Was Carlos Condit's Run from Nick Diaz Bad for the Sport?

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Compensation: 6 pack of Coconut water and some nachos

LMAO

That is fuckin equally as bad ass as the best salesman ad!!

^^
Its pretty funny, but the car salesman ad was epic on multiple levels.

In my opinion it’s not Condit’s fault it’s the sports. As part of the maturation process of the sport fighters have changed from warriors into athletes. The sport’s success and mainstream appeal has attracted a lot of supreme (American) athletes that are not big enough to play the major sports professionally and see MMA as a level platform to compete against guys their own size. As a result you see a lot more athletes (not martial artists) like Condit and Fitch who’s athletic background has put the most emphasis on winning at all costs regardless of how it is done. So the question is how can the sport fix this? Here are a few of my humble suggestions:

Reward fighters for finishing fights – This could be implemented with a three tiered payment system, one payment show, a win bonus and then an additional guaranteed bonus is you finish the fight.

Don’t penalize fighters for losing – since contracts in the UFC typically can be terminated at any time fighters tend to be scared to death about losing two fights in a row. This can make them fight a bit more conservatively after a loss and focus more on not losing the fight then winning it out right. This can be solved by guaranteeing contracts and putting more of an emphasis on how you fight not the results of your fight.

Change the scoring – I think we can all agree that there is WAY too much emphasis on octagon control and not enough of the other two factors. One change that could be made is introducing a few new factors into the mix, 1.) attempts to finish the fight 2.) penalize fighters for stalling, a fighter is in a dominate position but not attempting to do damage it should count against him on the judges score card. 3.) I have harped on this forever but judges have to start using all 10 points in the 10 point must system, give a fighter who lost the first two rounds by a razor thin margin a chance to win the third round big.

You make great points on revisions to the current system Grey. I especially like your idea of rewarding guys for finishing the fight. They already do that on TUF, so to add it to the UFC as a whole wouldn't take too much thought.

I also love alot of your ideas Grey +1.

A great insight into some positive ways to improve the sport or at least pressure it into the sport we all loved in the beginning.

The reward/perk for finishing fights would have to be significant enough obviously, but I think they would have difficulty making it worth while for they're marquee fighters in comparison to lower tier fighters.

Completely right about the scoring, the only issue I foresee is the one about stalling; there is a lot of interpretation of how that would play out as all judges would have completely different perceptions of it. I don't know if giving them more criteria for judging is such a good idea; they fuck up so much as it is with what they are already.

I think veteran retired fighters and officials should get together along with the athletic commissions and go to the table and try to figure out a new system of judging fights.
I know its a long shot but that is what I see as working best for stabilizing the sports longevity as well as legitimacy.

You know it's funny. I have been saying all along that the deciding factor in this fight (that would allow Diaz to get the victory) would be Condit's inabilty to handle Diaz's pressure.

I guess I was right in a sense. Unfortunately, Condit's idea of "handling Diaz's pressure" was to evade him for 5 rounds and retreat.

It's easy to say it's bad for the sport or whatever, but I think there is something else here that is being overlooked;

What Diaz said is good for the sport.

He got on the big stage and voiced what many of us have been saying for awhile now. If there were casual fans watching and thinking to themselves "Is this what happens all the time? Is this how you're supposed to win fights in this sport?", they would soon realize -as soon as Diaz started talking- that no, this kind of strategy isn't what the sport is all about. Diaz was thinking the same thing a lot of us were, and I am glad the he says shit like this. The last thing I wanted to hear after that fight from Diaz was some cookie-cutter, scripted BS about how he's happy for Condit, Condit deserved to win, I did my best and he was the better man, blah blah blah.

Diaz said the right thing, and for the sake of what I want to see in future fights, I'm thankful he said it.

I like Grey's ideas. I've been jockeying for a "finish" bonus forever. When I was still hanging onto being a boxing fan by a thread, I was always voicing my opinion that a "finish bonus" would be great for boxing.

To me Octagon control should include going to the fighter that has the center of the ring (when fighters are not engaged). I hate the hopping around the outside tossing "leg jabs" style of fighting.

Another idea would be to just get rid of the round scoring alltogether. Let judges take notes during the fight, and utilize video if need be. Then just score the entire fight on a 10 point must system, and allow a judge to score a 10-10 if the fight was too even and neither fighter gets the upper hand.
This way a fighter knows that he can't just cruise playing defense in the 3rd round if he knows he won the first two.

I also see no problem holding these judges accountable and forcing them to participate in the post fight press conferences and letting/making them deffend/explain their judging decisions.

I agree Stock judges should be required to state why they gave someone a round.

I also think there should be a yellow cardish system for stallling.

Also back to the judges I think maybe they should try to get guys with more varied backgrounds like a kickboxing guy a grappling guy and then maybe a wrestling or boxing guy.