I love overtime hockey in the playoffs. It’s one of the best things to watch in sports. The sudden-death nature of it, with so much on the line, is just so exhilarating.
I don’t even mind it when it goes long. Ridiculously long. Like Sunday night/Monday morning’s quadruple-overtime game between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks. Loads of good chances. So many great saves.
Sure, the quality of play tends to break down a bit as the teams get tired. But there’s a certain thrill in knowing that any second all the hard work can be rewarded for one team, with utter disappointment for the other, all in the blink of an eye.
So in the wee hours of the night after the game was finally done, it got me thinking: Is there a way to apply such a thing to UFC fights? Sudden death in the Octagon …
Yeah, let’s get rid of decisions altogether, so any bout not decided after three rounds will go to an “overtime” round instead of the judges’ scorecards. Have the fighters stand up for as many rounds as it takes. First person to get knocked out, knocked down, submitted, or merely taken down at all, loses the fight. Simple and exciting, no?
Okay, before I get bombarded with incredulous responses, let me just say this: I’m completely joking. Obviously, that would be a ridiculous way to decide a bout. Not to mention unfair. It’s about as dumb as it would be to decide a tie in an NBA game by sudden death. (First basket wins!)
However, I do wonder if there are ways to reduce the amount of time a bout goes to a decision and eliminate boring fights (I think there was a pretty notable one recently). I’m not saying such a change is needed. But there’s nothing wrong with a little playful brainstorming.
Nobody really likes decisions. Not the fighters; not the fans; not the referees, if decisions they made during the bout affect the scoring; and, I’m sure not the judges if they get criticized (although I’m sure they don’t care what the critics say).
What about permitting certain blows that are currently illegal in the UFC, but okay in other promotions, such as knees to the head of a downed opponent? That would potentially allow for more knockouts (I’m not bloodthirsty, I’m just not sure getting hit in such a way is any worse than other ways which are legal).
That would also eliminate controversial or close calls, and also point deductions for such a foul, and anytime you have a point deduction, you increase the chance of a draw, which people don’t really like either.
Okay, let’s get a bit more radical. What about if the judges’ scores for each round were made known to both fighters after each round? Then fighters would know where they stand and whether they have to turn it up a notch and/or go for the finish, rather than have to guess.
Of course, that could also have the opposite effect, making a fighter too complacent if he knew he was ahead. On the other hand, a fighter who goes too complacent in the third round when up 20-18 could be judged as such and the other fighter get a 10-8 score to even it up.
Okay, maybe this wouldn’t work exactly, but it could add an interesting level of intrigue. There must be some ideas out there. Got any?
Now’s the time, as the UFC is open to changes these days. They’re cutting a whole bunch of fighters in order to get more exciting fights and allowing fans to see the fighters they like more often. Rich Clementi, who beat Sam Stout at UFC 83, is fighting Terry Etim on the very next card in May. Fighting at consecutive events has been pretty much unheard of the past couple of years.
And Michael Bisping, who was another winner at the 11-bout card in Montreal, is fighting at the following event in front of his home supporters in England, while Jonathan Goulet is saying (at least on Facebook) that he too will be at UFC 85, taking on Paul Kelly. If that indeed happens, it would bring that card’s total to 13 bouts -- a significant increase from the typical nine it had per event last year. This is just another change to make the shows more exciting for fans in attendance, as well as add potential for TV.
What other ways might there be? Your comments, suggestions -- and critiques -- are always welcome.
