Joe Rogan criticizes UFC judges after Petr Yan and Sean O’Malley controversial decision

After UFC 280, Joe Rogan wants to see a change in the judging system. This opinion came after a contentious split-decision judgment in favor of Sean O’Malley against Petr Yan.

The renowned UFC analyst praised O’Malley but also questioned the scoring system after the contest.

Rogan stated on JRE,

“O’Malley was certainly in it against Petr Yan. He was a former champion, one of the best in the division by far, the number one contender. It was a very close fight.”

“He definitely hurt Petr in multiple occasions. Caught him with that big knee, rocked him. The question is, how much is the takedown worth? How much is control worth?”

“Takedowns without damage, what is that value? I’m not denying Petr Yan won, cause I did think he won the end of it. But takedowns without damage vs. standup with damage. ‘Sugar’ landed more strikes standing and had big moments.”

“Yan had some big moments too. One big left hand that rocked him. The question is like, how valuable are those takedowns and how valuable is that top game in that control?”

Rogan previously expressed that the judging standards for MMA should be modified to something “completely different” because of the many problems he sees with it.

Rogan added: “There’s several problems, but one of the problems is that I feel we were very limited by this 10-9, this 10 point must scoring system. Someone can win a round 10-9 and it can be a very close round and someone can win a round clearly and it could be 10-9.”

“That doesn’t make any sense to me. The system is designed for boxing and it’s a good system for boxing. I don’t think it’s a good system for mma.”

He continued:

“I think MMA needs a much more comprehensive system. If a guy can hold you down with no damage at all for three minutes, vs. a guy who holds you down and damages you for 30 seconds, what’s worth more?”

“What, hits you with three or four good hard shots? Is that worth more? If you spend the majority of a round on top of a guy, even if you’re not damaging him, how much is that worth?”

“How much is a leg kick worth? How much is a submission attempt worth? I think we need a much more comprehensive system that’s not a 10 point must. I don’t think that’s the right system for MMA. I think it should be a completely different system. We just sort of adopted the boxing system.”

But the issue with his opinion is that these changes were in fact implemented in 2016.

The criteria is being constantly tweaked. When people were discussing Sterling Petr Yan II, some interesting changes came to light.

There was a change to the criteria last year and damage is now the most important component in scoring a 10-8 round. Even if there’s dominance and duration.