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‘UFC 143: Diaz vs Condit’ Aftermath Part I–Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

“Come on, Nick. Tell us how you *really* feel.” (Video: ZombieProphet)

Though he fought in a cage only ten yards wide, Nick Diaz must have felt like he was fighting on a football field last night. For five rounds he stalked Carlos Condit but was unable able to pin him in any of the Octagon’s eight corners. In true Stockton fashion, he never stopped pressing forward and was always the aggressor, but did he exhibit ‘Octagon Control’? As we generally define the term, yes. As it’s actually defined, no. Diaz didn’t want to keep circling and chasing Condit; he wanted to trap him against the cage and unload merciless combinations–basically, to fight him in a phone booth. The reason he didn’t was because Condit executed his game plan perfectly and dictated the flow of the fight. Even if that wasn’t the case and Diaz was in full control of the bout, let’s not start pretending that we love nothing more than a fight full of ‘Octagon Control’. As fans we value effective striking and grappling above position and pace. So too should the judges.

“Come on, Nick. Tell us how you *really* feel.” (Video: ZombieProphet)

Some of you will undoubtedly feel that you can’t win a fight moving backwards. You may be right, but there are a host of other things that you can do in retreat. You can set a record for leg kicks landed in a UFC fight (not that those count, right?). You can out-strike your opponent in both total strikes and significant strikes by a 30% margin. You can land more power shots to the head.

There’s a good reason last night’s main event is so controversial—it was a damn close fight. Despite what I’ve written, I’m not actually here to convince you that Condit deserves the interim belt or his shiny new hog. If you think that Diaz won the fight, I won’t tell you that you’re wrong (again, stats never tell the whole tale, and it was a really close fight). That being said, let’s not confuse “The Natural Born Killer” with Kaleb Starnes. Condit picked his shots wisely and got the hell out of dodge. It wasn’t the balls-to-the-wall throwdown I’d hoped for, but it was an entertaining fight.

For the time being at least, Diaz says he’s had enough. He may be as tough and as talented as they come, but he’s only happy fighting his kind of fight. His bouts would be vastly more entertaining if everyone limited their offense and defense to match his strengths, but I don’t see that happening in the upper-tiers of the division. His distaste for wrestling, specifically lay and pray, is understandable, but to respond to a flashy Condit elbow with, “We’re throwing spinning shit now?” makes me think that he’ll never adjust his game to deal with those who won’t play it. If he sticks around, we can expect plenty more wars and plenty more victories, but his record will be spotted with losses he refuses to accept.

Diaz is one of the most entertaining fighters out there and I pray he doesn’t call it quits, but he’s clearly had his fill of this sport. In no uncertain words, the Stockton native expressed his disillusion with MMA’s scoring system and proclaimed that he doesn’t “need this shit.”

Straight forward, to the point, and no punches pulled. That’s Nick Diaz.

– Chris Colemon

Four UFC Fights That Would Have Different Outcomes Under ‘Stockton Rules’

(Smiling in the presence of a woman? Automatic one-point deduction. / Photo via Sherdog)

As sort-of hazily defined by Nick Diaz back in January 2010, the Unified Rules of Stockton is an alternate MMA scoring system in which the winner of the fight is the guy who would have won if the match had continued indefinitely, and the loser is the guy who looks more fucked up afterwards. Under Stockton Rules, only the final round is scored, and holding onto top position without doing damage actually counts for negative points.

The more commonly used ten-point-must system keeps things nice and uniform, and doesn’t require judges to predict the future. But as we’ve seen time and time again, the fighter who has more points on the scorecards isn’t always who you would call the “winner.” So which notable UFC fights would have different results if the scoring system was a little more gangster? Let’s get an obvious one out of the way first…

DAN HENDERSON vs. MAURICIO “SHOGUN” RUA
UFC 139, 11/19/11

(Smiling in the presence of a woman? Automatic one-point deduction. / Photo via Sherdog)

DAN HENDERSON vs. MAURICIO “SHOGUN” RUA
UFC 139, 11/19/11

According to the scorecards: Henderson wins by unanimous decision, 48-47 across the board.

What really happened: Shogun got thoroughly handled in the first three rounds, but managed to get some momentum back in the fourth, and spent much of the last round in mount, slugging the crap out of a helpless Hendo who clearly had nothing left. Henderson was saved by the bell, and had fortunately built up enough of a lead early in the fight to clinch the judges’ decision.

According to Stockton Rules: Rua would be awarded a pre-emptive TKO victory, based on the likelihood that he would have finished the fight by round seven.

BJ PENN vs. JON FITCH
UFC 127, 2/27/11

According to the scorecards: Penn and Fitch fought to a majority draw, with two out of the three judges scoring it 28-28.

What really happened: Penn vs. Fitch is a perfect showcase of the shortcomings of the ten-point-must system. The Prodigy was awarded the first two rounds 10-9, for edging out Fitch by the narrowest of margins. Then, Fitch comes back in round three and beats the living hell out of Penn. Add it all up, and the fight is…dead even? Maybe by the numbers, but in no way was that fight a “tie.”

According to Stockton Rules: An obvious decision victory for Fitch, who would still be punching BJ Penn right now if time limits were removed.

JOSE ALDO vs. MARK HOMINICK
UFC 129, 4/30/11

According to the scorecards: Aldo by unanimous decision (48–45, 48–46, 49–46).

What really happened: Just like Dan Henderson’s fight against Shogun, Aldo built up an unsurmountable lead in the early going of this five-rounder. But due to a horrible weight cut and a mysterious infection, the featherweight champ’s body failed him in the fifth round, which allowed Hominick to come back and pour on a heap of abuse which nearly finished the fight.

According to Stockton Rules: It’s a draw. Hominick probably would have won if the fight were allowed to continue to additional rounds, but when you add in the “more fucked-up-looking” criteria, Aldo evens the score by making Hominick’s head look like a damn parade float. Raise both of their hands and make them fight again the next day. (Also known as “Stockton Scheduling.”)

ANDERSON SILVA vs. CHAEL SONNEN
UFC 117, 8/7/10

According to the scorecards: The fight never went to the judges. Silva won by triangle-armbar submission in round five.

What really happened: Chael Sonnen spent four and a half rounds taking Silva down at will and smashing him from the top. Hell, he was even getting the better of the standup exchanges somehow. And then, as has happened many times before in his pro career, Sonnen fell into the unforgiving crotch of a Brazilian and got choked out.

According to Stockton Rules: Sonnen by split-decision. Look, I know what you’re thinking — how could the guy who tapped out be considered the winner of a fight? Well, you clearly haven’t read the Stockton Rules fine print. As Nick Diaz explains at the 10:50 mark of his interview with Ariel, “I say, even if you tapped the guy out and you got your ass beat, you still got your ass beat, you know what I mean?”

Or, as Sonnen himself put it later, “In what parallel universe can you punch a man 300 times, he wraps his legs around your head for eight seconds and they declare him the winner? On the streets of West Linn, Oregon, if you lay on your back with your legs wrapped around a man’s head for eight seconds, that does not make you a winner. That makes…not a winner.” The man’s got a point — and it’s pretty obvious that Chael Sonnen is a Stocktonite at heart.

(BG)

Bum Rush Rant: Cole Miller Lashes Out at Fighters Who Do Just Enough to Get By, Calls Cecil Peoples the ‘Antichrist of Judging’

("Wrestling should be a means to an end…You should be taking guys down so you can ground-and-pound the living piss out of them." Photo courtesy of the UFN 22 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)
If Cole Miller’s match again…

("Wrestling should be a means to an end…You should be taking guys down so you can ground-and-pound the living piss out of them." Photo courtesy of the UFN 22 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com.)

If Cole Miller‘s match against Ross Pearson at tonight’s UFC Fight Night 22 event is boring, it won’t be Cole’s fault. The lightweight standout prides himself on being an exciting fight-finisher, and has stopped three of his last four opponents by submission. Miller was a guest on the latest installment of CagePotato’s Bum Rush Radio Show, and gave us an earful about the growing trend of point-fighting "underachievers" in MMA and why judging in the sport sucks so badly. Check out an excerpt from Miller’s segment below, and please subscribe to The Bum Rush Show on iTunes!

CAGEPOTATO.COM: I just saw your interview with BJPenn.com, where you referred to Frankie Edgar as a "bouncy wrestler type" who doesn’t try to finish, and is content to just stick and move and score the occasional takedown for points. Was Frankie dominating BJ Penn really not that impressive to you?
COLE MILLER: No, I thought it was very impressive. I don’t think you can say anything about his skill set. It’s just more like, I look back at his past fights — and it’s not so much Frankie Edgar, it’s just a trend with all weight classes and all these fighters — and it’s becoming more like boxing where these guys are just trying to do enough to win the round. "Let’s do just enough to get by. Let’s get that 10 points. And then let’s get that 10 points again. Oh, I’m up two rounds to none? Man, let’s just ride this out. Let’s just survive and do enough to just stay competitive, and man, I got that 29-28 at the very least."

It’s like, that’s really what you came here to do? And I’m not talking so much about Frankie [in] this second BJ fight. I’m just using him as an example because it was a recent fight and he’s a guy that has a lot of decisions on his record. Man the guy can really box, the guy’s got awesome boxing, he’s got good footwork, he definitely comes in shape, and he didn’t look like a slouch on the ground, he’s very well rounded, so to say that you’re not impressed with somebody, especially a champion, I think that’s kind of silly…it’s more like the mental approach to fighting. I just think that guys should have more of a finishing outlook on fights. Doing enough to just get by, that’s not something that’s looked well upon.

You look at boxing, why is MMA outdoing it on pay-per-view for the most part? It’s not because people can appreciate the takedowns and the ground game all that much more, even though the general population is becoming more and more educated, it’s because people like to see fights finished. Boxing was not getting the knockouts and you weren’t seeing these devastating knockouts like you used to, and people stopped buying the pay per views because the general public doesn’t want to see 36 minutes of two guys both trying to do enough to win the rounds and get that 10, and get that 10, and get that 10….