Daniel Cormier: Ben Askren backs Daniel Cormier’s criticism of UFC takedown scoring: “DC is 100% correct”

Daniel Cormier believes the UFC's system of scoring takedowns is flawed, something his fellow former Olympic wrestler Ben Askren seconds. As Cormier sees it, a proper revision of the rules would see the recorded takedown numbers drastically drop.

As it stands, wrestling specialists like Merab Dvalishvili and the now-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov each have recorded double-digit takedowns in a single fight. Furthermore, 'The Machine' has amassed an impressive 117 takedowns so far in his UFC career.

'DC' believes it is this flawed system that is birthing astronomically high takedown numbers in the promotion. During a recent episode of the Good Guy/ Bad Guy podcast with Chael Sonnen, he argued that many of the supposed takedowns recorded are in fact 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. 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."

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A mat return occurs when the bottom wrestler or fighter stands up after getting taken down, but fails to break their opponent's control, only to be forced down to the ground again.

As Cormier sees it, most of the takedowns Dvalishvili scored against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320 were mat returns. In a subsequent post on X, he pointed out that even Nurmagomedov's double-digit takedowns against Abel Trujillo at UFC 160 in 2013 were likely overstated.

Askren wholeheartedly agrees with the former two-division champion's point of view. Reacting to the Good Guy/ Bad Guy segment, he wrote:

"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."

Check out Ben Askren's comments on Daniel Cormier's critique of UFC's takedown scoring below:

About the author

Ujwal Jain is a sports journalist who covers MMA at Sportskeeda and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism. He has been practicing martial arts from an early age and won several accolades at national-level competitions in karate and Taekwondo. He also holds a back belt in karate. Ujwal loves fact-checking, helping out with related research, and being a fresh set of eyes for fellow writers’ articles.

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