News Alex Volkanovski in favor of open scoring because he’s sick of excuses and fans crying robbery

[KazDibiase]

Alexander Volkanovski is no stranger to competing in a closely fought battle. In his near-perfect 25-fight career, there’s only been one that stands out and it was his last encounter with former titlist, Max Holloway, in July 2020. “The Great” defeated “Blessed” via a split decision nod that many in the community believed should have gone to Holloway.

There have been plenty of questionable decisions since then and the discussion surrounding open scoring has amplified intensely in recent months, mostly following Holly Holm’s loss to Ketlen Vieira in the UFC Vegas 55 main event last month. Ahead of Volkanovski’s trilogy bout with Holloway this Saturday night at UFC 276, he expressed his thoughts on the concept.

“I don’t mind the open scoring thing,” Volkanovski told FREESTYLEBENDER. “I don’t think it’s that bad because ... you wanna know if you’re up or if you’re not or something like that.


“You should have a good enough corner to know that if you ain’t definitely taking the round, don’t sit there thinking, ‘Ah, we’re two up,’ you gotta have the right corner. I’m lucky enough to have a corner that even if we’re pretty comfortable we’re up, if there’s rounds that are still competitive, we’re still like, ‘We want these last rounds.’”

Volkanovski and Holloway have each secured two tremendous victories since last facing each other. The four combined fights weren’t nearly as competitive as the pair’s rematch and that alone has the start of the upcoming 11th round leaving MMA fans’ mouths salivating.

Unfortunately, as great and proven as Volkanovski has become in between these Holloway bouts, the Australian likely still needs a clear victory to keep the community off his back and avoid a reaction similar to the one he received after the rematch.

“To have that open scoring, to let everyone know, then you ain’t gonna have people crying about decisions and all that,” Volkanovski said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, you knew you were behind and you couldn’t do nothing about it.’ Because I’m sick of people using it as excuses. At the end of the day, open scoring will help with that but it shouldn’t have to because you should have a good enough team and corner behind you that ain’t gonna put you in that position anyway.”

https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/6/...ng-sick-excuses-people-crying-about-decisions

 

[Leonard Haid]

Fighter A is confident he won Round 1. Finds out before Round 2 that the judges gave the nod to Fighter B. Fighter A is pissed off. He goes into Round 2 thinking about how bad the judging is. During the couple of seconds he's thinking about that, he gets knocked the fuck out.

It's up to the corners to tell the fighters the truth. It was a close round. Maybe you won it, maybe not.

Why is anything more than that an improvement?

 

[BangBang]

Max living rent free, not the other way round. He'll never get over Max bring the adored one!

 

[TempleoftheDog]

I suspect anybody against open scoring is just not very bright.

 

[Kryptt]

Volk does not understand fans well I would say.

Of all the things Open Scoring would adjust, that would not be one of them. Or least not much impact.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Haven't heard a good argument against open scoring. We're worried about fighters being distracted now? If you're en route to losing a decision anyway, better to go out guns blazing. Hopefully, you have a Yamasaki type ref that will let you be a warrior.

 

[HeDidn'tWantTheFight]

I don't think the fight was a robbery in a round by round scoring system, but I'm not seeing the reasoning here. Open scoring would reduce the shock of one fighter getting a decision that people thought he didn't deserve at the end, but that doesn't mean that it'd improve the actual judging.

 

[Street Bishop]

No need for that shit. Volk via vicious TKO.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I thought Volk didn’t care about this anymore <Lmaoo>

 

[sdpdude9]

Fans will cry robbery even with open scoring, there is no doubt.

 

[LetThemBleed]

Max living rent free, not the other way round. He'll never get over Max bring the adored one!

Beating him for the third time and effectively ending his FW championship ambitions would do it I'd imagine if it bothered him at all. Reckon Max would be happy to be living rent free as you put it and down 0-3?

 

[jitzmonkey]

Haven't heard a good argument against open scoring. We're worried about fighters being distracted now? If you're en route to losing a decision anyway, better to go out guns blazing. Hopefully, you have a Yamasaki type ref that will let you be a warrior.

Point deductions* for timidity would need to happen; or fighters who are way ahead would just try to run out the clock. More liberal use of 10-8 scoring would also be necessary.
There's no way a fighter up 3-1 all in relatively close rounds going into the 5th should be able the to win a decision by running and getting their ass kicked but surviving to the final "bell."

I don't think the fight was a robbery in a round by round scoring system, but I'm not seeing the reasoning here. Open scoring would reduce the shock of one fighter getting a decision that people thought he didn't deserve at the end, but that doesn't mean that it'd improve the actual judging.

Re Robbery: Exactly!

And yeah, multiple aspects of judging (and IMO scoring system) are* extremely flawed.

There's no 'simple fix.'

 

[Cpt Migraine]

Open scoring is the way.. the reactions of fans, promotors, corners and fighters would probably have an impact on the judges..

 

[Tevfik1907]

That ''Split Decision'' still haunts him. He knew he lost that fight.

 

[El Fernas]

Fans will cry robbery even with open scoring, there is no doubt.

That wouldnt make a difference, a round scored the other way would mean they will complain "live" and after the fight if their guy lost.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I suspect anybody against open scoring is just not very bright.

None of his concerns are addressed by open scoring. You can't have an "honest corner" tell you that won a round that only a bad judge said you lost, and knowing there's a bad scorecard happening doesn't stop the bad scorecard from existing. Decisions are legitimate victories, so forcing someone to go for the finish that they shouldn't have to is not a solution. Hell, it's blaming the victim.

 

[Ace70 V2]

Max living rent free, not the other way round. He'll never get over Max bring the adored one!

He's suffering from that manlet syndrome hard. Got a chip on his shoulder the size of Francis.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

“You should have a good enough corner to know that if you ain’t definitely taking the round, don’t sit there thinking, ‘Ah, we’re two up,’ you gotta have the right corner. I’m lucky enough to have a corner that even if we’re pretty comfortable we’re up, if there’s rounds that are still competitive, we’re still like, ‘We want these last rounds.' ... At the end of the day, open scoring will help with that but it shouldn’t have to because you should have a good enough team and corner behind you that ain’t gonna put you in that position anyway.”

Yeah, I always knew Ross Pearson's corner didn't have the balls to tell him that he was down 0-2 to Diego. If only they did that, he could have pushed harder to win

 

[BEATDOWNS]

They should just do a test run on some early prelims to see how it goes.. Has the Pink Goof commented on this?

 

[RockyLockridge]

Imagine if there was open scoring for a fight like rose vs carla 2

imagine how different the fight would have been

Why is anything more than that an improvement?

Certainty and the ability to adjust your game plan accordingly.