Ricardo Almeida now a NJ MMA Judge

Ariel Helwani's twitter.

Ariel Helwani
Huge. RT @larrypepe: Great interview with @NickLembo earlier. Ricardo Almeida now a pro MMA judge in New Jersey.

I think this is a great move for the sport,we need more good ex MMA fighters who know the game inside out and know exactly what they are watching to get involved in the judging.

I really hope more ex fighters/trainers/coaches etc chose to do this,they could replace some of these boxing judges that don't really know what they are watching,never mind what or how a MMA fight should be scored.

What other ex or current fighters/coaches/trainers would you like to see follow suit or just think would make good judges?

Almeida is a fighter who strongly favours one discipline (BJJ), he might be biased to ground game as opposed to striking.


He's more 1 dimensional than ur average MMA fighter. There are problems with fighters becoming judges.

Almieda comes across to me as a fair knowledgeable guy,who knows the importance of the other aspects of the game that are needed to become an MMA fighter,he's had to put the time in himself,learning them and teaching them,(I'm sure he's put shit loads of hours into his stand up and wrestling)so I personally think he would be a fair competent judge.

Anyone that has basically spent the last 10 years living and breathing the sport,should have a better understanding on what it takes to win or score a fight IMO.

I think this is a good move for the sport. As long as he's not biased towards BJJ fighters.

There's a good chance a lot of future MMA judges have a particular fondness or training back ground in one discipline over another, that doesn't mean they'll bring that cage side.

It's possible to recognise personal bias and favouritism and discard it to do your job properly.

Retired from fighting and became a judge??
sounds like he took his last decision loss pretty hard!!
(bullshit apparently, i havent seen it though)

His light fight was close but I rekon he lost, it wasn't the most exciting, rekon on the whole it's a good thing only problems I see are him judging a team mate from renzo gracies and if he judges any of his mates fights or people he dislikes grudges against

2brutal wrote:His light fight was close but I rekon he lost, it wasn't the most exciting, rekon on the whole it's a good thing only problems I see are him judging a team mate from renzo gracies and if he judges any of his mates fights or people he dislikes grudges against

Same goes for any fighter or trainer who turns to judging I reckon. It would be difficult for them not to favour their mates.

Yeah mate I agree