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We’re having some technical difficulties with the home page and it’s prevented us from posting a bunch of the material we’ve prepared in advance of UFC 88. The one thing we have posted is the career TPR Report for Rashad Evans.

Rashad is precisely the type of fighter that the FightMetric scoring system undervalues. Specifically, a fighter that relies on takedowns and positioning without keeping active with strikes, submissions, and guard passes. Taking a look at the whole of Rashad’s career, his median TPR is 58.5, which is extremely low, considering that he is undefeated. Compare that to Chuck Liddell, who, despite five losses, has a median TPR of 79.

Stay tuned for more material over the next week or so. Once we get the technical glitches worked out, there’s plenty of stats to cover.

Source:The System Doesn't Like Rashad Evans

Or at least that’s the conclusion one could draw from the report released today with stats from the fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Lindland. The FightMetric system gives the fight to Lindland 29-28 for winning rounds one and three.

But that’s only half the story. The overall scores for the fight are 159-163, which falls within FightMetric’s four-point margin for error. That means the fight overall is a draw, which sounds more than reasonable. While Rampage landed more effective strikes, Lindland stayed busy on the ground and attempted five submissions.

What we’re learning over the course of the FightMetric project is that there probably should be many more draws in MMA than are actually called. In many cases, a controversial decision is controversial because the fight really was too close to call. But the ten-point must system makes fools of us all when judges refuse to call 10-10 rounds. Calling a round even carries the stigma of indecision, as if a better judge should have been able to spot the victor, even when there fairly shouldn’t be one.

Will this change anytime soon? Probably not. The reason seems clear: A close decision disappoints only the fans that thought the losing fighter won; a draw disappoints almost everyone.

Source:'Page Fought "The Law" and "The Law" Won