I Have Some Problems with UFC: Boise

Boise was pretty good, I suppose, but there were some glaring problems that I think need to be addressed. Some of this may sound like me venting, probably because it is lol. I'm tired of losing bets because of shitty judging. This kind of stuff is supposed to be reserved for boxing, but it's been rearing its ugly head in the UFC for too long! Anyway, let's get into it.

First, the main event needs to be scrutinized. I apologize for picking Blagoy Ivanov to win. I read some statistics on him and watched some tape and decided that would be enough to defeat one of the most talented heavyweights we have right now. In actuality, Ivanov looked hesitant to engage for most of the fight, and never even tried to use that storied Sambo of his. If JDS doesn't control the octagon and move towards Ivanov all night, I'm not sure we don't get another Ngannou-Lewis fiasco. Ivanov seemed uninspired, and definitely out of shape, which made for a very slow main event.

Now, I'm not from the camp that thinks heavyweights shouldn't be main events, due to the typical heavyweight's lack of cardio. However, when the UFC pursues a largely unknown heavyweight for his debut, you gotta take some precaution there. Stick them in the co-main or somewhere else on the main card. This could have easily been an opportunity to market Sage Northcutt, who looked great, in the main event, or even have the return of Chad Mendes vs a very good prospect in Myles Jury. Either of these would have made much more sense and I think a majority of fans would have appreciated it as well. Now I'll get into what really grinds my gears: Judging.

Overall, the judging in the UFC isn't horrible, but it just seems that when the UFC debuts in a city or the city is new to MMA, the judging seems like it's coming from three 8 year olds. There's just no consistency and fans and fighters are left scratching their heads. There were two decisions that stuck out to me on this card: Elkins-Volkanovski and Bermudez-Glenn. 

For Elkins-Volkanovski, they obviously got the winner right. However, two 29-28's and a 30-27??? What do you mean!?!? I forget if it was round one or two, but one of them was one of the clearest 10-8 rounds you'd ever see. In judging class, they show you this fight to explain what a 10-8 round is. Horrible. Plus, how could there be two 29-28's?! What round could you convince people that Elkins actually won. No disrespect to the guy, Elkins is an animal, but he was simply on chicken legs all night. What was a resounding victory over the 10th ranked guy in the division is not going to look nearly as good on paper for Volkanovski's resume. Instead of what should have been probably two 30-26's and a 30-27, Volkanovski wins a "much closer fight" with a 30-27 and two 29-28's. Absolutely disgusting. 

Now we get to why I'm mad. I parlayed Volkanovski and Bermudez, and now I'm out $200. Thanks assholes. Sure, maybe I have my gambling blinders on, but how in the world does Glenn take that decision? Not to mention there was a 30-27 for Glenn, which made me want to vomit. To me, this was an obvious 29-28 Bermudez on all cards, with Glenn clearly taking round 1 and Bermudez soundly taking 2 and 3. There were so little scoring strikes in this fight it's difficult to use striking to quantify a winner here. Therefore, the wrestling of Bermudez should have been held in high regard for scoring here. And don't give me "Oh, those takedowns don't even matter, Bermudez didn't even do anything with them, I only watch UFC to see people get knocked out... (more gibberish)" Like I said, when the striking is largely negligible, you can't prioritize that over the wrestling in scoring the fight, which is the only way Glenn could have won. Bermudez took Glenn down four times in round 2 and twice in round 3. Meanwhile, in round two, Glenn was taken down four times and scored only once with a slicing elbow from the bottom, and was taken down twice in round 3. Both guys attacked submissions to no avail, so that's not necessarily important here either. Although Bermudez didn't necessarily control Glenn for long periods after securing the takedowns, the actual action of securing a takedown is a scoring move. Bermudez did this six times in the last two rounds. What exactly did Glenn do to win the last two rounds? Flail upkicks and elbows from guard? If you disagree with me, I'd re-watch the fight and score it yourself, without scoring the dozens of kicks that Bermudez blocked. Key word - BLOCKED. Now, Dennis Bermudez has lost 3 split decisions in a row and four in a row total, two of the decisions likely being incorrect, and is in danger of being cut from the roster. I don't think he'll get cut, but who the hell knows anymore?

I wasn't overly concerned with the Scoggins-Nurmagomedov decision. Nurmagomedov seemed like he was trying to finish the fight while Scoggins, who definitely had not done enough, seemed content leaving his fate to the judges. You can't do that, kid. Also, I'm still not sure who I'd give the Wineland-Perez decision to. Perez outstruck him, but Wineland just seemed real good on Saturday night.

Finally, can we please get like a 12:00AM EST cap for Fight Nights please? The pacing of some of these free cards is abhorrent. Boise's main card had six fights on it too, for some reason. Luckily, Niko, Chad, and Sage saved us from creeping up on two in the morning. That's about it.