It is becoming clearer every day that MMA judges are out to lunch. Anyone who watched BJ Penn successfully defend his title against Frank Edgar and thought that the challenger deserved the decision is missing something. Doug Crosby threw up a 50-45 score card, which is an absolute tragedy. If MMA fans want this to change, the rhetoric about decisions needs to change. Even if you don’t want change, please at least help for the sake of my sanity.

At of the end of the pay per view, the tweets were already being tweeted. The blog posts were already polluting Google news search. The clichés about fight sport floated through the air like planes pulling messages taunting Tiger Woods in his return. I’ve seen “that’s why you don’t leave it in the hands of the judges” and my personal favorite “I am okay with either guy winning the decision.” By the way, when I say “favorite” I mean the one that makes me most want to mash my head into the keyboard.

Penn won the fight. He did not win the fight “in my opinion.” It is not fair to say “you could make a case for him winning.” He flat out won the fight. The previously mentioned clichés and corresponding lack of outrage allow Doug Crosby and his ilk keep their jobs.

To support the obvious notion that Penn won the fight. Here is a breakdown of the scoring done by some MMA writers.

Jack Bratcher (ProMMANow) 48-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 10-9 Round 4. 9-10 Round 5. 9-10

Josh Gross (SI) 48-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 9-10 Round 4. 10-9 Round 5. 9-10

MMAJunkie 48-47 Edgar
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 9-10 Round 4. 9-10 Round 5. 9-10

Brent Brookhouse (BloodyElbow) 48-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 9-10 Round 4. 10-9 Round 5. 9-10

Jordan Breen (Sherdog) 49-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 10-9 Round 4. 10-10 Round 5. 9-10

Greg Savage (Sherdog) 48-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 10-9 Round 4. 9-10 Round 5. 9-10

Mike Fridley (Sherdog) 49-46 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 10-9 Round 4. 10-9 Round 5. 9-10

FightMetric 49-47 Penn
Round 1. 10-9 Round 2. 10-9 Round 3. 10-9 Round 4. 10-10 Round 5. 9-10

6 thoughts on “Final Decision on Penn vs. Edgar”
  1. Wow, great job Richard. I was starting to think I let my respect for Penn bias my scoring. Now glad to see I was in good company with my scores.

    I thought it was so odd how the broadcasters just sort of glossed over the momentous occasion of Penn losing the title. They barely let out a whimper.

  2. Looking at what was written, it is up in the air as to who won the 3rd and 4th. It is pretty split as to who gave it to which fighter. I have troubles seeing the decision as absolutely ridiculous.

  3. IF Dana White does not want his company to be compared to Boxing he has to do something about the judging. First of all Edgar did NOT win that fight. O.K he had a good game plan, WHATEVA. Edgar has a boring duck in, Jab, bob out style that only scores points (which he would have still lost by). He does NOT finish fights! Only 2 in his last 10 fights. You cannot take the belt from the champ the way he fought. There has to be absolutely no question, without a doubt victory. BJ was never hurt, dazed, caught or in trouble. Do you think GSP would have taken Hughes belt in the rematch if that’s all he did?? GSP ripped it from Hughes with a TKO like the challenger is supposed to do. UFC is becoming/already a joke!! How about this for a quick fix. No judges and no rounds. Either Tap out, get knocked out, verbally quit or throw in the towel. Then there would be no question.

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