him with a lucky elbow.

Chinballs · 01-16-2011, 04:48 PM

Well that's easy. Whomever is the strongest when the fight is over = winner. Usually one has already given up by this time for the most part.

If both guys are fresh and fiesty, and still want to fight but are broken up for some reason, it's usually "unfinished business".

Also the reason why I like when judges consider the last round more than the two previous.

TUFn00b · 01-16-2011, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt4786

I share your opinion, but good luck getting a consensus.

I always score damage inflicted as the #1 criteria.

Damage as the only factor is a bit too ambiguous for me but it's certainly a more major factor than is accounted in MMA judging.

An example where damage maymor may not be the main thing to score: GSP vs Penn I. GSP was a mess and went to the hospital. But he wasn't worn out. If that fight had gone on without artificial time limits, would Penn be able to finish or would GSP just humped him into submission? Maybe factoring in the "what would" makes judging more difficult, but I think it's important. If on the street, a dude lands a sucker punch that bloodies the other guy but goes on to get winded and all but quit before a fight ends, shouldn't the potential future of the altercation be considered? In a street fight, I'd consider it.

TUFn00b · 01-16-2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forkfoot

Whoever looked like they were controlling things, honestly. If me and my co-workers were watching two guys go at it, I think when talking about it at the water cooler we'd be saying the guy on top landing shots owned the guy on the bottom, even though he kept trying to do crazy shit to the guy on top with his legs and cut him with a lucky elbow.

What if the guy on top was actually landing zero shots while the guy on bottom was tagging with solid elbows and up kicks?