Final Verdict–UFC 209: Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson 2
At UFC 209, Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson completed a rematch from their classic in November of last year. The second bout had less action than the 1st first bout, but it was equally as difficult to score. Tyron Woodley was awarded a controversial majority decision victory, that left many people surprised. Let’s take a deeper look at the scoring of this fight.
Verdict’s global scorecard displays the average scores of all users. The final score was 48–47 in favor of Stephen Thompson. However, not one of the three cage-side judges scored the fight in favor of Stephen Thompson.
The 2nd round was the deciding round of the fight, as it was the only round of the contest where all three judges didn’t unanimously agree on who won. According to the data provided by Fight Metric, both Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson each landed 8 total strikes in the 2nd round. This was a difficult round to score, as there wasn’t much action. During the post-fight press conference, the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director Bob Bennett appeared to answer questions from the media. Bennett was asked about 10–10 rounds, for scenarios where there is no clear winner. Bennett referred to 10–10 rounds as an anomaly, stating “If you’re a top notch, A+ judge, you should be able to discern through the scoring criteria, who wins a fight even if it’s razor thin”. Bennet also stated that it’s incumbent on the judges to pick a winner, even if one strike makes the difference.
However, what happens in a scenario like the 2nd round of this fight, where both fighters landed the exact same amount of strikes, and there was no clear winner? How is a round like that supposed to be scored? Though Bob Bennett believes a judge must pick a winner, a 10–10 score is an available option for judges to use.
Bennett also brought up an interesting point about Judge Sal D’Amato’s score of 10–8 in the 5th round. Stephen Thompson controlled the action in the 5th round, when with 40 seconds remaining, Tyron Woodley attacked him with a flurry and dropped him twice. But was this enough to warrant a 10–8 round? Bennett disagreed, as he stated that D’Amato should have scored this round a 10–9, and that you can’t have a 3 point swing because of what happened in the final moments of a round.
This was a difficult fight to score. There were rounds where the action was so null, that it was difficult to determine who won. Though it’s rare, judges must take into consideration that the option of a 10–10 score is available when they can’t discern a clear winner.
