How Do We Fix MMA’s Officiating Issues? Training and Accountability

There’s no getting around it, MMA has some problems when it comes to officiating. I’m not just talking about suspect decisions. I’m talking about baffling interpretations of the rules inside the cage, including but not limited to bizarre stand-ups like…

There’s no getting around it, MMA has some problems when it comes to officiating. I’m not just talking about suspect decisions. I’m talking about baffling interpretations of the rules inside the cage, including but not limited to bizarre stand-ups like the one that may or may not have cost former WWE star Bobby Lashley a win against Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston last weekend.

In case you somehow missed it, referee Jon Schorle (who has a bit of a history of flubbing calls) opted to stand Lashley up out of the full mount in the second round. At first it seemed as though he was doing so to check the cut under Lashley’s eye, but MMA Fighting has confirmed that Schorle actually brought the fighters to the feet because he felt Lashley wasn’t active enough from the top position.

I’ll pause a moment so you can take that in. Lashley had achieved full mount, one of the most dominant positions you can have, but he lost it when the referee decided that his occasional bursts of offense weren’t enough to allow him to maintain the position he had earned.

Should that ever happen in an MMA fight? Absolutely not, according to the sport’s most experienced referee, “Big” John McCarthy.

Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(Nick Thompson is stretchered to safety after getting smoked by Taisuke Okuno at Sengoku 14. Check out FIGHT! Magazine’s exclusive gallery of photos from the event right here.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogos…

Nick Thompson Okuno Sengoku 14 photos MMA japan
(Nick Thompson is stretchered to safety after getting smoked by Taisuke Okuno at Sengoku 14. Check out FIGHT! Magazine‘s exclusive gallery of photos from the event right here.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– BJ Penn Hopes James Toney Does Well Against Randy Couture (MMA Convert)

– Facing your "Mirs": Where do Lashley and King Mo go from here? (Watch Kalib Run)

– 5 Things To Watch For At UFC 118 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s Return Delayed Until Mid-2011 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Why Nick Diaz vs. ‘Mayhem’ Miller Is the Fight Strikeforce Needs Now (MMA Fighting)

– Exclusive Interview With Bellator Middleweight Tournament Winner Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko (LowKick)

– Outstanding Wrestlers and the Lessons Learned (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Kickboxing Legend Andy Hug, R.I.P. (MMA Scraps)

– This Rampage vs. Machida trailer will be the greatest thing you will see today, guaranteed (MiddleEasy)

Falling Action: Best, Worst of Strikeforce: Houston

Filed under: StrikeforceYou can learn a lot about what a fighter is made of by the way he loses. Take “King” Mo Lawal and Bobby Lashley, for instance. Both suffered TKO losses at Strikeforce: Houston, but both showed us something completely different a…

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You can learn a lot about what a fighter is made of by the way he loses. Take “King” Mo Lawal and Bobby Lashley, for instance. Both suffered TKO losses at Strikeforce: Houston, but both showed us something completely different about their respective characters in the process.

Lawal absorbed some brutal knees and punches from a heavy-hitting Brazilian, and he was still scrambling for a desperate takedown right up until the end. When “Big” John McCarthy finally stopped the fight, Lawal pitched face first onto the mat, completely spent after trying everything he could to claw his way back from the brink of unconsciousness.

Lashley, on the other hand, looked like he didn’t even want to get up and walk to his corner after winning the first round. The cut under his eye clearly rattled him, and a few minutes later he was so exhausted he could barely lift his arms or defend himself.

The MMA Wrap-Up Looks Back at Strikeforce: Houston

Filed under: Strikeforce, VideosSome nights the hardest thing is finding an interesting topic to talk about once the fights are over. Other nights the only problem is narrowing it down to just one interesting topic.

As you’ll see in the video below, t…

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Some nights the hardest thing is finding an interesting topic to talk about once the fights are over. Other nights the only problem is narrowing it down to just one interesting topic.

As you’ll see in the video below, the Wrap-Up struggled with this very problem after a crazy night at Strikeforce: Houston. After a little internal debate, we turn our attention toward former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley, who began like a hurricane on Saturday night only to turn into a tepid breeze within about ten minutes of action against Chad Griggs.

So what does this mean for Lashley’s MMA career, and for Strikeforce’s attempts to trade on his pro wrestling star power by putting him into bouts where he’s an almost excruciatingly heavy favorite each time out? To find out, you’ll just have to watch the video.

Strikeforce: Houston Results in a Night of Upsets and Controversy

Filed under: StrikeforceOn paper, Strikeforce: Houston looked like it would be a night where a series of favorites stampeded to easy victories. Then again, they don’t fight on paper.

“King” Mo Lawal got off to a good start in his first Strikeforce lig…

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On paper, Strikeforce: Houston looked like it would be a night where a series of favorites stampeded to easy victories. Then again, they don’t fight on paper.

“King” Mo Lawal got off to a good start in his first Strikeforce light heavyweight title defense. He slammed Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante to the mat, deftly avoided most of his offensive assaults, and seemed like he was in complete control.

Then in the third round the Brazilian challenger found his range in the stand-up game and unloaded on Lawal with hard right hands and a series of knees to the head that left the champion wobbled. After dropping Lawal with a left-right combination, Cavalcante poured on the elbow strikes until referee “Big” John McCarthy called a stop to the bout at 1:14 of round three, making “Feijao” the third man to hold the Strikeforce light heavyweight strap in 2010.

“My strategy was to block his takedowns in the first and second rounds, because I knew he was going to get tired, and that’s what I did,” Cavalcante said in the post-fight press conference.

‘Strikeforce: Houston’ Aftermath, Part II: Brazil Puts Rest of World on Notice

(King Mo was skeptical about looking into the strange man’s pinhole projector, but eventually his curiosity about seeing a total eclipse of the sun got the better of him. PicProps: Strikeforce)
Aside from the hapless Jorge Gurgel – who has …


(King Mo was skeptical about looking into the strange man’s pinhole projector, but eventually his curiosity about seeing a total eclipse of the sun got the better of him. PicProps: Strikeforce)

Aside from the hapless Jorge Gurgel – who has lived in the States so long his nationality could most accurately be listed as “Ohioan,” anyway – Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Houston card couldn’t have gone much better for the promotion’s Brazilian contingent. From Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante stopping Muhammed Lawal to claim the light heavyweight title in the main event to  Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza winning the 185-pound strap after a fight with Tim Kennedy that wasn’t really as close as a lot of people are trying to allege, Brazil pretty much owned everybody’s asses last night.  Again.

In unrelated news, Bobby Lashley lost to some guy whose sideburns made him look like he should be playing trombone in a third-wave ska band. All of our deepest fears and darkest suspicions about the former pro-wrestler’s heart and MMA skills were confirmed. Goddamn it felt good.

Somewhere, whatever notes Scott Coker had scribbled on the back of a Motel 6 brochure about the future of his company probably got crumpled up and tossed in a trash can.

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