News Colorado (CSAC) to adopt new MMA scoring format

[Duke Kensington]

https://combatsportslaw.com/2023/06/08/major-mma-judging-reform-coming-june-17/

Anthony Cummings, the Director of the Colorado Combative Sports Commission, is rolling out exactly this. On June 17th the Sparta MMA card is going to be the first event to see this new idea in practice.

The idea is simple. After each round judges fill out their scorecard. Then they fill out a second card. It only takes a few seconds. The second card asks the official to check the criteria they used in reaching their decision. If effective striking/grappling decided the round they identify that. If that was even and the official moved on to aggressiveness they identify that. If that was even and they moved to the tertiary factor of fighting area control that is identified.


This reform creates an instant papertrail of accountability. It will identify whether a judge’s score can be justified under the criteria they are required to use.

Personally I think this is great and a really good solution to a hard problem. It doesn’t fundamentally alter the sport but adds much needed accountability.

do you guys think other commissions will adopt this?

Side note: didn’t this commission also allow grounded knees for the ONE show a while ago as well? Colorado doing big things

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Interesting idea…

I think it could be effective

Kinda ashamed that none of us Sherdoggers have thought of this despite the numbers of threads on the subject

 

[Hypetrainofthemonth]

Ill allow it.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

The judges who award rounds to fighters who clearly lost them, will simply identify reasoning that is equally bullshit.

 

[Kwic]

The judges remember only the last 15 seconds of the round so that's going to be fun when they randomly mark these.

 

[Duke Kensington]

Interesting idea…

I think it could be effective

Kinda ashamed that none of us Sherdoggers have thought of this despite the numbers of threads on the subject

It’s because most sherdoggers know that if someone got locked in the cage with them there wouldn’t be judges needed… it’s a completely foreign concept to us 6’ 4 monolithic killing machines

 

[sdpdude9]

I would take it further but it’s a good start. I’ve said for a while they should have to provide some reasoning. This way at least gives the bare minimum instead of complete mystery. Hopefully will make judges think about it a little more as well.

 

[Pechan]

I like it but is it really that hard to add two more judges?

 

[Betong]

Just use the Pride rules!
UFC has already adopted, the most popular fighter in a decision wins, rule.

 

[chiefwiggum]

It’s better than now but the 10 pt system for 3 and 5 round fights is the bigger issue.

 

[Classic White Belt]

I like it but is it really that hard to add two more judges?

100 judges in total and declare the winner in percentage instead of points. 50 judges ringside, 50 judges watching on a (muted) screen.

 

[aerius]

100 judges in total and declare the winner in percentage instead of points. 50 judges ringside, 50 judges watching on a (muted) screen.

Live odds from all the gambling sites, winner is the one with the better odds at the end. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Classic White Belt]

Live odds from all the gambling sites, winner is the one with the better odds at the end. It's the only way to be sure.

Let fans call in at the end of a fight to vote the winner for the low price of $4.99/call.

 

[jitzmonkey]

The judges who award rounds to fighters who clearly lost them, will simply identify reasoning that is equally bullshit.

You are 100% correct!
The key would be to take further steps once there is a large enough sampling of the scenarios that you're predicting; and institute rules to weed out bad judges.

I would take it further but it’s a good start. I’ve said for a while they should have to provide some reasoning. This way at least gives the bare minimum instead of complete mystery. Hopefully will make judges think about it a little more as well.

Bingo!

It’s better than now but the 10 pt system for 3 and 5 round fights is the bigger issue.

Made that rant so many times I'm surprised everyone here hasn't muted/ignored/whatever me.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

I love that...wish I had thought of it tbh

 

[Safton]

Interesting idea, I don't hate it and I'm eager to see it in action.

I'm still a fan of half-point rounds, but this is neat too.

 

[Buffmeister]

Side note: didn’t this commission also allow grounded knees for the ONE show a while ago as well? Colorado doing big things

Yep....and Gamebred MMA is full bareknuckle mma.

We could actually have Bareknuckle MMA with kness and everything else on the ground...

 

[geardo]

I think there should be 3 tiers of judges. The three ones we already have, a team of 3 media members, and a team of 3 retired fighters. 2 out of three need to agree to award a fighter a round. But i like the idea colorado is doing too

 

[m249viking]

Instead of judges watching the fights, they read live Twitter feed and award rounds based on that

 

[Poatan Power]

Seems like they should fill out the 2nd card first lol

I think there should be 3 tiers of judges. The three ones we already have, a team of 3 media members, and a team of 3 retired fighters. 2 out of three need to agree to award a fighter a round. But i like the idea colorado is doing too

The sports too young and still too small of a community. Local retired fighters are going to favor people they know or people that train with people they know.

Even in Cali which is pretty big almost every gym I go to we can play the kevin bacon game with my first lineage and find common training partners. it's kinda weird.