An MMA Christmas List: 2011 Edition

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There was no gold on the line, only prestige and pride. Yet, in the UFC 139 headliner on Nov. 19 in San Jose, Calif., Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua fought tooth and toenail for five rounds. Blood and sweat were shed liberally.

Powered by his thunderous right hand, Henderson looked to have the Brazilian on the brink of defeat more than once. He won rounds one through three with his heavy punches but ran into trouble in the fourth, where he found himself winded, wobbled and nearly undressed by a jarring Rua uppercut. The 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner grounded Henderson and kept him there in the fifth round, moving to full mount on five separate occasions and dropping punches as he worked through the exhaustion.

A clear contender for “Fight of the Year,” the Henderson-Rua classic will go down as one of the most memorable fights of 2011, all because of a subtle but shrewd change in policy from Dana White. In April, the UFC president announced plans to incorporate five-round non-title fights into the matchmaking rotation. Henderson-Rua was the second such bout to feature the change, and the fans were the beneficiaries.

Upping the frequency of five-round matches tops my Christmas wish list.

More Five-Round Fights: If Henderson-Rua taught us anything, it was that 10 additional minutes have the potential to change everything. Through three rounds, Henderson had established himself as the superior fighter. Rua survived his onslaught, however, and rounds four and five provided him with an opportunity for redemption. The Brazilian came ever so close to securing it, as he spent nearly the entire fifth round mounted on a fading Henderson, leading many to argue he deserved a 10-8 frame in his favor and a draw on the judges’ scorecards. Henderson won a narrow verdict, but without the fourth and fifth rounds, a true classic would have been replaced by a one-sided 30-27 nod for the 41-year-old two-time Olympian. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future the UFC will consider making all main and co-main event fights five rounds.

Less Referee Involvement: Nothing drives up the old blood pressure quite like a hyperactive referee bowing to pressures outside the cage. Wrestling, clinching and grappling have been and always will be integral parts of high-level mixed martial arts. If a fighter on the bottom desires a restart on the feet, force him to get there himself. The reliance of one-dimensional fighters on external intervention has become quite an annoyance -- and an unnecessary one. Fights should not include referees offering instructions while hovering above two engaged fighters on the ground or on the cage. Unless a complete and hopeless stalemate becomes apparent with neither competitor gaining an advantage, allow them to do their jobs. In other sports, quality referees are often defined by how little we notice them. Some MMA officials could learn a thing or two from the concept.

Fewer Boo Birds: Every fan hopes to be entertained when the fists and feet fly. However, the demand that every fight come through in that regard is out of touch with reality. Proper respect is due to any man or woman who enters the cage to risk life and limb in the spirit of competition. Not every match will turn into a barnburner. There will be plenty of duds along the way. To hear boos -- alcohol-induced or otherwise -- cascading down around two professional fighters who have spent hours upon hours, days upon days and years upon years honing their skills has grown increasingly unnerving. MMA fans need to come to grips with one truth: the bottom line in sports is winning, not entertainment. Sometimes, the two go hand-in-hand; many times, they do not. Fighters from various backgrounds -- some of them flashy and stylish, others downright boring -- will continue to do what they do best in the pursuit of victory. That drive to succeed exists in the DNA of any accomplished athlete. For every Anderson Silva, there is a Jon Fitch. A true MMA fan has an appreciation and a respect for both.

Professionalism, Please: The UFC created some needless negative publicity with how it handled the situations involving Forrest Griffin, Miguel Torres and Rashad Evans. In short, all three made unsavory and unfortunate comments in various public forums: Griffin and Torres on Twitter, Evans at the end of a high-profile press conference for the UFC’s forthcoming second appearance on the Fox network. Griffin and Evans, two promotional lynchpins, kept their jobs. Torres lost his. Double standards have no place at the professional level. The UFC should establish a code of conduct and abide by it. If Torres’ words were grounds for termination, then it stands to reason that Griffin and Evans should have been given the boot, as well. Generally speaking, the sport of mixed martial arts could use an injection or two of professionalism -- from those who compete in the cage, from those charged with promoting fighters and fights, from those who carry the gavel in the form of a scorecard and from those who cover the sport in the media on a day-to-day basis. Am I the only one who cringes at the sight of “journalists” walking the red carpet like celebrities?