Open scoring in mma

Mistabutts

Orange Belt
@Orange
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There is no sense in not having open scoring in mma at this point. So many close calls lately that make everyone bitch, so many people bashing fighters for lack of finishes. I challenge someone to tell me why open scoring (ie seeing how the judges scored the round between rounds)would not benifit fights. Ready? go!
 
The most common argument against it is that if fighters know they are winning going in to the final round(s), then they're more likely to coast and you could end up with boring fights.

However, of course, the inverse is true, in that the fighter who knows he's losing will (should) go balls to the wall, looking for a finish.

Personally, I'm for it. I think it could really amp up the atmosphere in the arena, under several circumstances.

+ Fighter realises he's down, has to go for it and the crowd will be either behind him/against him.

+ Can you imagine the crowd reaction to a bullshit call by the judges? The place would go nuts and it would fire up the slighted fighter too, making him do more to secure the next round.

+ It would clear up any confusion as to who is winning the fight, because, as I'm sure we've all seen, it's pretty common to see both corners tell their fighter that they won the previous round.

- One negative is that it would sometimes remove the anticipation of the reading of the judges decision as, more often than not, we'd already know who'd won the fight. Although I suppose they could not reveal the final rounds scoring until the judges decision is read.
 
It is often easier to run away then to chase a very defensive fighter so I would say we have a very strong argument against it.

The anticipation point is valid too.
 
I'd prefer they just get rid of the 10 point must scoring and judge a fight the way it needs to be judged, as a whole, at least being able to make a round that is clearly dominated by one fighter, while not 10-8 worth more than a really closely contested round.
 
Open scoring doesn't prevent bad decisions in boxing. It also doesn't make fighters fight differently. I have only seen it make fighters more defensive when up...not more aggressive when down.
 
The most common argument against it is that if fighters know they are winning going in to the final round(s), then they're more likely to coast and you could end up with boring fights.

However, of course, the inverse is true, in that the fighter who knows he's losing will (should) go balls to the wall, looking for a finish.

Personally, I'm for it. I think it could really amp up the atmosphere in the arena, under several circumstances.

+ Fighter realises he's down, has to go for it and the crowd will be either behind him/against him.

+ Can you imagine the crowd reaction to a bullshit call by the judges? The place would go nuts and it would fire up the slighted fighter too, making him do more to secure the next round.

+ It would clear up any confusion as to who is winning the fight, because, as I'm sure we've all seen, it's pretty common to see both corners tell their fighter that they won the previous round.

- One negative is that it would sometimes remove the anticipation of the reading of the judges decision as, more often than not, we'd already know who'd won the fight. Although I suppose they could not reveal the final rounds scoring until the judges decision is read.
Excellent points! Thanks!
 
I hate open scoring. Or even worse amateur (olympic) boxing where you see the scoring of points in real time. It's distracting as fuck, and takes away from the anticipation/excitement as well.
 
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