The UFC is a long way from the Ultimate Fighter Finale against Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin.
A fight that was supposed to resemble that legendary bout, the Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz title fight on Saturday, Feb. 4 instead divulged into a game of cat-and-mouse that’s becoming increasingly frequent in UFC main events.
One fighter was pushing the pace and trying to engage his opponent. The other was in a constant backpedal, occasionally throwing weak leg kicks while on the run. The judges awarded the jogger, not the fighter.
Carlos Condit resembled the majority of Greg Jackson fighters on Saturday night when he refused to engage Diaz, but was awarded mightily by the end of the fifth round with the interim welterweight championship belt.
“The Natural Born Killer” took a page out of Georges St-Pierre and Clay Guida: talk about their affinity to finish fights prior to the match and then take advantage of the broken judging system to come out on top. What’s mind-boggling is that the judging should have benefited the much more active Diaz.
As inconsistent as the judges have become, set guidelines and standards are in place to decide winners. The fights are meant to be decided on clean strikes, aggressiveness, effective grappling, and ring control.
When it comes to clean striking, it’s quality over quantity. Harder shots that make solid contact are much more valuable than lots of shots that are either half-blocked or do no damage. In strikes to the head and body, Diaz landed 111 solid strikes to Condit’s 91. When it came to strikes to the legs, Condit landed 68 to Diaz’s 6. As far as significance, Condit’s leg kicks were a far cry to the devastating shots from Jose Aldo to Uriah Faber.
Clearly, Diaz was much more effective when it came to grappling. Though Condit stuffed a takedown or two, Diaz held Condit on to the cage just as much, as well as taking control of Condit’s back at the end of the fifth, almost submitting the fighter with a rear naked twice.
Aggressiveness and ring control are no contests and shouldn’t be debated. Diaz held the center of the ring, constantly moving forward and keeping Condit on his heels. When he got in close, Diaz threw solid, clean shots in bunches before Condit broke out into full strides.
Where the judges have awarded GSP for “controlling” a fight by lying on top of fighters until the bell rings, they completely ignored Diaz’s aggression and control of the pace of the bout.
Because of the Condit vs. Diaz decision, the UFC and MMA in general, have established that it’s not about going into the octagon to fight with passion and aggression – it’s about being safe. While the sport gets bigger, the fights are getting staler. The organization should take note of what happens in Japan where stalling and lack of aggression is penalized with a yellow card, not rewarded with a championship belt.
Judging needs to have base, fairly objective standards that don’t get shuffled around according to where the fights being held. The fact that the horrendous Cecil Peoples is still judging is perplexing.
The judges are driving great fighters like Nick Diaz away from the sport. The UFC should cherish the Diaz brothers as they bring excitement to an increasingly stagnant organization. They are young, brash, and insanely talented. The attitude and aggression brought into all their fights is something the UFC is slowly losing.
What’s more disturbing though is that the UFC and its fans are alright with this style of fighting. The last few UFC cards have resembled boxing matches, not glorious Pride fights. If this trend continues, safe fighters will be more prominent while fan-favorites like Griffin, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture will be a thing of the past – a troubling future that I hope doesn’t come to fruition.
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