After a plethora of controversial fights in the UFC over the past few years, California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster says there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to judging at UFC events.
Foster has been the lead man of CSAC since 2012 and is a former professional fighter who had brief stints in Bodog Fight and ISAF during his career.
Despite Foster’s optimism, the state of judging in MMA is questionable, to say the least. Fighters, commentators, and fans have voiced their displeasure with how judging has been all over the map at least once per fight card. Judging has been a major talking point for years but has since ramped up in discussion as the sport of MMA has risen to prominence.
“Mixed martial arts scoring, at the high level, at the UFC level, is better now than it ever has been, Foster said in an interview with ESPN. “I’ve got stats, I’ve got all kinds of things to prove that point. Doesn’t mean we can’t get better, doesn’t mean that. But, it’s better than it ever has been.”
“And it’s to the point now that where the media and fans are examining individual rounds to see if a judge was off in that particular round, which I think is absolutely valid, to credit. That doesn’t mean we can’t get better, we can. We’re gonna try to get better. But it’s a process and it’s gotten better.”
The judging has been a hot topic of discussion in the MMA community as recently as UFC Vegas 27 in the main event between UFC bantamweights Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt. It was a dominant performance by Font from start to finish, and it was pretty clear that he won every round in the fight. But one judge, Derek Cleary, ended up giving Garbrandt the advantage in two rounds, the first and last rounds of the bout.
Foster and the other executive directors of athletic commissions around the world seem optimistic about the need to improve judging in MMA, but it’ll be interesting to see what exact steps are taken to have that goal come to fruition.
What is your reaction to Andy Foster’s recent comments about judging in MMA?