Fight was very close. Hughes won 29-28 on all three judges cards. That's just plain ridiculous. Hughes was the only one that got hurt. He was knocked down in the 1st round and Serra had a chance to finish it. Serra won the 1st round. All Hughes did the next to rounds was ground and pound, except he wasn't able to pound very much because of Serra's strength and defense. Hughes was content on laying on top of Serra without gaining any advantage. Referee should have stood them up much sooner than he did. Hughes was very ineffectice both the 2nd and 3rd rounds laying on top of Serra. With a half minute left in the 3rd round Serra got on top of Hughes, landed some damaging shots and was starting to hurt Hughes. At worst the 3rd round was a draw. When the fight was over Serra wasn't hurt once in the fight, Hughes took a couple of beatdowns, 1st and 3rd rounds. I believe if the fight went 5 rounds Serra would have gotten stronger and stronger. I was very impressed with Serra's Strength and defense. Usually when Hughes gets on top and implements his ground and pound fight is over. Serra strength and defense nulified 100% of Hughes ground and pound. Serra got robbed.
Serra did more damage is similar to saying he won the fight. Hughes was on top most of 2nd round, but to me it looked like a stalemate. Referee should have stood the 2 up much sooner. All Hughes could do was take Serra down. After take down he was never able to improve his position or pound Serra. Fight should have been judged a draw.
1st round to Serra 10-9
2nd Round to Hughes 10-9
3rd round draw 10-10
Final Results 29-29
Doing more damage does not necessarily get you the win under UFC scoring. You also get points for being more aggressive and controlling your opponent. Hughes wasn't hurting Serra at all for much of the fight but he was controlling his opponent while Serra had no offense to mount for the better part of the last 2 rounds. It was definitely close but Hughes having that dominant position for much of the fight gave him the nod in my eyes.
Zee,
according to your own assessment of the fight Serra was on the offensive for a total of 1 minute in a 15 minute, 3 rd fight. While it wasn't exciting or spectacular at all; being in the top position scores points & wins rounds. Besides Serra should be fine in that position as a bjj black belt but he was never able to sweep much less put up any offense from the bottom which is why he lost.
In any MMA fight with a great wrestler vs a great bjj guy (not counting a couple guys: Maia, Jacare, couple others) the wrestler will win with the current scoring system. Wrestlers get points & rounds for take-downs & playing the top game even if it's boring old lay n pray.
according to your own assessment of the fight Serra was on the offensive for a total of 1 minute in a 15 minute, 3 rd fight. While it wasn't exciting or spectacular at all; being in the top position scores points & wins rounds. Besides Serra should be fine in that position as a bjj black belt but he was never able to sweep much less put up any offense from the bottom which is why he lost.
In any MMA fight with a great wrestler vs a great bjj guy (not counting a couple guys: Maia, Jacare, couple others) the wrestler will win with the current scoring system. Wrestlers get points & rounds for take-downs & playing the top game even if it's boring old lay n pray.
If the guy on top is winning why than does the referree stand them up. Hughes never improved his position. Serra's guard was way too strong. In my mind Serra's looked like a fresher, stronger fighter at the end. He reversed Hughes late 3rd and landed shots. That was more than Hughes did with his lay and pray. Hughes never came close to hurting Serra, he was to concerned in defended Serra's subs attempts. 3rd round was a draw in my mind. Hughes was glad fight was over, Serra looked to want more rounds. Hughes didn't win this fight. He won the take down category, but did nothing after the takedown. Referee let more than a third of the fight disappear by not standing them up sooner.
I don't necessarily disagree with you. My points are 1) that's how the 10 point must system works and 2) although Hughes didn't do much, he was in the "dominant" position the majority of the fight & Serra did nothing outside of a punch in the 1st & a reversal in the 3rd. Neither guy "won" the fight but someone gets the W so it's the guy with the take-downs & dominant position. The fight basically sucked but Hughes layed on top long enough to win. Like it or not that is the current climate of MMA scoring
Your analysis of the scoring system explains why Serra lost. In an instance like this fight 3 rounds was too short to determine a true winner. System needs to be reevaluated to encourage judges to score a draw which will than automatically result in 2 additional rounds to be fought. A true winner should be determined after 5 rounds.
I think it would lead to more and more boring fights as the fighters that dont' want would fight even less if they knew it was 5 rounds.
Or they would be so gassed that rounds 4 and 5 would be awful. I can't imagine how tired most people would be at 60 seconds of fighting let alone 4 or 5 rounds.
