Why does Sal D'Amoto judge so many fights?

PrepareForGlory said:
After a couple more horrible scorecards yesterday I had some questions.

Here's an article FROM 2013 talking about how he was already "inept at his job for years"
https://thesportsdaily.com/2013/12/04/judging-the-judges-sal-damato/

Here's an article showing how he's the busiest UFC judge in 2020, #2 in 2019, #1 in both 2018 and 2017 and so on and so forth.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-news-top-10-busiest-judges-2020


Athletic commissions choose their judges, right? This guy does fights in Vegas, Florida, Texas, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, etc.

What's the rationale for flying this guy around the world (and does the UFC pay for it?) instead of getting someone local or anyone who knows what they're actually doing? Seriously how does someone go about getting that job.
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He's bad for sure, but Chris Lee is even worse.
 
PrepareForGlory said:
After a couple more horrible scorecards yesterday I had some questions.

Here's an article FROM 2013 talking about how he was already "inept at his job for years"
https://thesportsdaily.com/2013/12/04/judging-the-judges-sal-damato/

Here's an article showing how he's the busiest UFC judge in 2020, #2 in 2019, #1 in both 2018 and 2017 and so on and so forth.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/01/ufc-news-top-10-busiest-judges-2020


Athletic commissions choose their judges, right? This guy does fights in Vegas, Florida, Texas, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, etc.

What's the rationale for flying this guy around the world (and does the UFC pay for it?) instead of getting someone local or anyone who knows what they're actually doing? Seriously how does someone go about getting that job.
Click to expand...
He is the bribed oficial that gets envelopes under the table for questionable decisions, if chandler vs Oliveira would've gone to decision last night I wouldnt have been surprised if they would've robbed Charles and given it to the more marketable chandler.
 
Sticko said:
How do you know the athletic commissions pay for Sal D'Amato's plane tickets? Tbh I don't know what the judges are paid. But basically he's experienced, there aren't really that many professional MMA judges, and it's less questionable when you use a judge that everybody uses. Texas has a reputation for questionable judging in combat sports so that's the risk when you put a bunch of local judges in charge.

Weirdest scorecards of the night came from 2 judges I'd never heard of before in Grundy vs. Vannata (Patrick Patlan 30-27 Grundy, Marcos Rosales 27-30 Vannata).
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This amounts to the "it's how it be, so don't question it"

Marcos Rosales is equally old/useless/corrupt, not a nobody.
 
Craig Hogg said:
It's crazy how judges in boxing and MMA face no consequences for being awful at their jobs.
How do they actually get to be judges? Is there any criteria?
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Show up and dont be too high or drunk is my guess.
 
I don't understand all the Sal Amato hate around here. He's just some guy from Jersey.

iu
 
JustBleed69 said:
He's bad for sure, but Chris Lee is even worse.
Click to expand...

In the first post and list of most worked judges, Chris Lee is always number #2 to Sal. How can people not get better after 10-15 years of judging? It's crazy
 
Sticko said:
How do you know the athletic commissions pay for Sal D'Amato's plane tickets? Tbh I don't know what the judges are paid. But basically he's experienced, there aren't really that many professional MMA judges, and it's less questionable when you use a judge that everybody uses. Texas has a reputation for questionable judging in combat sports so that's the risk when you put a bunch of local judges in charge.
Click to expand...

I don't. You're right, I assume they pay for his flight (or the UFC does for places without commissions). I mean surely they could pick someone else but they keep picking this guy.

I was genuinely asking for info if anyone has any knowledge on the choosing of judges process or what they get paid.
 
These guys obviously have deep political connections. Also, maybe the UFC is OK with having bad judges as it keeps that "don't leave it in the hands of the incompetent judges" thought in the minds of the fighters to try and get finishes.
 
We don't have the corruption stories, yet, about MMA but Boxing? There are so many.

My favorite one is how members of certain athletic commissions including judges and their bosses would go to lavish dinners put up by a fight promoter. a $25k+ dinner is not unusual. If you spend any time at all around PR people in the entertainment industry you very quickly realize how the wheels are greased. Spending 50k on a talent to entertain them for a day is completely normal and it's just the cost of doing business. Just how do you think they spend 50k a night besides going to a casino?

Honestly if you want to catch these guys that's how you do it. You audit them to get the details surrounding the lose change they throw around and later expense, which means there is a record, cause they are that greedy. Then you nab one of the mid level guys on a prostitution/drug charge, which is apple pie, and you work your way up the chain. Probably within a few months they could take down 90% of the top guys in any state except for NY and Nevada. They would be too connected.

The same guys going to these dinners are the same ones in charge of MMA.

Athletic commissions across the US could be emptied out and jails filled in a couple of years tops. If there was appetite to do so. There is not. Grandstanding yeah we might see some of that again.

This is why I stopped watching Boxing and MMA, just in my own opinion, is right there.

Think of MMA is just entertainment. Same with any ball and stick sport and any other combat sport including boxing. The moment you think of it as a sport you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
 
There's a lot of bad judges out there. This guy Danny De Alejandro turned in an incomplete scorecard.

tucker-lutz-kevin-aguilar-ufc-262-scorecard.jpg


and another terrible score:

christos-giagos-sean-soriano-ufc-262-scorecard.jpg
 
All three judges from the chookagian vs araujo fight should be fired
 
He's like the Herb Dean of judges. He's on every card, reffing/judging the biggest fights, he has as many bad calls as good calls. Gets a pass everytime, god knows why.
 
Craig Hogg said:
It's crazy how judges in boxing and MMA face no consequences for being awful at their jobs.
How do they actually get to be judges? Is there any criteria?
Click to expand...
I'd assume it's about who you know.
 
MGS said:
He's like the Herb Dean of judges. He's on every card, reffing/judging the biggest fights, he has as many bad calls as good calls. Gets a pass everytime, god knows why.
Click to expand...

It's the best gig. Great job security and no accountability. What more could you want?

The sport is old enough where there's hundreds of hundreds of ex fighters who could do a much better job of judging. It blows my mind the commissions use these regular Joe Schmo's who don't have a clue what they're doing.
 
It's a government position. Same pay no matter how you do. With little oversight. And with both refs and judges. Same tomatoes around that messed up 15 years ago. At best they answer a form after a bad call, but usually nothing as "it's up for interpretation". Commissions are very slow moving.
 
Sal D'Amato is the Mozart of Creative MMA Scoring.
Everytime he manages to come up with something surprising.
His skills to make jaws to fall to the floor in shock it's awesome.
 
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