Akiyama vs. Belcher

[Bona Fide]

I'm curious to know who everyone had winning this fight. Seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the decision.

Personally, I had Akiyama 29-28.

I have the first round to Akiyama based on the more effective striking. I know Belcher had a knock down, but that was about all he did. Plus the knock down had a lot to do with how Akiyama had his feet at the time rather than the power of the shot.

I also had the second round going to Akiyama. Again he was landing the better shots. He also had the take down which he used to land some nice GnP.

Third round was the one I have to Belcher. Akiyama was looking pretty gassed. He took Belcher down, but he really couldn't keep him there. Belcher was landing pretty solidly toward the end.

It was obviously a close decision. Someone could arguably score each round in favor of either fighter. Outside of leg kicks I didn't think Belcher was landing too much offense though. Akiyama was consistently landing unblocked shots on Belcher.

On a side note, FightMetric also had Akiyama winning. It by no means is a perfect way to look at a fight, and it has its flaws. However I think it's a pretty nice tool to look at.
http://www.fightmetric.com/fights/Akiyama-Belcher.html

[GrayFolded]

I don't understand the Judge that had the fight 30-27 Akiyama??? Belcher won at least one round....

Also, rule of advice, don't taunt your opponents into Superman Punching you off the cage....

[Stumbleweed]

No idea what that one judge was thinking. But yeah, I had it 29-28 Akiyama as well due to the takedowns he got (3/4), but mostly due to Belcher's complete lack of improving position/ground control. The striking was basically even, but a lot of that was after Akiyama got his eye poked or whatever happened... seemed like his striking slowed down form that point onward, but he was still able to get Belcher to the ground.

[goh]

I had it 29-28 Belcher with Akiyama winning the second. Though there's one of these almost every event. It was Guida/Sanchez last time,Wandy/Franklin before that and all kinds of messes at 98 I think it was or maybe 97,I'm not sure.

[JiggidyJames]

Quote: Originally Posted by Stumbleweed

No idea what that one judge was thinking.

Sexyama had her in a trance. She's also the same judge from Guida/Sanchez that had Guida.

[Keith121212]

Either way people go with who they thought won, is it was a very close fight where Joe Rogan had no business screaming "Belcher got robbed". That was so uncalled for IMO. I actually lost some respect for Joe Rogan for saying that nonsense.

[Keith121212]

The worst part about the garbage judges and referees is that the UFC can't do anything about it. It's all goes through the corrupt Nevada State Athletics Commission. Judges for these events should have to pass a test and correctly judge at least 10 old fights where the decisions were obvious. Even then they should have to start out with smaller promotions or something before they get to judge a UFC fight. Then from there based on performance they would get an opportunity to judge a title fight. That's just my idea. There doesn't seem to be any system of evaluation for judges currently and none of them seem to be fully qualified for the job. How much do they get paid anyway? I guess I'll just google it if noone here knows.

Anyway, if a fighter can't finish a guy and loses a decision there really is noone to blame but themselves for the most part. Everyone knows how crappy judges usually are. The criteria they use to judge fights is not 100% correct or MMA specific and then the judges themselves are not the best individuals for the job. If you want to guarantee victory, finish the fight. This is a well known fact. It's not easy to do that but every one knows how iffy the judging is.

[Scoop_Brady]

As long as you have judges you will have controversy. IMO the only controversy there is in scoring would be if Alves was given the fight against GSP 50-45 from all judges. Now that would be controversial. The Guida/Sanchez fight I can honestly see being called both ways. The Akiyama/Belcher fight I can honestly see being called both ways. Everybody interprets things differently and that's why they say you should never let the judges decide a fight.

For this fight I gave Belcher the first round and Akiyama the 2nd and 3rd rounds. You can see even within this own thread there's different thoughts between what rounds Akiyama won between the people that think he won the fight. I must admit I was shocked that Rogan said Belcher was robbed.