Oshima vs Yamamoto: A look at the scoring

In Rizin, the judging is handled by an outside organization called JMOC, the Japanese MMA Officials Committee. Since Japan doesn’t have athletic commissions, this organization was founded in 2017 to act as an independent body to handle judges and referees. They now work with Rizin, Shooto, Deep, Deep Jewels, and ZST among others. Outside of referring and judging, they also publish the scorecards on their website. This allows one to better understand their decision-making. At Rizin 36, Saori Oshima narrowly defeated Miyuu Yamamoto by split decision. As is the case with close fights, some people felt that Miyuu deserved the nod, so this a good opportunity to examine the judging.

How they score

Unlike the UFC, Rizin fights are scored as a whole, not by rounds. They are also not scored using a 10-point system. Essentially, every fight is worth 100% or 100 points:

• Damage 50% (Striking and Grappling are given the same weight, was there damage that would have led to the fight being stopped)
• Aggressiveness: 30% (Which fighter was more effective in attacking in a way that might end the fight, who was more aggressive, who was more proactive)
• Generalship: 20% (Which fighter was more effective in dominating the pace, place, and position of the fight.)

The scorecard

• Tomoki Matsumiya – Blue Corner – Oshima: [D 0-0/ A 0-30/ G 20-0]
• Takanao Toyoshima – Blue Corner- Oshima: [D 0-0/ A 0-30/ G 20-0]
• Masato Kataoka – Red Corner – Yamamoto: [D 0-0/ A 0-0/ G 20-0]

A look at the scores tells us several things. First, all the judges agreed that Miyuu deserved the 20 points for generalship. She got numerous takedowns, stopped takedowns, stood up when she wanted, and generally controlled where the fight took place. Second, all the judges agreed that neither fighter did more damage than the other, so no one was assigned 50 points. The fight ended up being decided by aggressiveness. Two of the judges found that Saori was more aggressive than Miyuu, whereas one judge didn’t think either was more aggressive than the other. Unfortunately for Miyuu, aggressiveness is worth more points than generalship.