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[Sakara=Excitement]

http://www.cagepotato.com/so-what-ex...nd-look-anyway

(Photo courtesy of FightMagazine.com)

This morning I woke up, fed the dog his usual breakfast of Golden Grahams and uncooked bacon, made myself some coffee, and then sat down to watch the Tom Lawlor-Aaron Simpson fight once again, this time without furiously typing as it was happening. I didn't do this because I necessarily felt that it was a horrible decision. You let a fight stay that close while also gassing out down the stretch, it's like running your ancient space heater next to your collection of oily rags -- sympathy is going to be hard to come by when something bad happens.

I went back and watched the fight again only because I wanted to see if my initial assessment of the first frame as a 10-8 round for Lawlor held up under closer scrutiny. The verdict? Absolutely. Which is why it might be worth having a discussion about what a 10-8 round really looks like.

Less than thirty seconds into the fight Lawlor first stung Simpson with a straight left/right uppercut combo. Less than a minute later he put Simpson in serious trouble for the first time, battering him with a barrage of punches. Simpson would get rocked badly at least two more times in the round. Perhaps more importantly, he never offered any effective offense of his own. All he did was survive.

There's something to be said for surviving. Sometimes it's the best you can do. But if we look at the 10-9 score the judges gave Lawlor for that first round, and then we look at the 10-9 score that two of the three judges gave Simpson for round 2, well, that's when we have to admit to ourselves that something is wrong here.

The reason you score a round 10-8 is to give appropriate credit to one fighter for thoroughly dominating his opponent. The reason you give a 10-9 is to indicate that it was at least somewhat close, but one guy had a distinct edge. If there's no distinct edge? 10-10. This is, at least in theory, the way it's supposed to work.

For some reason MMA judges like to act like 10-9 is the only score they know how to write down. That's not to say that a 10-8 first round would have kept the Virginia fans from booing their heads off once the decision was announced. If you give Lawlor a 10-8 first, and then Simpson a 10-9 second and third, what you have there is a draw, which will make even the tamest audience irate.

But if we're not distinguishing between a dominant round and a close round, what's the point of judging individual rounds? If nearly finishing a guy and taking no damage in response counts for the same as doing just slightly better than a guy, we might as well be using an applause-o-meter to decide the winner. At least then almost finishing a fight might count for something.

[dgil]

Good read, I agree with the entire thing. 10-9 seems to be the score so often in fact, that when anyone new to the sport watches a PPV with me, 9/10 times I get the question "So the winner gets a 10, and the loser gets a 9 for each round?"

I also agree that the first round in the Lawlor fight was 10-8 Lawlor

[jlruthven84]

Good read, and I made this point on the UFN 20 thread last night. That first round was the definition of a 10-8, and while a draw irks everyone involved, it's better than a loss.

[gotblood?]

This will not stop until boxing judges are replaced with MMA judges.

It made me sick to hear that score. Sick.

[GL Jeff]

I agree that the first round should of been a 10-8,but maybe the third was also a 10-8 for Aaron, seeing as how Tom was super gassed,and just slumped down towards the end,I dunno. I feel like the guy who fights to the end should be the winner. If anything it shows how much of a beast Aaron really is,coming back like that, and really turning on the heat.

[schizerbone]

If that first round wasn't 10-8...then they might as well get rid of the 10-8 score.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by GL Jeff

I agree that the first round should of been a 10-8,but maybe the third was also a 10-8 for Aaron, seeing as how Tom was super gassed,and just slumped down towards the end,I dunno. I feel like the guy who fights to the end should be the winner. If anything it shows how much of a beast Aaron really is,coming back like that, and really turning on the heat.

Comparing the 1st round and the 3rd round and there's no way the 3rd round should of been 10-8. What did Simpson do but lay on top of Lawlor? He inflicted minimal damage and didn't do much with the position. Lawlor beat the living dog piss out of Simpson for the 1st round. Hell 10-7 would of been fine with me.

[snakebite]

well, i always think about it if there would have been another round. Who would have won the next round? We all know the answer to that. I bet lawlor couldnt even make it out of his corner.

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Comparing the 1st round and the 3rd round and there's no way the 3rd round should of been 10-8. What did Simpson do but lay on top of Lawlor? He inflicted minimal damage and didn't do much with the position. Lawlor beat the living dog piss out of Simpson for the 1st round. Hell 10-7 would of been fine with me.

How many times did Simpson get knocked down in the 1st? 2 or 3 times? Anyways, if it were boxing rules it would have been a 10-7 or 10-6 round. But for a guy to get the absolute shit beat out of him for 1 round and then just control a guy without doing any damage for the next 2 rounds and get the win doesn't really make sense.
Judges should be much more liberal in handing out lower then 9 scores imo. 10-9 should only be there for close rounds, 8 or less if the round is one sided. It's like having a football game, one team scores 4 touchdowns in the first quarter, the other team scores 1 field goal in each remaining quarter, so they just give it to them cause they did better in the majority of the quarters.

[Mr.Gummy]

I agree with this article except the part about eating uncooked bacon. WTF??!

Oh and one other thing. Can someone clarify about the whole 10/10 round conept? I see people on the boards score rounds 10/10 during a fight sometimes. My understanding from reading the "rules of the octagon" (ufc graphic on ppv's) is that the round winner gets 10 points and the loser gets 9 or less. So a 10/10 round isn't possible under current rules, right?