English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Boxing and MMA have a longstanding issue with judging, as evidenced byfrequent controversial decisions. Like boxing, MMA bouts are scored followingthe 10-Point Must System, by which judges score each round individually. In thepresent study, we compare the performance of two methods of round scoresaggregation: the standard method (aggregation over rounds and then over judges)and an alternative method known as consensus scoring (aggregation over judgesand then over rounds). For that purpose, we conducted a statistical analysis of4,129 MMA bouts that went to decision between 2003 and 2023. Our findingsindicate that standard and consensus scoring yield the same result in 97.53% ofthe bouts. Noteworthy, this percentage may be underestimated, as judges may notalways score each round individually; instead, they may balance their scoresacross rounds. Regarding the bouts in which the two methods disagree, theoutcome of consensus scoring aligns more with the opinion of the fans (48.96%)than that of standard scoring (43.75%). This results from the fact thatconsensus scoring can counteract the impact of an incorrect score (especially a10-8 score) given by a judge in a specific round. From a cost-benefitperspective, we argue that state commissions should consider consensus scoringin MMA as an alternative to standard scoring as it can avoid controversialdecisions while it does not imply a major change in the judging system.

Improving MMA judging with consensus scoring: A Statistical analysis of MMA bouts from 2003 to 2023