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Oktagon MMA has one more event in 2023 and the promotion will be making a major change in how the fights are judged for the final show of 2023.
That’s because the December 29 card will be using the open scoring system, making Oktagon MMA the first European MMA promotion to do so.
“We will be happy to be the first organization in Europe to do this,” OKTAGON MMA co-founder Pavol Neruda told MMA Junkie. “We think it’s the right thing. Really, our thinking is, ‘Why not?’ We don’t really understand why it is not open already. We think it will bring more excitement for the fighters and the fans.”
The open scoring system will allow the fighters and their corners to know what the scores of each round as they compete.
Neruda says that a controversial fight at Oktagon 43 is what led to the promotion opting to use the open scoring system.
“Vemola had this controversial fight with Kincl – five rounds, kind of boring, but he thought that the way he was fighting was winning him the fight, so he kept those tactics,” Neruda said. “If he had known he was losing (on the judges scorecards), it would have been a very different fight. I’m super excited to see how the fights play out with the fighters knowing where they stand on the scorecards.”
(Update: A new report from MMA Fighting states that Oktagon MMA will use open scoring for all events going forward.)
