MMA Judging Needs To Improve - By Lotis Butchko

It’s been almost one year since I interviewed Dan Hornbuckle, but I still can’t forget how great of a guy he is. Hornbuckle had a fight in Dallas last year for the semi-finals in the Bellator season three welterweight tournament.  Looking for a story, I happened to be watching television and saw him with a bolo tie. With my interest peaking, I searched for bios of him and loved what I found.

I e-mailed an editor in the United Kingdom about the story, it was approved and I went from there. I have to admit, the first time I talked to Dan I didn’t know what to think. He came across as cocky and a bit of a smart ass. But after I looked him up online and found some more interviews I knew he was perfect.

When he finally landed in town I went to his hotel in Arlington, Texas, and he greeted me at the door with his wife Melody, honestly, two of the best people I have had the pleasure of meeting. The first thing you notice about Dan is his swagger. It’s unbelievable. If ever a man lacked confidence, he could borrow it from Dan. He jokes about highlight reel knockouts and openly discusses his past growing up on and off the reservation as a poor child.

So Saturday night, when I finally got a chance to watch him fight for the first time since his win against Brad Blackburn I was excited. Excitement quickly turned to anger.

In this sport we have a tactic called stealing rounds, it’s cheap, pathetic, and very effective, and tonight that is exactly what happened. Forget the fact that I consider Dan a good friend. I also consider this sport a huge part of my life, and there is something very wrong in MMA. It’s called judging.


Just this week alone I have seen two fighters completely screwed over by the judges.  Thursday, Martin Kampmann, one of the UFC’s more underrated 170-pound fighters decisively beat Diego Sanchez. Sanchez looked like someone had stuck his face under an elephants paw but still somehow won the fights. For MMA fans like me this is a despicable section of the fight world. How embarrassing is it for us to have this in our sport? Imagine trying to tell your best friend how great football is and then the referees blowing the game for a team.


Sadly, this wasn’t Kampmann’s first rodeo. He actually beat Jake Shields a few months ago at UFC 121 and lost that decision too.


But for Hornbuckle this fight could cost him 100,000 dollars. Because, of the way Bellator’s tournament is set up, instead of fighting next month for 50,000, he gets to sit at home, watch the fights and wonder what if.


What if we had a decent judging system in this sport? What if this sport’s officiating and scoring weren’t ten years behind the athletes? What if he hadn’t left it in the judge’s hand? Because that’s what they always say right? Don’t leave it in the judge’s hand. Well I say, we should be able to feel confident about it when we do.