My system is a little more detailed which allows a fighter to win a dominant round, for example, with a score of 8-3 but does not completely prevent his opponent from coming back to win rounds 2 and 3 by using a versatile MMA game to score points in any of the 5 categories defined.

Obviously this system is a disadvantage to one dimensional fighters like strikers who only want to stand and bang or bjj who want to take it to the ground. But this system is not meant to favor one particular style of fighting…. this is MMA. A striker is going for the knockout. If he doesn’t get the KO and it goes to the judges, he has no one to blame if he loses on points. Likewise, a wrestler laying and praying for 3 rounds may not score enough points to justify winning the decision.

Maybe we’ll see more ties. Maybe fighters will be more aggressive and try to finish the fights. Maybe we’ll see a quicker evolution of the quintessential mixed martial artist who is strong in all categories of the game… like a GSP but more fighters like him.

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Good write up. I’m not bashing the 10-point must system but i do think i have a better system that is a compromise between point scoring and the 10-point MUST system. I call it the 10-Point MAX System.

The 10-POINT MAX SYSTEM is broken down into 5 categories:

1. Striking (boxing/kickboxing/muay thai)
2. BJJ (submission attempts/submission defense)
3. Wrestling (takedowns/takedown defense)
4. Ground-and-Pound
5. Aggressiveness (willingness to engage to finish the fight)

There is a MAXIMUM of 2 points that can be earned in each category. Judges can award point values of 0, 1, or 2 points in each category to each fighter. If a fighter completely dominates a round in every area of the fight (striking, bjj, wrestling, GnP, aggressiveness), he can be awarded 2 points in each category for a maximum of 10 points (5 x 2) for the round. If neither fighter attempts any takedowns in a round, the round may be scored 0-0 in the wrestling category. In addition, the Ground-and-Pound category would also be scored 0-0 if the fight never went to the ground. A fighter only earns points for techniques he uses during the fight.

I can breakdown each category if anyone is interested and give you examples of when a particular category would be scored 2-0, 2-1, 1-1 etc. I even created a sample MMA score card using excel that i can send to you.

Its difficult for a judge to keep track of all the different types of strikes and submission attempts and positions to accurately score a round using a true points system. However, i don’t think my system is too difficult to implement during a live fight. Afterall, if you’re an MMA judge, its YOUR JOB to understand these 5 basic categories and determine which fighter is winning in each area of the fight.

In the end though, i think competent judges are required before a new system can be implemented.

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Rounds and Bout:
# At the end of each round, each judge will write the TOTAL amount of points for each fighter on their score card. Although the WINNER will only receive “1″ point on the MASTER SCORE SHEET kept by the Chief Ringside Scorekeepers, it is good for review purposes to know the total points each judge scored the bout as.
# At the end of each round, the Chief Ringside Scorekeepers will only give “1″ point to the WINNING fighter who is the fighter with the most points in the round. The losing fighter will receive “0″ points.
# At the end of the bout, unless the bout was stopped prior to the end of the scheduled rounds (KO, TKO DQ etc.) the fighter with the most rounds WON will win the bout.

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Another idea: I would like to see some combination of Abu Dhabi submission wrestling rules mixed with IKF San Shou format rules, minus the 8 count. I like the 5 second clinch break up rule and the high altitude rule. In current mma, good throws are de-emphasized with the bjj and sub grappling rule bias for any kind of takedown. Pick-ups and slams like Rampage did to Griffin should also count for A LOT more than some stupid leg kicks, even a good one. Ok, yeah, it’s a little pro-wrestling ish.

Not sure what the exact points would have to be. Probably double the stand-up points and keep the ADCC points as is. Otherwise, we’ll just be seeing sub grappling and not exciting mma with more exciting stand-up.

Also, I like their 1-0 scoring for rounds. Fighters who win the most rounds win the bout. None of this stupid 10-9, 10-8, 10-7 shit.

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If you want MMA judging to adopt a better scoring system, don’t rock the boat too much by offering a completely new methodology. It’s better to slip in a minor change (half-point system) with maximum impact rather than a drastic change that achieves the same result. The half-point system is the easiest and most effective way to move forward on changing the standard for scoring MMA.

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Basically the way I see it, it’s not really that fair to divide up winning a round in just 2 ways. 10-9 and 10-8. Having a bit more scale would be better as a fighter can really dominate or it can be really close, but due to the mental hurdle of the 10 point system I think you gotta go with something different.

Here’s just a suggestion to get people thinking:

Alternative Scoring procedure:

Each round is worth 5 points, to be divided among the fighters. This means you can totally dominate and win 5-0 (what would today be a clear cut 10-8), doing lots of damage. A clear domination, but with the opponent still doing some decent defense/damage avoidance could be 4-1 (I.e clear knockdowns, complete outwrestling etc), while a bit more give and take (both figheters slug it out, one winning 55-75% of the exchanges or so, but still round winner would get 3-2.
In extreme cases where both fighters are exactly matched, The judge could have an opportunity to call it 2-2 (or 3-3) for the round (similar to 10-10 that does happen).

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