In the past 5 months, we've seen several controversial decisions in fights with major title implications. Not only was there the unanimous decision concerning the main event on UFC on Versus 3 (message board were riddled with either it being a draw, or Kampmann winning and a small minority maintaining Sanchez's victory. The Sunday Junkie winner this week clearly alluded to Sanchez's aggression simply not being enough), but there have been 2 draws in 3 PPV cards (Maynard-Edgar and Fitch-Penn) with most people being angry, upset or debating the outcome of the judges scorecards, everybody maintaining that above it all there has to be a "better way".
Now, according to an article published last week on MMAJunkie, there has been the suggestion that going to "sudden victory" is an idea being tossed around by UFC brass.
Fighters like Frankie Edgar, who was being interviewed on HDNet's "Inside MMA" show, supports the idea, saying "I think another five-minute round would be perfect. You go into a fight, you prepare, and you want a decisive outcome. To have to wait another three months and possibly another fight is kind of annoying. I would say another round would be great. You get to figure out who's the winner right then and there. Two guys fighting for a title, they're trained, prepared. Why not just get it over with right then and there?"
He wasn't the only one. Co-Host of the show (and MMA legend) Bas Rutten said its a positive. Also Eddie Alvarez, the Bellator champ is on the bandwagon.
But seriously, haven't we tried this before?
When the UFC first started out with rules, one of them was implementing a pair of 3 minute "overtime" rounds after 18 minutes (the first example of this I can remember was the heavyweight showdown between Rutten and Kevin Randleman for the UFC heavyweight title in 1999 at UFC 20) if there was no clear cut winner. As the sport evolved and the time drastically dropped to 5 minute rounds, the overtimes became irrelevant. So why now with a dearth of bad judging and disagreeable decisions, would we consider going back to it?
I understand that "sudden victory" is necessary in certain cases. Pointing to the "Ultimate Fighter" reality show, Where time is limited and one fighter must advance, you have no choice if you're only going to fight 2 rounds. What we're doing is abandoning everything we've done to legitimize the sport in the public eye and are going back to the same rules that identified the sport as "barbaric". Plus, plenty of sports that involve intense physical training over the course of time end in ties regularly (the longest football game ever played was a triple overtime thriller in the old USFL in a playoff game). So, why the need for a change here?
Can't something else -- like say, adding 5 minutes to an opening round in a title fight (similar to the rules in the old Pride Fighting Championships) be used instead? You would not only get a lot more action and give more incentive to the fighters to finish it early, but you would do away with all this "overtime" round talk. I'm a man who likes to give people what they want, but to go back to the dark ages with "overtime" talk is ridiculous. We might as well go back to eye gouging, hair pulling and headbutting as well.
-In other news, UFC president Dana White announced that starting with Toronto's UFC 129, we'll not have to worry about drunks on the road. Actually, MMAJunkie reported that the card will be the first to have the start times pulled back an hour, with the main card starting at approximately 9 PM eastern, instead of its current spot of 10 PM. I must admit, i'm liking the fact i might be able to get another hour of sleep.
-Strikeforce & Bellator reported the numbers for their cards this past Saturday, March 5th, with the "Feiajao vs Henderson" event pulling in an average of 410,000 viewers. The Bellator season premiere, from the Tachi Palace Casino in Lenmoore California, turned in a respectable 200,000 for its first night on its new home, MTV2.
-Speaking of the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson, MMA Junkie reports that he's comfortable with the prospect of fighting the man that was generally considered the best heavyweight in the world for nearly a decade, Fedor Emelianenko as his first defense. Of course, most people believe it will more than likely be the winner of Mike Kyle and Gegard Mousasi in April. I personally would rather see Fedor retire than cut to 205 lbs., but if he goes in there with land masses like Bigfoot Silva, he might get slaughtered.
-Popped onto ESPN.com to see Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson said what he might want to do in the event of an NFL lockout : Challenge UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva for his title. He says that he believes he's faster and if need be he'd "run around the cage for 3 rounds". Somehow, I can see the Bengals trying to negotiate with Dana White at the 11th hour for him to be used in a similar "non physical" role like Pacman Jones was in TNA.
Well, agree or disagree? want to get back to me? hit me up at mmarmaggeddon@gmail.com
Until next time, fight fans!
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