Penick's Take
PENICK: Frankie Edgar's victory over B.J. Penn not a robbery, still not the correct decision
Apr 11, 2010 - 11:00:56 AM PENICK: Frankie Edgar's victory over B.J. Penn not a robbery, still not the correct decision

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

When the judges scores were read at UFC 112 yesterday and Frankie Edgar was announced as the new UFC Lightweight Champion, I was fairly upset and expressed it as such in my live event report. Watching and scoring the fight I didn't think Edgar had been effective enough in the fight to warrant giving him three rounds, let alone all five as one judge did.

I called it worse than the Machida-Shogun decision, but after re-watching the fight and looking at the numbers for the fight released by FightMetric, I can see an argument for Edgar to edge the final three rounds without it being a complete robbery. That said, the numbers for the fight still support my original thoughts on the fight that Penn should have won on the scorecards.

FightMetric.com's report showed Penn had a more than 100 point advantage on their Effectiveness Score criteria. Here's a round by round breakdown of the strikes in this fight:

Round one - Penn landed 18 strikes to Edgar's ten in the round. 16 of Penn's were high percentage strikes to the head, while Edgar landed just five punches to the head with two to the body and three to the legs. To go along with no takedown attempts, Penn took the Effectiveness Score 94-34.

Round two - This was even more lopsided, as Penn landed 17 strikes to Edgar's six. Yes, six strikes and three failed takedown attempts somehow won him this round on one of the judges scorecards. These first two rounds were clearly Penn's, and just because Edgar was moving around the cage doesn't mean he was being aggressive or effective in his offense at this point. Penn's Effectiveness Score advantage was 110-28 for this round.

Round three - Things got a lot closer here, with Penn landing 11 strikes to Edgar's ten, but again all eleven of Penn's strikes were high percentage punches and he landed nine punches to the head in this round. Watching the fight twice, he was landing combinations as Edgar came in and stuffed three more takedown attempts in this round. Edgar's movement alone doesn't mean he's controlling the Octagon at this point, and this is another round I thought went to Penn. FightMetric agreed with a 55-43 Effectiveness Score.

Round four - This was the most even round of the fight, and one FightMetric had scored 10-10 based on their criteria. Edgar landed one more strike than Penn in the round, but Penn landed more shots to the head and legs, with Edgar landing more body shots. I scored the round for Penn as I didn't feel Edgar was doing anything to clearly win the rounds, but at the same time I concede this as an extremely close round that Penn wasn't doing much to win either. The Effectiveness Score was 57-55 in favor of Penn, but with it being that close neither fighter took the round.

Round five - This was the only round that Edgar clearly won in the fight. He out-struck B.J. 23-13, landed 15 punches to the head, hit him with six body shots, a couple of leg kicks and completed a takedown. He finished the fight on a really strong note and had an Effectiveness Score of 96-63.

So for the five round fight, Penn's overall Effectiveness Score was 373 to Edgar's 263. Edgar's movement appeared to make him more aggressive in the fight, but as the numbers show he wasn't doing anything with that movement in the first three rounds, with Penn effectively striking and countering with the harder, higher percentage strikes in all three rounds. The fourth round was too close to call and then Edgar did win the fifth.

Penn out-struck Edgar overall 73-61. His head strikes equalled the entire amount of strikes that Edgar landed in the fight. Edgar failed on 12 of 13 takedown attempts. I don't feel I'm wrong in thinking the wrong man got his hand raised last night.

I can understand scores of 49-47 and 48-47 for Penn, and I'll even concede that I can see an argument for giving the third round to Edgar, though I still don't think he won it, and a 48-47 score for him is at least reasonable. But the 49-46 and 50-45 scores handed down in Edgar's favor by two of the judges were inexcusable and absolutely incorrect.

Penn doesn't have anyone but himself to blame, though, as he seemed lethargic at times in the fight and was content to stand in the middle waiting for Edgar to engage so he could counter. He didn't go out there to finish his opponent and instead allowed it to get to the judges hands where the rounds were ultimately interpreted the way they were.

Whether he was injured (he was wearing a knee brace for the fight), sick or for some other reason his head wasn't on right for the fight, I don't know. But even in a tentative performance that wasn't beholden to the B.J. Penn that fans have loved to watch fight at 155 lbs., this should have been his victory; and the belt should still be around the waist of The Prodigy.

RELATED STORY: UFC 112 RESULTS: Frankie Edgar pulls of the upset at UFC 112, defeats B.J. Penn to become new UFC Lightweight Champion: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]