Regarding the Jim Miller-Mark Bocek "Robbery" Decision; Explaining my 29-28 Miller Card

Before I begin, in the interest of integrity, let me preface this article by saying that I am in no way an impartial observer for this fight. I run Jim and Dan’s web site for them, and as my sister is married to Dan, I consider both to be family. I acknowledge I had a vested interest in the result of the fight. Seeing as many readers will thus find my footing in presenting a case for Jim tenuous to begin with, I have taken extra care to break down each round minute-by-minute to illustrate why I felt Jim deserved the 29-28 victory.

There are three main points of contention I have seen raised in the days since the fight by those who are opposed to the unanimous decision ruling in Miller’s favor: the fight was too close for a unanimous decision, Bocek deserved a 10-8 round in the second frame, and Bocek should have been awarded the third round, or at least a draw. The sad part in this debate is that I feel not nearly enough attention has been given to how great the fight was, and how it probably deserved Fight of the Night over a fight which, while entertaining, saw two gassed fighters gutting out a fight as opposed to two top-level grapplers putting on a show.

As for the fight being too close for a unanimous decision, this is a fallacy which is often thrown around in the wake of an even fight. Simply because a fight is scored unanimously for one fighter does not mean that the fight wasn’t close. Take, for example, a fight that is close as can be, one in which literally half those who watched it thought Fighter A won, half thought Fighter B won. Ruling out draws via 10-10 rounds which, as the game is judged today, just aren’t a particularly real possibility, there is a 50/50 chance a given person will name Fighter A as the winner, and a 50/50 chance a given person will name Fighter B the winner. The fights aren’t judged by a group of 99, they are judged by a group of 3. That’s an incredibly small sample, and explains how unanimous decisions aren’t that uncommon for close fights. In fact, in the 50/50 scenario, there will be a unanimous decision a respectable 25 percent of the time, as there is a 50 percent chance the second judge will agree with the first, and a 50 percent chance that, should that occur, the third judge agrees with both. So, just because a fight is close, doesn’t mean a unanimous decision is an outrage. A close fight doesn’t have to be scored a split decision to be scored properly.

The latter two points deal with scoring of the fight. I was in attendance at the fight, and thought that Miller won, but was concerned with how the result would go. I spoke with my brother after, and mentioned that I was concerned the judges would screw up and not give Miller the first round, only to be surprised to hear him say “When you rewatch it, you won’t think that’s the round in contention.” So, I sat down yesterday to have a go on a recording of the fight, and concurred. I’d overestimated the time Bocek spent on top in the first frame, thinking it much longer than it was, and saw the third round was clearly the contentious one, as most observers agree the first went to Miller, and the second to Bocek. To break down why I scored each round as I did, here is my minute-by-minute account of the fight:

John Fitch Wants You to Know that He can Finish

On the eve of his biggest test since a defeat against Georges St. Pierre in a UFC Welterweight Title bout, John Fitch has struck back at doubters who have claimed he doesn’t know how to finish.

He didn't even finish buttoning his shirt.

“You know, I’ve heard all the haters,” Fitch said. “I know it’s ‘cool’ now to say how I couldn’t finish my way out of a paper bag, but really, what does that even mean? How can you finish your way out of a paper bag?

“When you think about that, it’s an expression that is really applied to a lot of scenarios where it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. How would you act your way out of a paper bag? It really makes you wonder where the expression came from at all.”

After spending several minutes attempting to deduce the origin of the expression, Fitch turned his attention back to claims that his is unable to finish.

“I’ve been fighting a lot of tough guys, and it’s not easy to finish a tough guy,” Fitch said. “Just because I haven’t been finishing fights lately doesn’t mean I don’t know how to finish.

“Just this morning, I finished a bowl of cereal. Right down to the bottom, so there were only a few mini-wheats left before I threw it out.”

Fitch expressed a newfound dedication to finishing in every facet of life, and offered up several examples of his new finishing abilities.

“I finished The Matrix last night, and I thought it was just an incredible film. I was totally caught off guard by the way they just shoot the main character to death and have the bad dudes win. Awesome twist.”

 Fitch also spoke of the upcoming bout with Alves, at UFC 111 on Saturday, and what his game plan for the bout would be.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Fitch said, “I’m going to take him down and punch him on the mat for fifteen minutes.”

Breaking News -- Dana White: "Inside Jokes are AWESOME!"

TORONTO – Ultimate Fighting Championships president Dana White flew into town Monday to speak to Torontonians about the hilarity that inside jokes can offer, and the importance of sharing those jokes with others, so they too can share in your fun.

“So, me, Mark and Tommy grabbed lunch at a pizza joint,” White said to the assembled crowd Tuesday. “Tommy asks Mark to pass the parmesan cheese, and Mark? He’s not even paying attention – too fucking busy tying his own shoes!

“I mean, isn’t that just typical fucking Mark?”

White hung around after the speech for a question and answer session with the fans in which he shared such information as what his favorite color was (black) and what Rocky movie he felt was best (Rocky II) with the assembled crowd.

Dubiously Accurate UFC on Versus 1 Recap: Jon Jones Defeats Security Guard, Octagon and Brandon Vera; James Irvin Falls to Alessio Sakara, Cruel Hand of Fate

In a throwback performance that had many fans harkening back to the original tournament-driven days of the UFC, Jon Jones made short work of a security guard, a corner post of the Octagon itself and finally Brandon Vera to come out as the top winner at the inaugural UFC on Versus.

The security guard and Octagon were defeated with lone, devastating strikes, while Jones elected to use a crushing elbow from Vera’s guard to re-arrange the position of several portions of Vera’s skull, resulting in a near critical mass of “Truth” and “Bones” puns online.

“It really helped to get through those first two fights quickly and unharmed,” Jones said after the fight. “Honestly, I really felt like the corner post provided the stiffest test for me tonight, and I knew if I could get by that, I’d be alright.”

Asked how he judged his performance in the defeat, Vera said, “Ow.”

Crayon History: A Guided, Illustrated, Mildly Stupid Tour of UFC 2

Welcome back to tournament number two of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. If you’re just joining us for the first time, you missed out (LINK) on a tall Dutchman abusing fat men, and a little Brazilian fellow choking the life out of a one-gloved boxer, a dude in a mankini and a fat-kicking Dutchman. For today’s tournament, things have been ramped right the hell up, with 16 men instead of 8, though you only get to watch 8 of the 15 fights anyways. Honestly, the early fights seem like they kind of sucked, and you can rest assured we’re in for clips of all the best preliminary assaults.

Leading the broadcast for UFC 2 is Brian Kilmeade, promoted from his position as post-fight interviewer, presumably because producers felt his performance really stuck out as the most superb at UFC 1, which is akin to being the member of a surgical team that was least drunk. Joining him is the somewhat-crazy Jim Brown, and the new grappling expert for the broadcast, Ben Perry. Gone from the booth are Bill Wallace, deemed too terrible at broadcasting, and Kathy Long, deemed too having a vagina.

The crew does a great job of continuing the sports drive to near-outlaw status by letting us know anything can happen tonight, including the loss of teeth, or eyes. The results of the first seven prelim fights are briefly given to us, and we learn, quite sadly, that Pat Smith’s victory has denied us of what would no doubt have been an epic battle between a Ninja and a Wizard.

I'm Back, Bitches!

So, while the family issue is still ongoing, things have settled down and looking better, so I'm going to give writing a whack again with another Illustrated Tour reposting and a first post in the new fake-news style.

Temporary Break

Due to a family concern I am temporarily taking a break from writing about MMA. I'll get the second Guided Tour up some time in the coming days, but actual updates will be on hold for the time being.

Web Check: Fight! Magazine -- Good at Making Videos, Bad at Programming Fighter Rankings

Using computers crunching formulas to determine who is best is nothing new to sport. Companies like AccuScore run thousands of simulations in order to predict winners of games for the purpose of betting, the ELO system was devised for rating chess players and College football has determined computers are a far better option to pussy shit like letting the best teams play each other until one remains. For fighting, computers offer the potential to provide an objective view of who is best, without opinion skewed by personal love or hatred for a given fighter, and have the ability to turn out quite nicely.

On the other hand, they have the ability to turn out, in the words of the poet Hammer, wiggidy, wiggidy whack. FIGHT! Magazine is best known online for having the so-obvious-it’s-brilliant idea to put a camera on Bas Rutten and film anything at all he wants to say, because it is sure to be awesome.

They also run an excellent MMA mag, which is always worth a read, so it’s not like these rankings were put together by a bunch of rank amateurs, if you’ll excuse the pun. It’s often argued that rankings don’t really mean anything, and while on the one hand it’s entirely true, there’s still some merit in trying to objectively find the best in the world, particularly at the weight classes where the top talent is not gathered under one roof. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some highlights from the weight classes heavy-through-light in, to date, the worst rankings I have ever seen.

Reports of Miguel Torres' Pound-for-Pound Greatness May Have Been Slightly Overplayed

Just seven short months ago, Miguel Torres seemed to be on top of the world. He was 37-1, had never been stopped in his career, and a run of victories in the WEC had seen him considered a top-5 pound-for-pound fighter by many, and the most destructive force ever bestowed upon mortal man by Frank Mir. Analysts marveled at his ability to fight through adversity in a hard-fought decision victory over Takeya Mizugaki, and buzzed about how he ran through undefeated Manny Tapia and veteran Chase Beebe. Many wondered whether anyone in the division could defeat him. That’s not something many people are wondering about these days. Another thing people aren’t really wondering about anymore is what his skull looks like.

Turns out it looks pretty gross.

Crayon History: A Guided, Illustrated, Mildly Stupid Tour of UFC 1

We are live (well, were live) and in spectacularly 90’s television style. In addition to a Technicolor opening, we are treated to our noble warriors shadow-boxing, complete with motion-blurred hands. Also, a really fat guy in purple stretching, which we probably could have done without seeing.

Manning the broadcast boost for us today, we have Kathy Long, a five-time world kickboxing champion, Bill Wallace, a karate world champion, and Jim Brown, who was really good at carrying a football. Wallace manages to screw up the very first words to leave his mouth, and then calls it the Ultimate Fighting Challenge twice, a blow made more crushing when you realize the announcing team is outfitted to communicate with space, making it an error of galactic proportions.

Wallace takes this pre-fight time to question his co-hosts on if they would consider fighting themselves, reminding Brown that he always has the ability to “just climb over the ropes” if things got too rough, showing both a profound lack of understanding for how this whole cage-fighting thing works, as well as a staggering inability to look six feet in front of him. Seeing as this is the first time most of the viewers will be introduced to ground-fighting, otherwise known as “that queer shit where nobody’s punching nobody,” we are quickly informed that the man that controls the ground fighting will win, by showing “jiu jitsu at its best.” Rest assured this event was in no-way carefully crafted to show the superiority of Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Now that we’re all good-and-learned on how this ground fighting business works, it’s time for the meat of things, the bracket, which has clearly been designed by the same guy that made school photo background’s in the 90’s.

On the bottom of the bracket, we can look forward to a match featuring Royce Gracie, whose name is pronounced “Hoyce.” At least, by everybody but Wallace it is. In his defense, Gracie is only the guy this entire event is focused around showcasing, so knowing his name shouldn’t be a must as a broadcaster. Up against Gracie will be Art Jimmerson, the IBF’s #10 ranked boxer. With those credentials, big things are sure to come from Jimmerson, and there is certainly no chance at all he will do something that goes down in MMA infamy. You can take that to the bank.

Welcome to Just Blog Guy

So, this is Just Blog Guy, the only MMA site on the internet named after one of the sport's most important founding figures. That statement may not be accurate, as I didn’t really look for other Just Bleed-inspired sites, so I’m already off to a stellar start as a beacon of journalistic integrity. Speaking of Just Bleed guy, my sincere thanks go to Cracked.com poster MicTheGhost for the excellent line work on the above logo.

As for the blog itself, and what you can expect from it, this won’t be a site earning fame for breaking news stories. Instead, I will seek to look comically at some of the more important stories in the world of Mixed Martial Arts and, on occasion, the world of reporting on Mixed Martial Arts. How well I’ll do that is anybody’s guess. If it inspires a little confidence, I do have a little experience in both writing about MMA, where I’ve run the web site of the phenomenal Miller Brothers of UFC fame, and comedy, where I’ve written for sites like Gameist and Cracked about such manly topics as facebook, video games and musicals. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, I encourage you to hang around.