I’m starting to think so. I think that a lot of professional sports are fixed though. Here are a few examples of some workings I feel are in the UFC.
1) Randy Couture v. Tito Ortiz … the spanking Randy gave him when Tito had him in a toe hold – was it a tap? It could’ve been! I think that had there been more money on Randy Couture that night (meaning more people bet on Randy Couture), I think that Big John would’ve ruled it a tap.
2) This shouldn’t always involve Tito Ortiz, but here’s another example – Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida – Machida dominated the fight. He gets caught in a triangle at the end of the fight. Again, I feel that it could’ve been a work. The ref doesn’t need to wait either – he could’ve just called it a tap after seeing Machida struggle a bit. I’m sure Machida wouldn’t have complained.
3) Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn – BJ just came back and was taking a fight prior to his title shot. GSP was a favorite in that fight. I think that a lot of money was put on BJ. BJ definitely won the fight. He didn’t get the decision. BJ went drinking after the fight. GSP went to the hospital.
4) What the hell … while I’m at it, let’s hit up Tito again. This time, against Rashad Evans. How often do we see points taken away from fighters for holding the fence? Almost never. Why’s Tito special? Do they pay him more for working fights? If you look at the money, you’ll see that Tito’s always paid extraordinarily well compared to the other fighters. Is it because he’s been there the longest? I doubt it. Is it because he can draw a lot of viewers? Sure! Is it because a lot of his fights are fixed? I don’t know and can’t prove it. This fight does make me wonder a little bit though. We all know Tito won that fight. He didn’t get the decision though.
5) Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida – Almeida was definitely a lot closer to finishing the fight than Cote. Unfortunately, he gassed after the first round. Cote hurt Almeida with a shot at the end of the 2nd, but who cares? Almeida was the only guy close to finishing the fight. I don’t think Cote should’ve gotten the decision.
6) Thales Leitas vs. Nathan Marquart – Marquart was robbed of bad reffing by Herb Dean. For some reason, I don’t think the UFC likes Marquart. He’s a pretty good fighter, but not the best, but definitely, won that fight.
7) Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin – It wasn’t clear that Rampage won, but a lot of people think he did. You can read the article on Sherdog.com if it’s still there. Most people thought Rampage won, but he was dominated the 2nd round. I think that a lot of money was put on Rampage.
Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine – this fight was close. I don’t know – tough to say. I’ll bet a lot of money was bet on Chuck though.
Maybe the UFC should incorporate another scoring system. Maybe it shouldn’t be as crazy as Matt Lindland’s how much damage the guy inflicted, but maybe they should have more judges – maybe the audience or something. It could skew things a lot though. It can’t really be the audience on TV either because they’re influenced too much by the commentators. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just crazy.
Takeaway from this: Don’t bet on MMA if you’re going to get pissed about these things. Probably not so much anymore, but MMA fighters used to get paid very little. There’s a good chance that they could get paid more to throw a fight than to win a fight. It’s well known that the Japanese promotions try to get people in on late notice to get them to go there and “lose”. Those don’t have to be for gambling reasons since there isn’t any casino gambling in Japan. Maybe I’m just paranoid. Maybe I just think too much. I hope I got you to think about this a little though. If this posting is the only reason why you’ve popped up on my blog, excellent! Please respond.
Thanks!