Fights that would be scored different if judged under revised 10-8 rule that is effective 1/1/17

[killakillakilla]

There are a lot of rule changes going into effect as of 1/1/17! I'm really happy about the new scoring rule which will give 10-8s more often. The current rule allows closely fought rounds to be scored the same as rounds that are won dominantly which isn't fair imo. I've always thought all rounds that are clearly or dominantly won should be scored 10-8.

I'll start this thread with the specific rule change I am discussing; then, I will get into fights that I think would have been scored differently if judged with the new rules.

Rule Change

Here's the source article and below is an excerpt that explains the new scoring structure and criteria for scoring rounds 10-7 through 10-10:

According to the new rules, at 10-9 round would be a very even contest in terms of the exchanges with the most aggressive fighter of the two being warranted the 10-9 round.

According to the new scheme, 10-8 rounds will be scored a lot more liberally. A 10-8 will be rewarded when a fighter clearly wins a round. McCarthy explained that the fights will be judged on the “Three Ds”—damage, domination, duration. If a fighter has been damaged and dominated in a round, the round should be scored a 10-8. If the domination element does not exist, judges are urged to look at how long the duration of the damage lasted and how much of an impact it had on the fight before determining the round a 10-8. If there is no damage, judges need to look at the duration of the domination that occurred in the round.

• 10-10 round to be scored for a completely even fight
• 10-9 to be scored for marginal round win for one fighter
• 10-8 to be scored when there is a large margin between fighters at the end of a round
• 10-7 to be scored when there is overwhelming damage and domination in a round

2 Fights that i think would have been scored differently with this revised rule:

GSP vs Hendricks - This fight was controversial because the rounds won by Hendricks were won much more dominantly than the rounds won by GSP. That made it seem like Hendricks won the fight. Here is how the fight would have been scored under the new rule -
Rd1 - 10-9 GSP
Rd2 - 10-8 Hendricks
Rd3 - 10-9 GSP
Rd4 - 10-8 Hendricks
Rd5 - 10-9 GSP
FINAL - 47-46 Hendricks wins

Woodley vs Thompson - Here is how this fight would have been scored -
Rd1 - 10-8 Woodley
Rd2 - 10-9 Thompson
Rd3 - 10-9 Thompson
Rd4 - 10-8 Woodley
Rd5- 10-9 Thompson
FINAL - 47-46 Woodley wins

Can you guys think of other fights that would have been scored differently under the new rules that are effective 1/1/17? Nate vs Conor II or Jones vs Gus maybe? What are your thoughts?

 

[SuperNerd]

• 10-10 round to be scored for a completely even fight
• 10-9 to be scored for marginal round win for one fighter
• 10-8 to be scored when there is a large margin between fighters at the end of a round
• 10-7 to be scored when there is overwhelming damage and domination in a round

We may need some sort of relative scoring, because round 5 for Woodley/Wonderboy was a shutout. In terms of numbers of strikes thrown and landed, Wonderboy was even more dominant than round 4. Woodley did almost nothing but coast and breath heavy, but who is going to argue that is equal to Round 4? And I think people have a hard time giving Woodley a 10-7 considering Thompson finished on top.

 

[Koro_11]

Bisping/Hendo 2
Hendo/Shogun 1

 

[killakillakilla]

Bisping/Hendo 2
Hendo/Shogun 1

Bisping/Hendo 2 is a good one! Personally, I like the new rule changes.

 

[killakillakilla]

We may need some sort of relative scoring, because round 5 for Woodley/Wonderboy was a shutout. In terms of numbers of strikes thrown and landed, Wonderboy was even more dominant than round 4. Woodley did almost nothing but coast and breath heavy, but who is going to argue that is equal to Round 4? And I think people have a hard time giving Woodley a 10-7 considering Thompson finished on top.

You might be right. I need to watch round 5 again but I don't remember it being that dominant. I think it will be interesting to see 5-rounders where the fighter that lost 3 rounds ends up winning the fight by winning 2 rounds with 10-8s

 

[Kaiokenrye24]

It's a good idea, certain judges like Glen Trowbridge and Derek Cleary may not be smart enough to use right

 

[Aleksander_Kharitonov]

Im interested to see how this turns out. Could make for a lot more draws since theres only 3 rounds to judge in non title fights. Doesnt seem all that uncommon for someone to dominate a first round only to drop the the last two possibly leading to a 10-8 for fighter A and two 10-9s for fighter B. I always felt having 5x3min rounds would make for using 10-8s better but I know a lot of people wouldnt agree. It will be nice to see someone actually get a 10-8 if they drop someone once, or even twice, in a round.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Penn/Edgar win would be an easy win for BJ. He'd be in the GSP/Anderson/Fedor discussion if he had won that fight.

 

[GrantB13]

Even though there are rule changes, would anything stop a judge from not thinking a fighter was "clearly outstruck" or anything like that?

 

[Threetrees]

I don't think the rules actually change as much as you're implying TS

I can't think of any rounds that I didn't think could have been a 10-8 before, that I do now

 

[killakillakilla]

Im interested to see how this turns out. Could make for a lot more draws since theres only 3 rounds to judge in non title fights. Doesnt seem all that uncommon for someone to dominate a first round only to drop the the last two possibly leading to a 10-8 for fighter A and two 10-9s for fighter B. I always felt having 5x3min rounds would make for using 10-8s better but I know a lot of people wouldnt agree. It will be nice to see someone actually get a 10-8 if they drop someone once, or even twice, in a round.

I wouldn't mind more draws quite honestly. I think it would encourage fighters to be impactful rather than point fight.

 

[killakillakilla]

I don't think the rules actually change as much as you're implying TS

I can't think of any rounds that I didn't think could have been a 10-8 before, that I do now

Maybe i'm reading too much into it but I like these new rule changes from what I've read. No extended fingers is great.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I don't think the rules actually change as much as you're implying TS

I can't think of any rounds that I didn't think could have been a 10-8 before, that I do now

The rules also explicitly state they are to rule damage over quantity. So if one guy wobbled his opponent and cut him, but the other guy outlanded him by 30 strikes, but didn't seem to affect him the guy who got wobbled should lose the round.

 

[Tramero]

Dodson vs Lineker, Lineker "won" only because he was more agressive but was the only one eating punches

Also McGregor vs Diaz II would have been a draw

 

[Threetrees]

Maybe i'm reading too much into it but I like these new rule changes from what I've read. No extended fingers is great.

I like them, and sorry I meant scoring specifically

I think it just clarifies the ways that judges were always supposed to be scoring, but didn't do a good enough job so they had to remove some of the subjectivity


I think the only recent round I can think of is Woodley/Thompson round 1, which I agree with you, but I had already argued that that COULD have been a 10-8 anyway

The rules also explicitly state they are to rule damage over quantity. So if one guy wobbled his opponent and cut him, but the other guy outlanded him by 30 strikes, but didn't seem to affect him the guy who got wobbled should lose the round.

They have since the last revision though

 

[dipstickjimmy]

You also need to realize that fights are going to be fought differently as well. I don't think that you have watched GSP vs Hendricks lately as Johnny didn't have a 10-8 round IMO under current or new rules. Try watching it without Rogan's inexplicably biased commentary. Hendricks doesn't deserve extra credit for not getting dominated by GSP like everyone else. He still needed to win the fight and GSP took the 5th from him in championship fashion.

 

[blaseblah]

Edgar would've lost the second fight to Maynard instead of getting a draw.

 

[killakillakilla]

I think it just clarifies the ways that judges were always supposed to be scoring, but didn't do a good enough job so they had to remove some of the subjectivity

Yes totally

 

[Threetrees]

Yes totally

It specifies the levels at which you're supposed to judge - rather than leaving it up to interpretation as to whether octagon control and striking dominance were on the same level for example

 

[Rod Farva]

This is going to create a mess. It's going to be so difficult to overcome a 10-8 round. Basically impossible in a three round fight