Clarifying my position on Pride vs. UFC

So in suggesting in my last column that Pride had been overrated compared to UFC, I learned an important lesson: some SI.com readers swear more than Dana White. Even one of my friends piled it on. But really, it was great to have the debate explode in my inbox. Some of the letter writers made excellent points, like this one:

"The bout was billed as a fight between UFC and Pride, but in reality, Jackson is every bit as much a former Pride fighter as Henderson is. The true UFC-vs-Pride matchup in the division was Jackson-Liddell."
-- R. Laine, Helsinki

It's true. A tremendous portion of Rampage's fighting career took place in Pride. This fact did not escape me, particularly when Rampage and I spoke about how much he likes Japanese women -- a lot.

But I definitely should have clarified my point. I wanted to count Rampage as a UFC fighter because he had been fighting exclusively with UFC prior to the acquisition of Pride. In retrospect, that was a mistake. It was overly convenient cherry picking for my argument, probably because, like some of the people who wrote in, I was a little tired of hearing how great Pride has been. Pride reminds me of LeBron James: no matter how good something or someone is, it's easy to be overhyped when the hype is overflowing. Anyway, in the interest of not judging as if I were one of the scorers in the Bisping/Hamill fight, I award this round to the readers.

Speaking of that Bisping/Hamill fight...

Do you think the UFC will take any action on that obviously horrible decision [in the Bisping/Hamill fight]?
--Johnny, Cleveland

No I don't, because I don't think the decision was so bad as to look like it was corrupt. It wasn't like it was Roy Jones Jr.'s gold medal match in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

How do you see this affecting the judges scoring so that it does not become a recurring problem?
--Johnny, San Jose, Calif.

Johnny, you move fast. Anyway, I think it's a sign of how good MMA judging has been that fans are upset with the outcome of that fight. If it were boxing, we might all have been expecting it. And hey, judges are human. As long as no pattern of confusing decisions emerges, I do not think there will be any fallout. If anything, perhaps UFC will consider outlining the scoring methods in a little more detail in future broadcasts.

You also left out how the English judge scored the fight 30-27 for Hamill (which is worth mentioning).
--Kevin, Cincinnati

That is worth mentioning. Although I should not have implied that it's the nationality of the judges that matters in awarding a hometown decision. I wonder if, given that the scoring is subjective, the way the hometown crowd reacts to the hometown fighter can make it a little more difficult for the judges to constantly see everything objectively. In any event, maybe Bisping did not curry as much favor with the homers as I thought:

Bisping comes out to "London's Calling" but he's from Liverpool, no wonder he was booed [after the fight] in London. That's like the Red Sox playing "New York, New York."
--Serg, New York

Wow. That would be strange. Note to Bisping: maybe come in singing "Fields of Anfield Road" next time.