"Those damn UFC Judges!!"

This is a refrain that anyone who has spent any time on MMA related sites will read over and over, and with the upcoming UFC 106 this weekend, we will probably see a lot more of too. The problem with this statement, besides the fact that it is completely incorrect, is that none of the major MMA sites (and correct me with a well-written article if I am wrong) have ever taken the time to educate their readership. This means one of 3 things to me:

One: They themselves don't know that this statement is wrong and think the UFC has a say on who judges the fights..

Two: They know, but never read their comments section, or any of the other forums on the MMA interwebs.....or.....

Three: They know, but for reasons of sensationalism and false controversy they choose not to correct this fallacy for their readers which only helps to continue to perpetrate ignorance over this issue.

Either way, the issue remains that there is no such thing as "UFC Judges". The individual State Commissions decide who judges which events, based on the roster of judges that they have. Some states rotate judges, others may appoint judges as they see fit for various cards/events/fights within the cards. To be sure there are politics and whatnot involved, when it comes to deciding who gets to be a judge and who doesn't in some states,  but the UFC has zero control over who judges which events and has even less control over the outcome.To say that the UFC influencing the judges is more than illegal is putting it lightly, and no promotion would want to lose it's license in a given state because of allegations of tampering with the judges appointed and overseen by a state commission.

In later posts we'll get into which states have regulated professional and amateur MMA. States that regulate MMA also have commissions that regulate and oversee everything from the referees and judges to licenses for the fighters, timekeepers, and which rules to use. Many of these commissions are originally commissions that regukate boxing in a given state, but have been given MMA to take under their wing as it were. This is one reason why you have so many boxing judges overseeing MMA matches, and, although many of them may have tons of experience judging boxing, they have little to no experience judging MMA. (Having been to a state seminar helping judges get a better background in MMA, I have seen and heard active judges ask questions like "Could you tell me what the guard is? I have no understanding of what that term means." At least they were honest.)

So, rather than "UFC judges" fixing fight outcomes and the like, what we have instead are state commissioned appointed judges judging fights, some of whom may have little or no MMA experience or knowledge, and may be trying to use their boxing judging experience to call MMA fights. You can see here where the problem lies, and why there are some decisions that while not necessarily "fixed" as some people like to think, may leave you scratching your head a little.

Again, THERE ARE NO "UFC JUDGES".

Just to be clear ;)