By Joe Ferraro
Another UFC main event and another judging controversy. This time it was Randy Couture winning a razor thin decision over Brandon Vera – and ironically enough, I actually agree with judges.Yes, there’s a shocking statement to say the least, but upon further review, I can see how the judges scored the bout.
When I first watched the fight, I knew it could have went either way – in fact – I was actually surprised that Couture won, as I had the bout scored 29-28 for “The Truth”.
I took it upon myself to watch the fight a second time, something I vehemently recommend to everyone, as a second time around, you have to beauty of analyzing it with a fine tooth comb.
The two rounds that come into question are rounds one and rounds three; it’s safe to say that Vera won round two, based on the left leg kick, knee and follow up leg kick that dropped Couture.
In round one, Vera immediately explodes with a combination forcing Couture to clinch and pin Vera up against the cage. From here, he is able to control Vera at one point even taking him down, albeit, isn’t able to control him. One could score this round for either fighter, but in terms of the dreaded octagon control analogy, when I watched it a second time, I gave it to Couture. Mind you, by the narrowest of margins.
In round three, Couture was up to his old tricks again, clinching with Vera but this time, picks up the pace with his dirty boxing. He controls the vast majority of the round until in the final minute, Vera is able to take the former champ to the mat, mount him, but is unable to mount an offence.
Couture is able to get back to his feet, and the two exchange punches to close out the round. Based on, octagon control, I give it Couture, solely for the fact that if Vera would have scored that takedown earlier, and controlled Couture on the ground for a longer period of time, I would have likely scored the round for the Pilipino Phenom.
Unlike the robbery at UFC 104, where Mauricio Shogun Rua clearly dominated Lyoto Machida, the Couture-Vera bout was a razor thin one to call. Since the end of the bout and for the full day on Sunday, I have been fielding emails and phone calls from a variety of fans and dignitaries in the MMA industry.
What I found is that it is pretty much split down the middle…half for Couture, and half for Vera. It was simply that close in Manchester. So dare I say it…should the fight have been scored a draw?
Fightmetric.com ( http://fightmetric.com/fights/Couture-Vera.html ), the staple for MMA judging criteria makes a case for the draw. They gave their Strikescore to Couture, their Grapplescore to Vera and their Total Performance Rating to Couture. According to their 10 point must system, the fight should have been scored a draw, but based on their own analogy, Vera won the fight.
Folks…it was simply that close.
This is one fight where I have no issues with the judges decision, not because I agree, because it was one of the closest fights to score in a very long time.
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Regards,
Joe Ferraro
MMA Analyst
Host of “MMA Connected”
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