GSP-HENDRICKS MUSINGS

OH NO, ANOTHER CONTROVERSIAL DECISION I hate to go along with the crowd, but in the case of Saturday’s UFC 167 main event between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks, I do have to agree that the challenger, Hendricks, should have gotten the nod by a score of 48-47. The fight was a close and competitive one, and while I can’t see how any 3-2 fight – in either direction – can be a robbery, the right guy should get the win when all is said and done. In practically all of the post-fight analysis, rounds two through five are pretty clear-cut, with GSP taking rounds three and five and Hendricks picking up two and four. The questionable round in a lot of eyes is the first. So do you give Hendricks the round for the more damaging close range strikes, that began marking the champion up early in the frame, or do you give it to St-Pierre for his early takedown and submission attempt? I gave it to Hendricks for the more effective and damaging strikes, and judge Glenn Trowbridge agreed. Judges Sal D’Amato and Tony Weeks gave the round to the champion, and that proved to be the deciding factor in the final verdict, as all three judges agreed on the rest of the four frames. So now the debates begin – well, actually they already started. And while I won’t bore you with endless breakdowns of the fight, I will say that a lot of folks calling this the worst decision in the history of combat sports are way off base. Yes, I think Hendricks should have won, and when the right guy doesn’t get his hand raised, that’s an issue. But…a few people whose opinions I respect thought GSP deservedly got the win, and a lot more people are judging St-Pierre’s face and not the fight. At this point in his long and storied career, St-Pierre is seemingly bleeding and swelling up before Bruce Buffer’s introductions. He can take a helluva shot, but his face is not reacting well to them. So while GSP looked like he got hit by a baseball bat after the fight, Hendricks was unmarked, leading observers to say ‘well, look who won the fight.’ And while the rules of Japan’s PRIDE organization would have likely made Hendricks an easy winner, with the 10 point must system of the unified rules of MMA, the fights are scored by rounds, not cumulatively, and when it comes to rounds, this was a fight that likely came down to how you scored the first one.