July 16, 2010

MMA Ratings for the first half of 2010

When reflecting upon the first half of the 2010 MMA season, one of the unique things about MMA Ratings is that we get a chance to see what criteria voters often use when giving star rankings to top fights. For instance, some voters think of fight quality by itself. Others use importance of fight in terms of overall rankings in a division. Then there's the crowd that rates fights higher based on a certain style of fighting they like (grappling, wrestling, etc.)

Reviewing MMA Ratings' list recently of fights ranked from the first half of 2010 that had a star rating of 4 or higher, you'll be fascinated by this selection of fights. (Each fight takes you to a link to where you can view the star ratings.)

Rating	Fight	Date
4.40	Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC 116)	7/3/2010
4.40	Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy (UFC 111)	3/27/2010
4.25	Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber (WEC 48)	4/24/2010
4.25	Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen (Dream 13)	3/22/2010
4.13	George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 110)	2/20/2010
4.00	Urijah Faber vs. Raphael Assuncao (WEC 46)	1/10/2010
4.00	Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek (UFC 111)	3/27/2010
4.00	Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver (UFC Fight Night 21)	3/31/2010
4.00	Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung (WEC 48)	4/24/2010
4.00	Scott Jorgensen vs. Antonio Banuelos (WEC 48)	4/24/2010
4.00	Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin (WEC 49)	6/20/2010

If you look at the way these rankings break down, it's very clearly that there are two kinds of voters. Those who vote based on how much importance there is going into the fight and those who just vote for fun fights and put zero importance on, well, importance.

If you asked me to pick the Top 5 fights on this list and give you my rankings of importance, I'd pick the following five (top is best, 5th is 5th place):

1. Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin (WEC 49)

While it may have not been an important fight in terms of rankings, it certainly was an important fight for Mark Hominick's career to continue under the Zuffa banner. He fought an absolute war for nearly two rounds against a guy who threw everything but the kitchen sink at him. It was one of those fast-paced fights where both men showed incredible guts and heart and kept coming back unless Hominick finished him off. Combined with the hot Edmonton crowd and the smaller WEC cage and you ended up with a fight that is going to be very hard to top off in 2010.

The reason this fight probably didn't get higher marks is because of it's lack of importance in the grand scheme of things. 4.5 stars.

2. Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber (WEC 48)

For the sheer brutality of what we saw and just how amazing this was by Jose Aldo, there's no way this isn't 4.25 stars. You will never see a beating like the one Urijah Faber took and see a man survive five punishing rounds of this. It's impacted him so much that his fight in August got postponed due to knee surgery. It's the kind of fight that will forever impact Faber and it was the fight that cemented Aldo in the Top 3 as far as pound-for-pound discussion is concerned.

3. Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin (UFC 116)

This is the highest of the "sloppy fights" in terms of my rankings. I'll say 4 stars here. It was dramatic because of its importance and the crowd reaction. It was dramatic because we saw what kind of beating Brock Lesnar can take and then rise right back up after a full five minute onslaught and fight like nothing had happened to him. Every Brock fight is a TV/PPV highlight and it was the fight that turned UFC crowds around on him from being the role of 'the outsider' to being 'the champion.'

4. Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung (WEC 48)

This is the most memorable fight outside of the UFC 116 main event. The reason I ranked it fourth (4 stars) is because it was a horrible fight in terms of technique. It was two guys in a bar-room brawl (same criticism as you might have heard about Lesnar's fight), but it also fit the template that we've seen from both men in the past. Do not get me wrong -- it was an important fight and one of life's guilty pleasures. It sold a lot of interest for a WEC PPV in Sacramento that needed all the help it could get. At the end of the day, it was a fight that cemented both men's careers and it also gave them some job security.

For pure emotion, it was the best bout for 1H of 2010.

5. George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson (UFC 110)

For importance, this fight showed that George was becoming a legitimate contender in the Lightweight division. Stevenson had just come back and was looking to regain his footing in the UFC. He trained with Greg Jackson in New Mexico and he was very confident about his future prospects, so much so that he called out Shin'ya Aoki for a fight. People had bought into the idea of seeing a 'new' Joe Stevenson. When the fight happened in Australia, George put on a performance in his home country that helped make UFC relevant in Australia. As for his fight performance, much in the same way that his performance against Kurt Pellegrino established him as a rising contender, George fought about as good of a fight as you could have expected.

It was a fight that had a little bit of everything - promotional importance, career importance, rankings importance.


When we go through these rankings, one of the more interesting aspects about the first half of 2010 is that we have seen a lot of good fights and it's really hard to pick and choose which fights deserve the highest rankings. I guess it is a good thing someone is keeping track.

What are your Top 5 MMA fights for rankings in the first half of 2010?

 

When Michael Kirkham, aged 30, turned professional as a MMA fighter, he did so with a so-so amateur MMA record. One look at a recent fight he had with D’Juan Owens (which had been on Youtube but was pulled) from last April showed that he really didn’t look skilled or experienced enough to become a professional. The problem of having too many amateur fighters who are not skilled enough or overmatched to become true professionals is a big issue right now in Mixed Martial Arts.

That the fight took place in South Carolina should not matter, but obviously it will because there’s plenty of stereotypes against ‘the South.” Nevertheless, South Carolina recently passed MMA legislation. It’s a state that, compared to many other US states, is poor in a lot of ways. It’s definitely a working class state, but it’s not a state that attracts a lot of big fighting events and therefore the athletic commission does not have the funds of say, New York.

UFC has been sending Marc Ratner and some of its fighters to get MMA legislation passed in Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts. The idea, on paper, is that the more states with athletic commissions that regulate Mixed Martial Arts, the safer the sport will be in terms of its track record. It’s a theory that I largely agree with it, but it’s just that — theory. What’s theoretical is not always practical.

Many states that have athletic commissions are suffering from enormous financial problems. California, which has a state athletic commission has does take in good revenue, is in complete chaos. It’s economy resembles Greece more than anyone else, and the commission structure itself is a total bureaucratic mess. A place like South Carolina, where it’s hard to enough to find money for education, is likely not going to have the resources to adequately regulate Mixed Martial Arts events the proper way.

And therein lies the big problem. Half-assing regulation can lead to fighters suffering from permanent injuries or death. Eddie Goldman recently listed on his radio show a list of medical tests not performed for fighters to get licensed and fight on shows in South Carolina. An EKG (heart) test, not required. EEG (brain) test, not required. CT scan, not required. MRI, not required. Complete physical exam, not required. Only limited blood testing. No blood clotting test. No chest x-ray. No TB test (something you get tested for if you go to prison).

The only way you can justify not having fighters go through a battery of tests like this is to say you have no money to do it or that the sport is safer than boxing or another combat sport and therefore, why, there’s no need to do it. Ugh.

Scarily, we’ve seen this type of thing at work and in a state that actually generate revenue from high-profile moneymaking events and that’s Nevada. Under Keith Kizer’s tenure, we had a scandal a few weeks ago involving Matt Hamill being allowed to fight with what was thought to be a staph infection. His examination was performed by doctors who are specialized in emergency trauma, not dermatology or anyone who is a skin specialist. Also, Nevada continues to not do out-of-competition drug testing like they have been pushing in the media for so long to prove somehow that they were tougher than anyone else on steroids. We had no out-of-competition drug testing for anyone on the recent UFC 116 card, a card in which Brock Lesnar was arrested for steroids in the past and Chris Leben failed a UFC-administered drug test for steroids when he fought in the UK on a previous event.

The lack of real action by state athletic commissions, both big and small, is eroding the confident the public has in seeing legitimate regulation of Mixed Martial Arts events. It’s a dangerous sport and anyone who parrots the line that it’s the safest sport in the world should be immediately discounted in your book in terms of credibility. It’s a violent sport. The problem that the industry faces right now is decided on whether or not having every state implement half-assed regulation is better than no regulation at all. In other words, does regulation without resources actually help clean up the sport or just help to mask more of the problems that already exist?

In other words, are you just passing MMA legislation for legal liability and plausible deniability in case something bad happens? Is this simply an exercise to make everyone feel better about themselves and for PR purposes primarily to put up a facade on those who don’t pay attention to the sport closely? It’s a horrible debate to have because I don’t want the sport to be underground, but I also understand that half-assed regulation isn’t going to significantly improve the quality of the health & safety of fighters in the business on lower-level events. What you’re essentially doing with half-assed regulation is imposing more financial burdens on honest promoters and the underground promoters remain underground without getting exposed or worrying about a state bureaucrat wagging their finger at them while ignoring what’s really going on for medical testing.

The argument I usually hear about half-assed state regulation of Mixed Martial Arts is that it’s better than nothing. You hear this primarily on the steroid testing issue in Nevada.

‘Well, it may not be a great testing system and a lot of guys use, but hey, at least it limits the extreme users from going off a cliff with their dosage intake.’

You can half-ass regulation but you can’t half-ass somebody dying or being permanently disabled. Proponents of regulation, including me, need to come up with a cogent and coherent argument for regulation in all states but in such a manner that recognizes the financial realities of the times we live in. If we can’t be honest with ourselves on this point, then we are simply allowing more venues to open up for business where profit is put first over fighter safety.

MMA VERSUS BOXING:

Joseph Donofrio/Donofrio Entertainment 

While boxing purists still argue that the average professional mixed martial arts fighter is eons behind his pugilist counterpart in regard to the level of talent and technique with the fists, the gap is continually closing at a steady pace. While the subtleties in striking (with the fists) within the two sports are still easily observed by the trained eye, one must keep in mind that MMA is not boxing.

With all the points of offense (and defense) that are involved in mixed martial arts, keeping with the “boxing grain” stylistically could mean cage suicide.

While a boxer must worry about only one aspect of combat (delivering and protecting himself from punches), an MMA fighter must defend the take-down. He must also be fully aware of the possible kicks, knees and forearms that may be delivered by his opponent.

The aforementioned is fairly obvious, even to the most casual fan. However, one major point that gets less of a mention is the form of hand gear (wrapping and gloves) that is used in both sports. To be honest, it would be like comparing watermelons to grapes.

Aside from the obvious difference, that being the bulky exterior of the average Everlast boxing glove, one must also take into account the differences in weight between an MMA glove and a boxing glove. Given the locale and sanctioning body of the contest, approximately 6-8 ounces of weight separate the two styles of hand protection.

With the MMA glove being much lighter due to the fact that the fingers must be exposed in order to grapple and attempt submissions, the differing style in striking is a must. One wrong angle, and a broken finger or thumb is easily suffered by the MMA fighter who is attempting to throw the punch.

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, over the decades our opinion on punching has been shaped for us. We have been told by our fathers and grandfathers that the technical hooks, crosses and jabs of the squared-circle pugilist are those which are pretty.

While it’s true that the boxer’s form of punching is pleasing to the eye, one must not forget that although mixed martial arts and boxing both reside beneath the label of combat sport, they are in fact, two entirely different combat sports.

The next time you see an MMA fighter being accused of looping his punches in a manner that might be called sloppy, don’t fall for the propaganda. He may merely be protecting his unprotected digits, or maneuvering the punch into a take down….which is also a thing of beauty.