Michael Bisping wants more accountability for MMA judges: “One judge’s decision can change your life”

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping wants MMA judges to be held accountable for their errors.

The former champ weighed in on the topic on a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, first criticizing the oft-used MMA adage “never leave it in the hands of judges.”

“I hate that expression because no fighter wants to leave it in the hands of the judges,” Bisping said (via MMA Fighting). “No fighter has ever, ever thought, ‘Oooo, you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna leave this in the hands of three random people that I’ve never met. I’m gonna work my ass off for several months, I’m gonna put my career on the line, I’m gonna put my health on the line, I’m gonna fight in a fight and what I’m gonna do is a strategy: I’m gonna leave it in the hands of the judges because we all know they all make a lot of mistakes so that’s what I’m gonna do.’

“Nobody ever plans it,” Bisping added. “You want to get in, get out. You don’t get paid for overtime. If you can get a quick knockout, great! Unfortunately, when you are fighting the best guys in the world, and you are also one of the best guys in the world, you can’t always get them out of there.”

When MMA judges err, it doesn’t just deprive a deserving fighter of a win. Most fighters in MMA are paid show and win money, and only receive the second amount if they’re victorious. A bad decision, then, can greatly affect a fighter’s income.

For that reason, Bisping wants judges to be held accountable—the same way they would be in most other lines of work.

“Almost every event there’s an outlandish fight that’s scored,” Bisping said. “Even commentating I’ve been like, ‘What the f*ck? How did that judge even come to that conclusion?’ I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, they need to be held accountable. Number one, these guys are doing a job. They’re doing a job. They get paid! So you’ve got to do that job well. In any other walk of life if you do a sh*t job, you get fired!

“When I say held accountable, it’s very simple,” Bisping continued. “If there’s an outlandish score that doesn’t make sense, he sits in a room with two or three other judges and you explain why you scored that round that way, and if you can’t give a feasible excuse that’s rational and believable, then you’re either incompetent or inaccurate and either way you’re not fit for the f*cking job. It’s as simple as that and I don’t understand why that isn’t implemented.

“… Sometimes one judge’s decision can change your life, change the amount of money you’re about to earn, might make you champion of the world, might make you not champion of the world,” Bisping concluded. “This is high stakes!”

What do you think of these comments from Michael Bisping? Does MMA judging need an overhaul?