There is a story told by Texas poker legend T.J. Cloutier that I've
always remembered since first hearing it. Back in the outlaw poker
days of the 1970s in Texas, when players like Cloutier made their
living not in casinos or online but at illegal, in-person cash
games, he spotted a group of guys in the back of a building playing
poker. There was a lot of money on the table and the players
weren't very good: surely a prime opportunity for a hustler like
Cloutier. However, he had a funny feeling. There was a security
guard close to the table, and Cloutier asked him two questions:
“Can I join that poker game?”
“Sure,” the guard replied.
“If I win money, will I be able to leave with it?”
At this, the security guard scratched his head for a moment and
then smiled. “You know, no one has ever asked me that question
before. My advice? Don't play at this table.” That anecdote is one
I think of frequently regarding combat sports. If you face a
popular opponent and beat them, will you be able to leave with your
win? In boxing, the answer has long been no, and it has largely
crippled the sport. Time and again, less popular but more skilled
pugilists clearly beat more famous foes, only to have the judges
give it to the money draw. Just look at Oscar de la Hoya's career,
beginning with the shameful robbery he won against the great
Pernell Whitaker. Or go back to Whitaker's fight against Julio
Cesar Chavez, where Whitaker boxed Chavez's ears off for 12 rounds
only to have two of the three judges declare the bout a farcical
draw. Any longtime boxing fan can come up with hundreds of other
examples in high-profile fights.
This very much applies to MMA and the
Ultimate Fighting Championship as well. Look at
Paddy
Pimblett’s fight against
Jared
Gordon at UFC 282 last month. Or
Sherdog's 2022 Robbery of the
Year, where former bantamweight champion
Petr Yan won
every round against
Sean
O'Malley, only to walk away with a loss. People always grouse
about incompetent judges, but they're not the culprits nor should
they be the focus. It's a unique form of incompetence that
consistently favors the bigger star and one that, by wild
coincidence, always benefits the promotion.
Sure, you can come in and beat a popular opponent, but will they
let you leave with the win? Let's break down how this affects the
three main groups in MMA: the fighters, the fans and the
promotions.
The Fighters
The fighters are in a tough spot. Oftentimes, facing a big star
means big money, more than they would get for fighting a regular
opponent. And if they refuse, they don't get paid. This isn't even
getting into the difficulty of anticipating certain robberies. Yan
is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, has a large
following of his own and is a recent former champion who has been
in the co-main event of two different pay-per-views, one of which
he won. I'm sure he thought he would get a fair shake against
O'Malley. He thought wrong.
The only real choice fighters have is the promotion they join, as
some are clearly fairer than others. Among the best, I have to
applaud
Bellator MMA. I struggle to think of a single instance
where a heavily hyped star was given a robbery against a less
heralded foe. Moreover, there are instances where the unknown was
given the decision in a very close fight, even if didn't fit in
with promotional plans. Look at
Valerie
Loureda vs.
Hannah Guy,
for instance.
Media and fans alike were split
on who deserved to win, but the anonymous Guy received a unanimous
decision against the heavily hyped Loureda.
The Fans
To me, as a lifelong, passionate fan of MMA since I was eight years
old in the mid-90s, there is nothing more sickening than the
robberies stars enjoy. I'm perfectly aware of various seedy aspects
of the sport outside the ring and cage, but the hope and promise
are that everything that takes place inside of it is legitimate;
just two warriors deciding whose fighting ability is superior. It's
why I love the sport so damn much and care about who wins and
loses. Robberies in favor of the bigger money-maker puncture that
fantasy and reveal it to be a sham. When that happens too many
times, a fan becomes deeply disillusioned.
The Promotions
This is the most interesting part of the analysis. On the one hand,
star favoritism clearly works in the short-term. For instance, the
return of former UFC light heavyweight champion
Jon Jones was
recently announced, in a bout with
Ciryl Gane
for the vacant UFC heavyweight title, and most fans were ecstatic.
Would they be as ecstatic if Jones' record was 23-4 instead of
26-1, and on a two-fight losing streak against
Thiago
Santos and
Dominick
Reyes to go with a decision loss against
Alexander
Gustafsson in their first meeting? In particular, Jones’ last
fight, against Reyes just under three years ago, was close yet easy
to score. Reyes clearly won the first three rounds and Jones
clearly won the last two. Naturally, when the scorecards were read,
not a single judge scored the fight for Reyes. Having Reyes win
would have hurt Jones' mystique and drawing power, but it wouldn't
have necessarily made Reyes a star—especially if Reyes were to lose
his next three fights by knockout, as he has.
Thus, there is a clear incentive here. But very often what is good
in the short term is bad in the long term. As I noted, boxing
promoters found this out the hard way, as a litany of these
robberies eventually caused many lifelong die-hards, myself
included, to tune out. What was the damn point of watching and
pretending any of these farces were legitimate? It is an example
MMA promotions would do well to heed, before the sport heads down
the same path of decline and irrelevance.