Controversial judging was once again a main talking point at last night’s event at the UFC APEX. Many fighters took to social media to vent their frustrations at the scorecards.
Amir Albazi maintained his unbeaten run in the UFC, extending his MMA record to 17-1 after he took a split decision victory over Kara-France, who was looking to get back in the win column following a TKO defeat to the UFC Flyweight champion Brandon Moreno.
Shortly after the judges’ scorecards were read out, Kara-France’s teammate at City Kickboxing, UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya, came with the expletives on Twitter:
Adesanya wasn’t finished in his scathing assessment as he continued to voice his displeasure at the judges. Alexander Volkanovski, also Kara-France’s teammate, replied to Adesanya’s tweet questioning Chris Lee’s decision to award round four to Amir Albazi:
Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier saw the fight as being 3-2 for Kai Kara-France:
Well-respected MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani had it as either 4-1 or 3-2 for Kara-France:
Helwani followed it up with a tweet saying that he thought only one of the judges, Mike Bell, got the scorecard correct (48-47 in favor of Kara-France). Even if true, leaving it in the hands of the judges is always a risky game:
Keep Max Holloway from seeing the last comment about leaving it to the judges:
Not all people thought it was a robbery. As with most split decision victories, some people viewed some rounds as razor-edged, which could have gone either way. Belal Muhammad was one of those:
Elsewhere on the card, Jim Miller delivered a stunning knockout inside twenty-three seconds to overcome Jesse Butler. Miller landed several clean shots before a left hand knocked out his opponent. Miller even landed an additional strike as Butler fell to the canvas. Impressive stuff:
Miller’s 43rd fight in the UFC, extending his record as the fighter with most fights and most wins in UFC history. Alex Morono is a fan:
Alex Caceres was victorious over Daniel Pineda, with all three scorecards reading 29-28 in favor of the man fighting out of Miami, Florida. Both men left with a fight of the night bonus in a fight that impressed UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling:
Caceres did well to escape this submission attempt in round one. A contender for Fight of the Year?
Tim Elliott will be relieved to come away with a victory after enduring a very turbulent few weeks after the revelation that his ex-partner was allegedly in an extra-martial relationship with his friend. Elliott took the decision 30-27 x, 29-28:
So another week is wrapped up in the crazy carousel that is the UFC. Fingers crossed, we don’t get any dubious judging decisions at next weekend’s pay-per-view event, headlined by Amanda Nunes and Irene Aldana as they compete for the Bantamweight crown. The co-main event sees Charles Oliveira take on Beneil Dariush in what is widely expected to see the winner become the number one contender to face Islam Makhachev for the UFC Lightweight strap. UFC 289 takes place in Vancouver, Canada on Saturday, June 10.
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