Frankie Edgar and the blind idiot gods: Anderson Silva and judge Doug Crosby

Poor Frankie Edgar. He upsets one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and he has his thunder stolen by Azathoth, the blind idiot god. In this case, two blind idiot gods – Anderson Silva, whose jackassery in the cage on Saturday is the stuff minstrels compose double albums about, and Doug Crosby, the referee who scored the Edgar-BJ Penn fight 50-45 in favour of Edgar.

Not to take anything away from the newly crowned lightweight champ, but there’s no way he won all five rounds against Penn at UFC 112. Three rounds? Sure. Four? Maybe. But all five? Not a chance. It’s not even open for debate.

So, whether you believe Edgar won the fight or Penn won the fight, I think we can all agree that neither fighter won all five rounds. We can then also agree that Crosby might want to consider getting his eyes checked. (As further proof, I point you to his judging of the Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill bout which saw him give every round to Bisping.)

If only it stopped there. You see, Crosby has been hearing a lot of criticism of his judging since Saturday night (and likely before given his track record). Once he returned Stateside, he went on the MMA Underground Forum to rebuke his critics in a thread titled “The Judging Genius Returns from the Middle East.”

That’s right, a professional MMA judge who officiates at the highest level of his sport and at one of the biggest cards in the sport’s history, began trolling with the keyboard warriors. His response was the cracked-out Stephen King novel of message board brain farts, amounting to dozens of posts and hundreds of words (maybe thousands, although I couldn’t be bothered counting).

It is a long and long-winded rant. It meanders and obfuscates and circumnavigates. It loses the plot and at times comes across like Crosby’s having a conversation with himself. It ridicules and rages and admonishes. It panders and patronizes. It offends.

Through it all Crosby paints himself as a smarty-pants know-it-all and ruler of some fantasy kingdom where his is the true vision and the peasants with torches and pitchforks and Prodigy T-shirts pounding at the gates can suck it.

Finally, though, he does address how he viewed the Edgar vs. Penn fight:

I’ve mentioned numerous times on other threads that the scoring criteria exist for a reason, just like the 10-point “must” system exists for a reason; and that the scoring criteria are guidelines within which Judges arrive at a decision on a round-by-round basis.

It is a Judge’s obligation to interpret the fight and use the criteria as guidelines. But a fight is an observed event that does require interpretation, observation, wisdom.

And, in my considered opinion, Edgar dictated the tone of the fight, successfully implemented and executed a strategy, landed better strikes, and basically outworked Penn.

And that is an interpretation by a ringside observer with an understanding and appreciation of MMA, who has Judged numerous (hundreds) of fights.

I re-watched the fight in my hotel in Abu Dhabi and saw nothing that would influence me to score it any differently.

If he’d said only that, I could accept it. Maybe. It would still be bizarre for a professional judge to be slumming in the Underground. That he would feel it’s proper – or even necessary – to defend himself in this manner defies logic. Should he not uphold a higher standard, place himself above the fray, not be influenced by public opinion no matter how loud or loutish it’s expressed? It’s part of his job, after all. A key part, I’d imagine, to remain impartial and unemotional about who wins or loses or how or by how much.

I’m not saying that he doesn’t have something to answer for – his scoring record speaks for itself. But is this how it should be addressed, in a flame war with the very people who make the UFC so successful? Officials should be people of character, not caricature.