Opinion: The Misconception Surrounding Intelligent Defense

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * Here we are again: Another fight with a close decision and a similar misconception of what the fight game is all about. Back in August, Conor McGregor won a majority decision in his rematch with Nate Diaz, and a decent portion of MMA fans cried foul over the verdict and how McGregor chose to fight. A little over a month later, John Dodson dropped a split decision to John Lineker at UFC Fight Night 96, and the same outburst over Dodson’s fighting style erupted on social media.The object of the game is to hit and not be hit, correct? That’s what Dodson did against Lineker, and somehow, someway he’s called a “runner.” He did lose the fight, but he executed his game plan and nearly took home a decision that would have inched him closer to a title fight, where the real money is in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. These fighters are risking their health, so maybe we should cut them some slack and understand that there’s a difference between “running” and being evasive. Against Lineker, Dodson landed seven more total strikes (101-94) but threw far less (191-323), according to FightMetric. However, you simply cannot use the totality of strikes to decide a five-round fight. If you could, what would be the point of scoring rounds? Let’s break it down. In three of the five rounds, Dodson landed more significant strikes than Lineker. However, in both rounds two and three, the margin was only decided by one strike; and that second round ended up being the difference-maker, as two of the three judges scored it for Lineker. Honestly, I don’t have a problem with any of this. This was far from a robbery, as some tried to call it, but there is this fundamental issue I have with how fans perceive a fight. Those that said …

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