Performance Bonuses and Effort: Evidence from Fight Night Awards in Mixed Martial Arts

Gift, Paul

doi:10.3390/ijfs7010013

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…While much of the extant MMA literature has been devoted to analyses of UFC pay-per-view buyrates (Watanabe, 2012;Tainsky, Salaga, & Santos, 2013;Watanabe, 2015;and Reams & Shapiro, 2017), researchers have also studied the marginal revenue product of UFC fighters and examined the impact of fight night bonuses (Gift, 2019b) and cage size (Gift, 2019a) on various aspects of fighter performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of new judging criteria on 10-8 scores in MMA

Gift

2021

JSA

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This paper investigates the impact of changes in judging criteria on 10-8 scores in Zuffa-owned mixed martial arts (MMA) promotions. Utilizing a differences-in-differences framework, the 2017 liberalization of 10-8 scoring criteria in the Unified Rules of MMA is examined across various judge groups. Findings suggest that traveling judges and Nevada judges – those most likely to be at the forefront of the regulatory evolution of the sport – had already liberalized their 10-8 scoring one year prior to the effective date of the new criteria. Other judges appear to have effectively implemented the new criteria since January 2017 with 10-8 probabilities on par with traveling and Nevada judges. The effect of an earlier change in judging criteria is also examined in Nevada. Results suggest the numerous and distributed regulatory agencies involved in the sport of MMA were effective in the implementation of new policies for scoring rounds.

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