How Does One Score an Atomic Butt Drop?
The fight between Wanderlei Silva and Mark Hunt, the report for which is released today, presented two new challenges for FightMetric. The first is expressed by the title of this post: How does one score an Atomic Butt Drop? It doesn't fall into any ready strike category that we're familiar with. This is a case where FightMetric principle #3 really comes in handy. It doesn't matter what you strike with, be it fist, knee, or derriere, only where you strike to.
The second new challenge was the question of what to do with a yellow card during a Pride fight. FightMetric has a mathematical way to deal with a point deduction in fights contested under the Unified Rules, because that penalty must be factored into any discussion of fight judging.
But a yellow card does not directly affect the judging of the fight. The penalty for receiving a yellow card is purely financial; the penalized fighter loses 10% of his pay. While, the action leading up to the yellow card - be it passivity or a foul - must be factored into a judge's decision, it is not the yellow card in itself that is important. For that reason, we have chosen not to change any scores based on yellow cards during Pride fights. Given the inconsistent and capricious fashion in which the cards are given, it's probably for the best.
Agree or disagree? Let us know at info@fightmetric.com.
posted by FightMetric @ 12:00 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
I believe it's not true that yellow cards are pure financial and do not impact the judging of the fight. Some of the earlier Pride events featured Matt Hume as a guest commentator and he provided insight into the scoring methods. I recall him stating that yellow cards do in fact impact the scoring.
It would make sense for yellow cards to be a factor in judging, but it doesn't seem to be in any of the official Pride rules I've been able to find. From the PrideFC website, the judging criteria are:
Effort made to finish the fight via KO or submission, damage given to the opponent, standing combinations & ground control, aggressiveness and weight (in the case that the weight difference is 10kg/22lbs or more).
The only time you see yellow cards mentioned is that three yellow cards equals a disqualification. Seems that they don't factor at all into normal decisions.
In his letter defending the Ricco-Nog decision, Matt Hume does indicate that yellow cards cause some kind of "negative points," but that is not indicated anywhere else. With all due respect to Hume, I think we have to trust the preponderence of evidence that they don't matter even if it contradicts a single instance where someone says yellow cards do matter.
But thank you for pointing out the Hume thing. It is certainly cause for greater investigation and FightMetric will definitely change its rules should more evidence come to light.
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