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The sport of mixed martial arts is growing by the week. At the top of the tree, the UFC are putting on high-calibre events almost every fortnight these days and the fan reaction to the big events has invariably been positive. Initial concerns about the UFC over-saturating things appear, for now, to be misplaced.

But that’s not to say there aren’t issues dogging the sport – there clearly are. And if you ask the likes of Dana White and the top fighters in the sport which issue is the biggest, you’ll likely get the same answer. Judging.

The sport of MMA is proving notoriously difficult to judge and it seems barely a UFC event goes by where a fighter doesn’t find themselves on the wrong end of a bad judging decision.

The most recent debate on judging has flared up in the aftermath of Saturday night’s UFC on Fox 2 event.

In the co-main event, Britain’s Michael “The Count” Bisping took on concencus number one contender Chael Sonnen in a bout to decide who would go on to face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva this summer.

The pair fought out a keenly-contested, punishing three-round fight and, when the klaxon sounded to end the final round, only one man instantly reacted like he was the winner. Bisping.

Indeed, while the pair were waiting for the judges’ decision, the pair shared a conversation, where Sonnen asked what Bisping thought the result would be. The Brit explained he thought he’d won the first two rounds, prompting the response, “I think you may be right”.

Both Bisping and Sonnen thought the Englishman had won. I, for what it’s work, also thought Bisping had done enough. And other well-respected MMA journalists, including Josh Gross and Mauro Ranallo, concurred. Both had given the first two rounds to Bisping, while Sonnen, clearly had taken the third.

But while there was no debate over the final round, it would seem the opening five-minute period wasn’t as clear to some. All three judges gave the fight to Sonnen, with two of them scoring it two rounds to one (29-28) and one inexplicably giving all three rounds to Sonnen (30-27).

(Image: Getty Images)

The rules of MMA explain that rounds are scored using a ten point must system similar to that used in boxing. The round winner gets ten, the loser nine or less. The determining factors – striking, grappling, aggression and Octagon control.

The number of factors involved in judging a round mean different people see different things, and the level of emphasis on certain areas of the sport depends on an individual’s interpretation.

Let’s look at takedowns as an example. Is a takedown the same as a knockdown punch? How relevant is a takedown if the opponent gets straight back up? And what about if a fighter takes his opponent down, but fails to land any scoring blows or cause any damage to his downed opponent?

In the Bisping v Sonnen fight, the latter two questions are particularly relevant. The judges on Saturday also had to consider Bisping’s attack. Rather than looking for takedowns, he was boxing on the counter, catching Sonnen on his way in, landing clean, solid shots and moving out of the way of the American’s takedown attempts. It happened repeatedly in the opening round. More often than the times that Sonnen actually dragged Bisping to the floor.

But when the scorecards came in, Sonnen was given the first round. It proved to be the difference between a win and a shot at the world title and a loss and having so start all over again. Bisping, for my money at least, ended up hard done by. It was a close decision and by no means the worst one I’ve seen, but as a fellow Brit I was hugely disappointed to see a fighter who’d produced the performance of his career lose out because the judges scored a couple of takedowns more heavily than a succession of solid punches and good movement.

But rather than simply criticise the athletic commissions for bad judging, the sport needs to look closely at how it can evolve to provide better judging. Ex fighters, coaches, non-participating referees all have extensive knowledge - not just of the sport, but the different nuances of it. The commissions need to develop their judges’ knowledge, extend their recruitment to bring in people with more practical MMA experience and look to tweak the scoring system to make it clearer to fans and fighters how the fights are being judged.

Right now there are too many grey areas – and we want to be talking about great fights, not controversial decisions.

MICHAEL BISPING: STILL A WINNER

Bisping lost out in the Octagon to Chael Sonnen on Saturday night, but he won over a lot of fans with not only his performance, but his dignified response to what was in many eyes a controversial defeat.

Rather than complaining about the judges’ decision, he chose to congratulate Sonnen, saying he’d done enough in the judges’ eyes to win the fight. He explained how he thought he’d won the opening two rounds – and that Sonnen agreed with him – but he refused to criticise the decision. Instead he reiterated his determination to bounce back, earn a title shot and “bloody win it”.

I for one would love to see it.