Controversy In Mixed Martial Arts

by Robert Sargent

For the second time in as many months, highly suspect scoring has once again brought the credibility of the sport of MMA into question, and one must begin to wonder whether outside forces are turning MMA into a political equivalent of boxing.

Like in boxing, promoter interests can quickly erase any credibility that MMA has with a single night of controversy, but this problem has been ongoing for quite some time now.

Though there have been huge uproars on multiple occasions where judges or referees have seemingly ruined a fight with unacceptable actions or inexplicable scoring, the fact remains that little or nothing has changed.

Long before the highly controversial fight between Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and James "The Colossus" Thompson in EliteXC, fans were subjected to a complete farce at UFC 75, when Michael "The Count" Bisping was awarded with an absolute travesty of a "victory" over Matt "The Hammer" Hamill after blind - or corrupt - judges somehow awarded Bisping with a nonsensical Split Decision.

On the surface, this is just one incident, but it points to a trend of company posterboys - not just in the UFC, but in other promotions, such as the aforementioned EliteXC - being the beneficiary of highly suspect scoring when fights go to decisions.

The UFC has to validate that their reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," produces legitimate fighters. As such, they have a vested interest in seeing the winners and top stars from the show succeed. This is where problems begin. Once a promoter has an interest in one fighter to succeed over another, corruption is merely a step away.

At UFC 75, Bisping, while clearly a very talented fighter and by no means reliant on corruption and scandal to have a successful career, was given a nonsensical victory in a fight which he undeniably lost. The backlash was so severe that even the UFC was forced to acknowledge that the judging had been very poor.


The same suspect scoring appeared once again at UFC 76. Though the judges mercifully awarded the main event to the correct fighter, what was clearly a Unanimous Decision victory for "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine (over Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell) was tainted when one judge somehow scored the bout in favour of Liddell. At the very best for Liddell, he narrowly won the first round, and that was it. A case could easily be made for 30-27 in favour of Jardine.

However, Liddell is the #1 UFC posterboy, while Jardine's marketability had been annihilated by Houston "The Assassin" Alexander at UFC 71. The UFC had a vested interest in seeing Liddell rise back to championship contention, and it is by no means out of the question that outside forces had a hand in the scoring of that fight.

That leads to yet another fight involving Liddell, when he faced "The Axe Murderer" Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79. This was the make-or-break fight for Liddell and, to his credit, he fought the best fight of his career. However, what should have been a unanimous celebration for both Liddell's win and Silva's performance in narrow defeat was tainted by awful scoring from the judges.

The fight was easily close enough to warrant a Split Decision, though it did seem that Liddell had the advantage in two of the rounds, but there was absolutely no way that Liddell won round two. However, two judges bizarrely scored the bout 30-27 in favour of Liddell, with only one judge scoring it 29-28, despite Liddell being knocked down and outstruck in the second round.

This is already a disturbing trend, and easily reminiscent of early stages of corruption in boxing. Also disturbing was the fact that UFC announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were emphatically proclaiming Liddell as the winner of the close fight, well before the judges' scoring was announced. Perhaps they are psychic. Or maybe they knew something that nobody else did.


Now, not all controversy has been reserved for the UFC, as EliteXC has certainly had more than its fair share. While the most notable instances occurred at EliteXC's debut on CBS, issues in EliteXC date back to its inception.

While it is actually commendable for an MMA promoter to try to accomodate fighters who struggle to fit into a specific weight category - though this issue has now been addressed with Unified Rule changes earlier this week - EliteXC President Gary Shaw immediately displayed considerable bias by essentially making custom divisions for his two biggest stars, forcing everyone else in the company to follow suit.

With all due respect to Nick Diaz and Gina "Conviction" Carano, weight classes should never be instituted specifically for one or two fighters. Past promotions, such as PRIDE with Takanori Gomi and the 161-pound lightweight division, were not immune to this preferential treatment, either.


Diaz was unable to make 155, so Shaw instituted a 160-pound lightweight division, essentially specifically for Diaz so that Diaz could quickly become champion. When Diaz performed horribly in what should have been a clear-cut loss to Mike Aina, the judges somehow awarded Diaz with a gift by giving him an undeserved Split Decision.

Then, when Diaz was battered by current EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons, in a fight which Diaz lost via cuts, Shaw found a way to quickly get Diaz back in the title picture by having the fighters engage in a dramatic after-fight scuffle at EliteXC's most recent event. EliteXC has a vested interest in Diaz being the champion, as he is one of the faces of the company, and this leads to biased decisions and potential for corruption.

In Carano's case, there is no corruption but rather a complete lack of discipline. Despite Shaw creating a custom 140-pound women's division for her, Carano has yet to make weight once. Only for her most recent fight, where she weighed in 4.5 pounds heavy against Kaitlin Young, was Carano finally disciplined with a fine. That is hardly acceptable.


Lastly, the most glaring example of near-undeniable corruption in EliteXC was the travesty of EliteXC's moneymaker Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson being given every conceivable advantage in his CBS fight against James "The Colossus" Thompson.

While Slice managed to rock Thompson a few times, he spent most of his time on the ground, eating elbows and displaying essentially zero ground game or defence. The referee, Dan Miragliotta (who is under considerable scrutiny himself right now), even went so far as to stand the fight up at one point when Thompson was working from side-control.

That particular fight should have been stopped late in the second round, with Thompson the victor after landing dozens and dozens of unanswered strikes on the ground, but Slice was afforded every opportunity possible to win because EliteXC needed him to win. They could hardly market Thompson, who had just been quickly knocked out by Brett "The Grim" Rogers.

The fight was stopped in an extremely controversial manner, with Thompson seemingly still okay to fight, but the controversy did not end there. One judge had actually given Slice the second round, even though Slice had been battered for over three minutes of it. This once again reeks of corruption and outside influence in a fight involving the posterboy of a company.


This leads to last night, at UFC 86. What the UFC doesn't want anyone to know is that they are desperate to validate their Ultimate Fighter reality show and even more desperate to get the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship back around Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell's waist so that he can retire with the belt and the UFC can proclaim him as the greatest ever.

The problem with this is that Liddell could not beat Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and another loss to Jackson would leave UFC die-hards questioning whether Liddell was really as great as UFC President Dana White told them he was.

Last night, in a fight that was either a Draw or a narrow one-point victory for Jackson, Forrest Griffin was awarded with not just a Unanimous Decision from the judges but a dominant one. With ridiculous scores of 49-46, 48-46 and 48-46, the judges apparently awarded Griffin with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship - allegedly the most coveted title in the sport - due to leg kicks.

Jackson easily won round one and lost round two badly enough that it could have been a 10-8 for Griffin, but Jackson came back after that. At least two of the final three rounds were Jackson's, with the third and fifth conceivably close enough to be scored even. At this point, even many Griffin fans - including thousands in attendance last night - are questioning how Griffin was given the decision.

The answer could very well be politics.


The UFC desperately needs Liddell to get "his" title back so that he can retire from the sport before he's forced to tackle more young stars like Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua or "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, all of whom Liddell would likely lose to.

With Griffin, having him as the champion for now provides the UFC with a relatively easy test for Liddell, who should be able to defeat Griffin and reclaim "his" title. It also validates "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, with the show's first-season winner now the "undisputed champion."

This comes at the expense of Jackson, who has now lost a title that is still rightfully his. He even stated as much backstage after the fight, feeling that he won at least three rounds. He is not incorrect.

Perhaps most unnerving was when commentator Joe Rogan stated in the fourth round that Forrest Griffin was "clearly winning the fight." The statement was so ridiculous that even fellow commentator Mike Goldberg, who is anything but a voice of reason, disagreed. This once again brings into question whether Rogan knew something that nobody else did. Or perhaps his heavy use of marijuana with Eddie Bravo has fried too many of his brain cells.


The problem with mixed martial arts in North America right now is that there are no true "watchdogs" to oversee the sport and prevent it from becoming a cesspool of corruption like boxing. UFC and EliteXC management are too heavily involved with State Athletic Commissions, and while controversy can always be passed off as "conspiracy theories," it's far easier to influence a fight's outcome than many people seem to understand.

Sure, the argument can always be made that it's a fighter's responsibility to finish a fight and not let it go to the judges, but the reality is - and the Slice vs Thompson fight is a prime example of this - doing that isn't always enough, either, as questionable actions from referees can adversely affect fights just as much as judges' scoring can.



The UFC seems poised to get what it wants now, and we can expect Liddell back as the "champion" soon, barring some sort of dramatic upset loss at the hands of "Sugar" Rashad Evans. If there is, indeed, outside influence in these fights, I hope the UFC feels it's worth it because fans will only put up with so many "questionable" decisions before they lose interest forever.