On the First Day of Christmas, FightMetric Gave to Me…

From FightMetric:

Since we started producing in-depth fight reports way back in 2007, there has been one fight that is consistently our most requested: the controversial heavyweight championship match between Bas Rutten and Kevin Randleman from way back at UFC 20. And while we’ve had the stats compiled for that fight for quite some time, it just never seemed like the right moment to publish the report. But now, for those that have been clamoring for it, here is our holiday present to you.

Before I get into the fight, FightMetric’s been around for two years now?  Seems like yesterday that I first heard Rami on the Jordan Breen Show.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the Rutten/Randleman fight, so I found some tape and rewatched it.  Like most, I scored the bout for Randleman.  I’m as big a proponent for viewing takedowns strictly as a means to an end and that a fighter can win a round or fight off his back as you’ll find.  That said, Randleman looked to have done enough to deserve the nod.  While he became content to sit in Rutten’s guard as the fight wore on, he did pass to half-guard and side mount two and three times respectively over the duration of the bout.

The big question in the fight, however, is how much do you value Rutten’s activity?  According to FightMetric’s report, Rutten landed 180 strikes during the fight.  It’s safe to estimate that over 90% of those strikes were thrown off his back.  Does that volume (which FightMetric scored mostly as head jabs) outweigh Randleman’s grappling and positional dominance (and great volume of power strikes)?

Here’s the full striking breakdown for the fight:

It’s been ten years since Bas had his hand raised at UFC 20, and we still don’t have a clear distinction of how to score striking vs. grappling in an MMA bout.  On one hand, we can be upset that ten years has gone by with seemingly little progress.  But on the other hand, we should appreciate the beauty derived from the rich, complex nature of MMA.