After the recent controversy and debate following the official decision for the Jack Della Maddalena vs. Bassil Hafez bout at UFC on ESPN 49 this past weekend, fans and even the commentary team seem to be a bit confused about the official MMA judging criteria. Maddalena defeated Hafez via. Split Decision.
Twitter had a *few* thoughts on Jack Della Maddalena's win over Bassil Hafez at #UFCVegas77 pic.twitter.com/BMRgDZiu5L
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) July 16, 2023
As stated in the Unified Rules, “Effective Striking/Grappling shall be considered the first priority of round assessment. Effective Aggressiveness is a ‘Plan B’ and should not be considered unless the judge does not see ANY advantage in the Effective Striking/Grappling realm. Cage/Ring Control (‘Plan C’) should only be needed when ALL other criteria are 100% even for both competitors. This will be an extremely rare occurrence.”
Effective Striking/Grappling: “Legal blows that have immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute towards the end of the match with IMMEDIATE weighing in more heavily than the cumulative impact. Successful execution of takedowns, submission attempts, reversals, and the achievement of advantageous positions that produce immediate or cumulative impact with the potential to contribute towards the end of the match with the IMMEDIATE weighing in more heavily than the cumulative impact. It shall be noted that a successful takedown is not merely a changing of position, but the establishment of an attack from the use of the takedown. Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impact/effective result of their actions, more so than their position. This criterion will be the deciding factor in a high majority of decisions when scoring a round. The next two criteria must be treated as a backup and used ONLY when Effective Striking/Grappling is 100% equal for the round.”
Effective Aggressiveness: “Aggressively making attempts to finish the fight. The key term is ‘effective.’ Chasing after an opponent with no effective result or impact should not render in the judges’ assessments. Effective Aggressiveness is only to be assessed if Effective Striking/Grappling is 100% equal for both competitors.”
Fighting Area Control: “Fighting area control is assessed by determining who is dictating the pace, place, and position of the match. Fighting Area Control shall only be assessed if Effective Striking/Grappling and Effective Aggressiveness is 100% equal for both competitors. This will be assessed very rarely.” You can read all of the Unified Rules of MMA here.
In simpler terms, damage trumps all, unless strikes and grappling effectiveness are even, you don’t even consider aggressiveness, and unless strikes/grappling are even and Aggressiveness is even, you will not factor in control time. Simply put you can’t get top position and proceed to do nothing significant with the position and expect to win the round if the strikes and aggression aren’t in your favor.
Take the Jack Della Maddalena vs Bassil Hafez fight, for instance, the second round seems to be the most in question and controversial. In that second round, JDM outstruck Hafez 47-29 in total strikes and 27-16 in Significant Strikes, not very close, Maddalena even once pulled guard to attack a guillotine choke but it backfired as Hafez freed himself to have 2 minutes, and 15 seconds of top control. But even with the control time, it isn’t a factor as the significant damage and cumulative impact contributing towards the potential of stopping the fight were far in favor of Maddalena for that round.
