Brad ' One Punch' PickettDon't leave it to the judges
“Don’t leave it to the Judges!”
Words by Howard Hughes photography by Rob Grist
This is a phrase I hear all too often in recent times, both from fight fans and from fighters themselves!
Of course, to guarantee a good fight, every fighter should try to stop their opponent via strikes or submission before the end of the final bell, to ensure victory and enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. But the words, ‘Don’t leave it to the judges’, has recently taken a dark undertone of distrust among the fight world, where they suggest a lack of understanding and possibly unqualified representation of officials has occurred.
So, who are these judges? How do they get to be were they are? Why do they believe they know who wins a fight? I’m Howard Hughes, and I am one of only 4 UK Judges employed by the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and I will hopefully shed some light on this very subject.
Some pundits believe the problem lies within the current scoring system, and they lobby for a change in the way that a fight is currently scored.
Personally, I believe the system is fine. We use the 10 point must scoring, with the winner of each round scoring 10, with their opponent scoring 9 or less. Very briefly a bout is scored on clean strikes, effective grappling, octagon control, and effective aggressiveness.
I was chosen as a judge for my previous experience working as an official for other promotions and organisations. I was recommended for the position by people of trust already working for the UFC. This is a policy they use often, relying on recommendations from within the company when recruiting someone from outside, so to speak.
I take my position as a judge very seriously and I am as professional as I can be when working, with the knowledge that the decision that I make can not only have an impact on the outcome of the fight, but could change the whole career of a fighter. It is therefore of utmost importance that I make the right decision.
So how do I try to achieve this? As I said, I believe the scoring system to be fine, it is the person scoring the fight that is maybe at fault!
Personally, I study MMA a great deal, I train MMA, I teach MMA, there are days when I eat, breathe and sleep MMA. This I believe is a big factor in staying at the cutting edge of an ever-evolving sport, a sport and Martial Art for which I am greatly passionate. I fight, and I train others to fight. This, in my opinion, with my insight and fighting knowledge puts me at the top of the food chain when asked to give my opinion officially on who has won a round or fight.
Is this type of knowledge shared equally across all judges? It should be, but I feel that sometimes it may fall a little short of the mark. Most judges will have an area of expertise; whether it is a striking art, or a grappling art, but I would say that not too many have a full and clear understanding of the whole picture.
So education is the key. Evolve with the sport, and the knowledge will evolve with you. Hopefully in the not too distant future, the fight world will have confidence in a judge once more; dubious decisions would happen far less than they do now, and opinions and the overview of a contest would match among judges. Will we ever get that? We will have to wait and see!
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