Over the course of several weeks, we have converted all of our fight reports into the dynamic Flash format except for one. Our most controversial fight report to date is still our first, the one between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn. A polarizing fight in itself, the score that FightMetric arrives at (St. Pierre wins 29-28, but the overall score is a draw) has left many feeling unsatisfied.
The problem is damage. As it stands, the fight is too close to call only because of the level of damage inflicted credited to Penn. Currently, that level stands at “moderate” on a scale between none, light, moderate, and heavy damage.
Since scoring that fight months ago, we’ve seen more and more comparative evidence that the level of damage inflicted should, in fact, be marked as “light.” St. Pierre had a bloody nose (not a broken nose, as it says in the report) and a swollen eye. We have seen similar levels of damage in fights like Sanchez-Parisyan and Ortiz-Griffin and those cases were classified as “light.”
Changing the damage level would, of course, change the conclusion of the fight. Right now the overall score is 234 for Penn against 233 for St. Pierre, meaning a draw. Changing the damage level to “light” means St. Pierre would have the clear advantage 233-202.
Things change, the system improves, and we have no problem admitting when we’ve made a mistake. In this case, we’ll leave this up to you. What do you think? Try to think objectively (i.e., don’t consider the fact that this choice changes the outcome) about the correct damage level. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or email us at [email protected]. We will be revisiting this decision in the next few days and will modify the report as needed.
Source:Revisiting St. Pierre-Penn