Author: Andrew Dodds

Travis Browne battled with Gabriel Gonzaga last night in The Ultimate Fighter finale. This encounter between two heavyweights looking to regain their contender status was mired in controversy. Browne knocked Gonzaga unconscious while using tactics that certainly appeared illegal. The knockout was violent, brutal and horribly disconcerting.

In striking the back of the head with such violent intent, Travis jeopardized the health of his colleague.

Even more worrisome, he sent a dangerous message to the MMA community because he was not only awarded a win, but he was also given a bonus for Knockout of the Night.

Nobody watching MMA has a problem with striking, nor with knockouts. The issue here is establishing  a set of rules and then not enforcing them. If a fighter believes that an act is illegal, then they will not defend against it.  

For example, once the bell goes to signify the end of a round, fighters drop their hands and turn their backs to their opponents. They do so because they believe that the rule of no attacking in between rounds will be enforced.

Similarly, fighters will not protect their head from knees when they are on the ground. This is because they believe that the rule protecting them from knees to a grounded opponent will be enforced by the referee and respected by their opponent.

The same concept should apply to fighters placing themselves in legitimate positions where they are susceptible to illegal strikes. People watch MMA to appreciate the artistic skill in fighting. Gabriel, a high-level ground fighter, was seeking to take the taller fighter down by employing a basic takedown.

As a result, his head was against the body of Browne and he was vulnerable to strikes to his head. A fighter must have certainty that the rules will be enforced for their protection. The two rules in place designed to protect the attacking athlete in this position are: no downward pointing of elbows, and no striking the back of the head.

It is also important to appreciate that the sport is evolving and the athletes should be given an opportunity to perform at their best. The martial artists, within the context of agreed-upon rules, will seek to display their skill set. They should be allowed to do so.

Skill should not be replaced by the reduction to the lowest common denominator because one always has the option to simply elbow someone to the back of their head.

This is why eye-gouging is illegal. Anyone can do it, it expresses no skill and it can ultimately be a great threat to a person’s quality of life.

Gonzaga was attempting a takedown against the fence. This is a very common grappling technique known to every MMA fighter. Every competitor works on defense to this technique, and to successfully complete a single/double-leg takedown in the UFC, one must be a world-class professional.

Browne’s defense was to smash Gonzaga’s head with repeated elbows.

That is not martial arts. It is thuggery.

MMA should be evolving, not digressing. In allowing fighters to use downward elbows to smash the back of the head as opposed to using a “whizzer,” sprawling, pummeling or reversing does not promote the artistic element of MMA.

It’s also unfair to fighters who place themselves in vulnerable, but technically correct, fighting positions only to be betrayed by those upon whom it is incumbent to enforce the rules.

Back to the rules.

According to the Unified Rules of MMA,  one cannot strike with downward elbows. Observe and ask yourself if Browne is obviously striking with downward elbows.

10. Downward pointing of elbow strikes;

Another rule is to not strike the back of the head.

12. Strikes to the spine or the back of the head

I will allow for people to decide for themselves if they believe these elbows are pointing downwards and if they are striking the back of the head.

Again, consider the reason as to why the back of the head is intentionally protected: death. Trauma to the back of the head can lead to death, or severe impairment to brain functioning.

These are not random, abstract rules designed to create talking points for fight fans.

One problem inherent with this polemic issue is the ambiguous definition of the back of the head. I would suggest that the back of the head be anything not the face. Obviously, this current description of “illegal zone” is not universally understood. It also is often extremely difficult to observe during a fight, as the head is often being held and obscured. A more clearly defined rule is obviously needed.

It seems that in almost every card this is a contentious issue. Frequently, this happens when a fighter has back control and is landing strikes. It begets controversy and will continue to do so until cleared up. More important than protecting fighters’ records and egos is protecting their brains.

MMA is an amazing, electric sport. As much as people love MMA and combat sports, they are just that: sports.

People might argue that the initial strikes were to the back of the head but were not illegal. This should not be debatable. The rules should be clearly understood, followed and enforced.

I would prefer to watch a sport that allows athletes the best opportunity to demonstrate the highest level of skill possible, a sport that protects athletes by enforcing the established and understood rules.

According to MMAmania.com, Dana White took this stance on the incident and justified awarding Browne with the $50,000 bonus by using this logic:

“Me and Joe Silva looked at a replay of it on the Internet,” UFC President Dana White explained during his post-event media scrum (watch it here). “[Gonzaga] was out with the ones to the side and then he hit him with a couple more to the back of the head after he was already out. That’s the way that I saw it.”

The fact that Dana White had no problem with the elbows, despite admitting that he hit him with a couple to the back of the head, is perplexing.  I would hope that the importance of protecting the safety of an unconscious fighter would be heightened, not reduced. If “Napão” was already unconscious from a legal elbow, why was it okay to hit him with illegal ones?

The referee issued no warning and did not appear to have any issue with awarding Travis the win.

Commentator, Kenny Florian—who is the best commentator in the business and a former title-contending fighter—did not have anything to say about the danger of the strikes nor their legality.

This should be an impetus for a clearer definition of what is the “back of the head.”

This is so that other athletes do not have to suffer the head trauma Gonzaga endured. Fighters should know definitively what are safe positions so they can base their fight plan on that information.

Fighters who may have covered their eyes from gouging, now do not. Fighters who previously avoided turtling but now do so would reconsider if the knees to grounded opponents rule was not enforced. Fighters will reconsider single legs, which would be a shame, if they know their heads can be blasted with elbows. But, they need to know categorically what will be protected and what will not be.

Athletic organisations are finally awakening to the dangers of concussions and head trauma. It would be nice to see MMA follow suit. One of the worst scenes I have witnessed in MMA was Gary Goodridge’s crucifix knockout; it is legal today according to the legal areas of places to strike on the head. If this became acceptable, I would stop watching and would never compete.

It is important for the fans, too. I believe that many people, like myself, love MMA but do not enjoy watching this unscientific brutality and see it is as a dangerous sign of what might be coming down the road. Many people would rather see the execution of a takedown as opposed to elbow-smashing to the back of the head.

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The UFC has finally produced a ranking system; it is now available on their website.

Great news, right? No more wavering on rankings and contender status so fans can witness the legitimate contenders vie for the title. Dana will now no longer be wantonly confusing the title picture.  Fighters’ rankings will now move in a logical and cohesive manner open to the public.

Not so fast.

Actually, the rankings are media-generated. Selected members of the media vote on the rankings. This makes it doubtful that this publication will serve any real purpose; rather, the concession will be relegated to playing a cosmetic role.

It is very unlikely that the alpha president would relinquish authority to determine future title shots and No. 1 contender status to the media for whom Dana has little regard. Regardless of the fact that most likely these “official” rankings will never be valid, the first rankings make no sense.

For example, in the overall Pound-For-Pound ranking, there are several anomalies. Frankie Edgar is very affable and endearing but he lost three in a row, so how can he be a top 10 p4p-er? The list has him slated in the No. 9 slot.The same system has him at No. 5 overall in the featherweight division.

Therefore, he is the fifth best 145-pounder in the world but the ninth greatest fighter in the world.

GSP is in the third spot, behind Silva and Jones, on the overall pound-for-pound list. “The Spider” at No. 1 makes sense. Jon Jones ahead of GSP is slightly perplexing. Yes, Jones is an incredible athlete and has shown sublime skills with massive wins over legends.

However, he has not proven consistent success over a lengthy time period as the welterweight star has.

Jon Jones did not begin his MMA career until 2008. In 2006, GSP became the UFC welterweight champ. Every fight that GSP has had since Jones’ career began has held championship implications. It is hard to understand how he would have passed GSP when the Canadian has barely lost a round since Jones’ career began.

Where did GSP slip to allow Jones to overtake him?

Urijah Faber is a legend; he has done a great deal for the sport. After losing five of his last 10, how is he ranked as the No. 3 contender at 135? This is probably because voters are basing the rankings on popularity and not facts.

Chael is fighting for the title and is not ranked in the top ten as neither a middleweight nor as a light heavyweight. Yet, he recently (July, 2012) fought for the middleweight title and is fighting for the light heavyweight title in April. How would that make any sense?  In order to be eligible for the ranking system, the fighter needs to be active, which Sonnen obviously is.

To be fair, Chael may have only been eligible to be selected as a light heavyweight as that is the division his next bout will be in. It would make sense that he would not be ranked there and this would be  a reflection of the UFC’s capricious choice to award him the title shot and not a fault of the ranking system.

The No. 3 contender in the 125-pound division is Ian McCall. Ian did not win in 2012 and has yet to win in 2013. He is 0-2-1 in his past three fights and has zero wins in the sport’s flagship promotion.

Surprisingly, he is behind only Benavidez and Dodson for a title shot. Assuming Benavidez gets the next shot in the summer, and considering that Dodson just lost to Johnson, McCall would subsequently be next in line or the first to replace Benavidez in case of an injury.

That is not too bad for a fighter who would have gone two years without a win and without ever having won a single fight in the UFC. Again, a disclaimer as the votes may have been entered prior to his most recent loss and the placing of him as the No. 3 contender would have only been based on his lack of wins in 2012.

As impressive as Gilbert Melandez is, it is worth asking how he could be considered the No. 1 contender in the uber-deep lightweight division without ever having won a fight in the UFC. Gilbert has not faced top-ranked opposition. While he is a welcomed addition to the promotion, he has not proven himself against the world’s best. There is no doubt that he could one day be champion, but he has never defeated nor fought an elite fighter in his career.

While one could ad nauseum complain about this new ranking system, it is the first edition. Like anything in life, things need time to develop and improve. However, one should not be too optimistic that this is simply an “officialized” version of any other fan’s subjective opinion on the abstract ladder of fighters’ skills.

On a positive note, there is now an “official” ranking system. If it will actually serve a purpose greater than engendering trite debate among keyboard warriors remains to be seen.

Hopefully, it will be the medium that will bring much needed clarity to the title contention landscape. 

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