This collage of photos shows former American mixed martial artist Daniel Cormier (right) and Ben Askren. — Reuters/Instagram
Former Olympic wrestler Ben Askren has backed Daniel Cormier’s criticism of UFC takedown scoring, saying “DC is 100% correct”.
Many wrestling specialists, including legend Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is retired now, and Merab Dvalishvili, are brilliant at takedowns, and both have recorded double-digit takedowns in a single fight.
Furthermore, Dvalishvili has 117 takedowns in his UFC career so far.
Cormier said that the high number of takedowns in the promotion is the result of UFC’s weak system. During a podcast with Chael Sonnen, ‘DC’ argued that many of the supposed takedowns are mat returns.
“Hey, the MMA takedown is a problem. The way that they score MMA takedowns is the problem, Chael. A takedown should be when you go to the mat. A takedown should not be when you get back up and the guy picks you up and just puts you back down,” Cormier said.
“He never lost control… [They should] let us tell them what a takedown is, and then those numbers won’t seem so big. Merab didn’t get 20 takedowns, Merab probably got five or six take downs, and he got 14 mat returns.”
A mat return occurs when a bottom fighter gets up after being taken down, but fails in an attempt to break their opponent’s control, only to be taken down again.
Ben Askren posted on X backing Daniel Cormier’s criticism, saying ‘DC’ is correct.
“They score a mat return as a takedown, the bottom person needs to completely clear control before another TD should be able to be established! ‘DC’ is 100% correct,” Askren said.