In recent weeks (and really since judges were introduced into MMA) the topic of the MMA judging system has come under fire once again with a new round of highly questionable decisions in marquee fights. Topping the list of these questionable outcomes were a number of fights at UFC 247, including Jon Jones’ extremely controversial unanimous decision victory over Dominick Reyes, where one judge gave Jones a surprising four rounds. In the aftermath, numerous ideas were floated (or re-floated) about the best way to attack the myriad problems in MMA judging and, in a bit of kismet, one of those ideas was almost immediately revealed to be in the works for a major MMA promotion.

This Friday, Invicta FC will proceed with a trial run of open-scoring at their Phoenix Series 3 event in Kansas City, Kan. It’s an exciting moment with potentially far-reaching ramifications for the rest of MMA. Open-scoring is essentially just the revelation of each judge’s scorecard after each round, and it would be among the easiest changes to institute to MMA judging one a wide scale. And such is the excitement of this moment among fighters that former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway is apparently flying to Kansas City just to support it.

In an impassioned posted made to Instagram from the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, the site of the event, “Blessed” gave props to Invicta FC and the Kansas Athletic Commission’s for being willing to try this new system out, arguing that doing so is the only way for us to figure out what works and what won’t. Further, Holloway urged other other promotions and commissions to follow suit and test out new ways to improve judging, promising to fly to their promotions and support them as well.

“Seems like every fight week we got issues with fights going to decisions. I’ve met many judges. Most of them are good people just trying to do the right thing. I’m sure there’s a bad guy here and there like any job but our problem is not the people judging... what about the system? Are we putting these judges in a position to do the best job possible? We can’t just keep bashing judges and I realize that now. Nobody good is going to want to do the job.

“⁣⁣I’ve been in the UFC for 8 years. I’ve won 5 title fights in the UFC, and I’ve never met a fighter or even a judge who thinks the scoring system in MMA is perfect. So what are we going to do? We at that point. If all of us agree it’s not perfect, what we going to do? What are we doing? What are we doing now? Are we just gonna keep tweeting at Dana every Saturday night like he don’t got other headaches? What are we doing? The first step is to test ideas. And that’s what I’m here for.

“⁣⁣Open scoring has been tested in boxing. Cool. MMA isn’t boxing my friends. We don’t know for sure how it will work in MMA. And if it creates more problems than it fixes at least we finally have proof and can move on to the next idea. But maybe it works. Or maybe it creates new problems but we can fix those with new scoring and rules. I don’t know but nobody does. And that’s why we have to put down the bag of Cheetos now and do the work. ⁣⁣

“Mahalo to Kansas Athletic Commission, Invicta FC, and all the athletes competing with open scoring for the first time on March 6. This sport started with men and now we have women putting their bodies and careers on the line to test an idea to keep pushing our sport forward. How badass is that? For any other commissions and regional promotions testing new ideas to help our sport let me know. Open scoring is just one idea that’s easy to test. Many other ideas to test especially for how we score matches... I’m flying in to support and I’ll be handing out as much free merch as my team can bring from Hawaii ”

Just when you think Max Holloway can’t be any cooler, the man outdoes himself.

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MUST-READ STORIES

UFC Staff. Israel Adesanya says UFC doctors OK’d arm suspected of staph, downplays coronavirus fears before UFC 248.

Banger. Marlon Moraes vs. Petr Yan targeted to headline UFC Kazakhstan.

Trial. UFC fighter Razak Alhassan’s sexual assault trial under way, alleged victims testify.

Promotion. Dana White: Jose Aldo ‘absolutely deserves’ Henry Cejudo fight, but if you don’t like it ‘then don’t watch it’.

Rematch. Dana White open to Figueiredo vs. Benavidez rematch: ‘We’ll do it again’.

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VIDEO STEW

The A-Side Live Chat.

Izzy’s open workout.

Yoel Romero open workout.

Embedded 3.

Anatomy of a Fighter pt. 4.

Izzy’s final prep for Yoel.

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LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands. Breaking down the biggest fights at UFC 248.

UFC Unfiltered. Interviews with Joanna Champion, Neil Magny, and Randy Brown.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Nice.

The worst.

Hell of a scrap.

Star power.

Flashback.

Beef.

Itchy.

Damn.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Matt Mitrione (13-7, 1 NC) vs. Ronny Markes (19-7); Bellator 241, March 13.

Keri Melendez (4-0) vs. Emilee King (4-3); Bellator 242, May 9.

Petr Yan (14-1) vs. Marlon Moraes (23-6-1); UFC Kazakhstan, June 13.

Gillian Robertson (7-4) vs. Taila Santos (15-1); UFC Saskatoon, June 20.

Marc-Andre Barriault (11-4) vs. Oaskar Piechota (11-3-1); UFC Saskatoon, June 20.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting, and like us on Facebook.