Sorry in advance, this will not be well written as I’m here with the family watching loud TV and there are a lot of distractions, but I just wanted to say a few things regarding the 10 Point Must System since I missed most of the discussion today.

I got to admit, when the UFC killed PRIDE and I started watching the UFC instead of PRIDE, many things bothered me. I preferred the ring instead of the cage, the 10 minute first round instead of three-five minute rounds, the better implementation of rules such as allowed soccer kicks and head stomps, and of course, the judging criteria in judging a fight as a whole instead of systematically breaking down the fight in three parts (or five for championship bouts).

But as time went by, or years in this case, I came to appreciate everything MMA related in America. Sure, I still prefer the ring, I still prefer the old Japanese rules over the current American ones, and I still much prefer judging a fight as a whole instead of breaking it down to three parts, but we all have to understand that this is not Japan, and this is not PRIDE, therefore, all this talk about how Machida would have won in Japan is pretty much a moot point.

You can’t just start questioning the 10 point must system once your favorite fighter loses at the hands of it, and back it up when your favorite wins. We have to be consistent, regardless if our favorites wins or loses. The ten point must system, even though I’m not its biggest fan, is pretty clear on how to score fights, this isn’t rocket science. Fights are judged by breaking down each fight by round, add them up and there is your score. In this case, Rampage won the first two rounds by just enough and Machida won the last round convincingly. Again, going by the mathematically systematic and robotic 10 point must system, how can people be confused at how Rampage won this fight?

If you have a problem with how the fight was scored in the first two rounds, then question the judges, not the system. We all know how it works, and so do the fighters (or they should anyhow). Machida knew how the system works, and he did not try to convince the judges in the first two rounds, this was mainly due to his corner telling him he was ahead in the cards. If anyone is to blame for his loss, it’s Machida’s corner and ultimately himself. Don’t hate the system, hate the player.