The Mac
03-07-2011, 10:08 PM
The first two months of 2011 delivered two high-profile draws – UFC 125's Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II and UFC 127's B.J. Penn vs. Jon Fitch – both of which ushered in a slew of controversy and left their respective divisions in flux.
As a rule, draws generally frustrate fans, almost certainly frustrate fighters and generally cause more confusion than resolution.
But can the sport's governing bodies find some way to improve the current system? At least one UFC champion thinks so.
In this past week's new edition of HDNet's "Inside MMA," MMA legend and show host Bas Rutten addressed a viewer's email that suggested an overtime round be instituted to resolve draws in high-profile bouts such as title contests and No. 1 contender affairs.
Rutten, a former UFC heavyweight champion and King of Pancrase, thinks the idea is a winner. After all, it's already used in other combat sports, and the UFC even has a "sudden victory" round in place for its Spike TV-broadcast reality series.
"They do it at K-1 in Japan, and I love that idea," Rutten said. "Actually, 'The Ultimate Fighter' does it, too. You fight to a draw, boom, the last [round], whoever wins that wins."
Edgar, who survived a first-round beatdown against Maynard to battle make to a split draw at UFC 125, was a guest on the new edition of "Inside MMA" and also supported the idea. The UFC lightweight champion now rematches his nemesis at May's UFC 130 event, but Edgar said he would have preferred to put the situation behind him in January.
"I think another five-minute round would be perfect," Edgar said. "You go into a fight, you prepare, and you want a decisive outcome. To have to wait another three months and possibly another fight is kind of annoying. I would say another round would be great. You get to figure out who's the winner right then and there.
"Two guys fighting for a title, they're trained, prepared. Why not just get it over with right then and there?"
Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was also a guest on the show, and he suggested an overtime round would also serve as a positive. Alvarez cited the Penn vs. Fitch contest as the perfect example of a contest that would benefit from a little additional time.
"If you added that fourth round after the draw was called, who do you think would have come out on top?" Alvarez asked. "Fitch would have come out on top."
In their UFC 127 meeting, Fitch was stymied early in the fight, but as the contest wore on, he took control of the momentum and delivered an astonishing 149 strikes in the final round, accruing to a FightMetric report.
With the bout clearly swinging in Fitch's direction, Alvarez believes an overtime would have delivered a decisive result.
"It's really hard to be able to say draw or not draw," Alvarez said. "The decision was a good decision, but at the end of the day, if the fight continued, who would have won?"
As a rule, draws generally frustrate fans, almost certainly frustrate fighters and generally cause more confusion than resolution.
But can the sport's governing bodies find some way to improve the current system? At least one UFC champion thinks so.
In this past week's new edition of HDNet's "Inside MMA," MMA legend and show host Bas Rutten addressed a viewer's email that suggested an overtime round be instituted to resolve draws in high-profile bouts such as title contests and No. 1 contender affairs.
Rutten, a former UFC heavyweight champion and King of Pancrase, thinks the idea is a winner. After all, it's already used in other combat sports, and the UFC even has a "sudden victory" round in place for its Spike TV-broadcast reality series.
"They do it at K-1 in Japan, and I love that idea," Rutten said. "Actually, 'The Ultimate Fighter' does it, too. You fight to a draw, boom, the last [round], whoever wins that wins."
Edgar, who survived a first-round beatdown against Maynard to battle make to a split draw at UFC 125, was a guest on the new edition of "Inside MMA" and also supported the idea. The UFC lightweight champion now rematches his nemesis at May's UFC 130 event, but Edgar said he would have preferred to put the situation behind him in January.
"I think another five-minute round would be perfect," Edgar said. "You go into a fight, you prepare, and you want a decisive outcome. To have to wait another three months and possibly another fight is kind of annoying. I would say another round would be great. You get to figure out who's the winner right then and there.
"Two guys fighting for a title, they're trained, prepared. Why not just get it over with right then and there?"
Bellator Fighting Championships lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was also a guest on the show, and he suggested an overtime round would also serve as a positive. Alvarez cited the Penn vs. Fitch contest as the perfect example of a contest that would benefit from a little additional time.
"If you added that fourth round after the draw was called, who do you think would have come out on top?" Alvarez asked. "Fitch would have come out on top."
In their UFC 127 meeting, Fitch was stymied early in the fight, but as the contest wore on, he took control of the momentum and delivered an astonishing 149 strikes in the final round, accruing to a FightMetric report.
With the bout clearly swinging in Fitch's direction, Alvarez believes an overtime would have delivered a decisive result.
"It's really hard to be able to say draw or not draw," Alvarez said. "The decision was a good decision, but at the end of the day, if the fight continued, who would have won?"