Controversy Report: UFC 313

UFC 313

At the time of writing, we have a new UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, but not without a lot of controversy behind the 5 round headliner. Outside of the main-event, we had some questionable decisions, and of course, it is my job to explain what happened, how a specific fight was scored, and if it was truly a bad call by judges and referees. Let’s not waste any more time and start right off the gate with the first fight of the early prelims. 

Ozzy Diaz defeats Djorden Santos

• Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

This fight was the perfect start to a PPV event. These two wasted no time getting at each other with the sizable favorite Djorden Santos starting off insanely well. He out struck Ozzy Diaz by 5 strikes, but also did some considerable damage in this round, though Diaz survived and showcased his improved durability in this middleweight division. All three judges unanimously gave this round for Santos, and understandably so, he did great, and caused the most damage. 

The second round saw Santos slow down, all the while Ozzy picked up the pace. The stats showed Diaz outlanding Santos by two slight strikes, while being more effective with the strikes, landing more to the head. Despite that, it was still a close round, though because of the freshness of Diaz, I would give it to him. 

The third and final round was perhaps the most controversial, as we did see Santos recover well from the second round. The third round was much more of the same, a vicious back and forth with the stats indicating again Diaz outlanding Santos by 5 strikes. A differential here was a takedown landed by Santos which resulted in 26 seconds of control time. 

The final score-card was a unanimous 29-28, with all judges in accordance with each and every single round. Personally, the first round was the sole round with a definitive winner with the second and third being quite competitive, so to scream robbery isn’t justified as this was simply a very balanced and well paired matchup. 

Mairon Santos defeats Francis Marshall

• Split Decision (27-30) (29-28) (29-28)

The judging for this fight proved to be the most controversial decision in 2025, though let’s breakdown each round and what each score-card said, as this was admittedly, one of the toughest fights to judge after the occurrence. Starting off with the easier job, and that is judging the very first round, where Francis Marshall unanimously won on all three score-cards. There is no mystery here. Though there was no official knockdown awarded to Marshall, he did badly hurt and wobble Santos, who went into immediate survival mode. To his credit, Mairon Santos did well in surviving this round and even landed two more significant strikes, though the damaging shot from Marshall and the thirty seconds of control quite clearly handed him this round. 

Round 2 is where the controversy lies. Judge Derek Cleary awarded this a 10-9 for Marshall with Chris Lee and David Lethaby  awarding it a 10-9 for Mairon Santos. Out the gate, it was evident that Santos had recovered from the “quasi-knockdown” and that Marshall had an uplifting confidence knowing he not only had the wrestling, but perhaps could even succeed in the striking. Numbers in this round were close, with Mairon Santos out-landing Marshall by 11 strikes and being efficient with 52% of strikes landed compared to 20% of those by Marshall. 

What was the differential here is that Marshall had Santos controlled for 1 minute on the ground, which included two takedowns. Strikes to the head were almost even, though Santos landed more with 10 compared to the American’s 8 with the differential being the calf-kicks landed by Santos as well. Regardless, Cleary awarded this a 10-9 for Marshall while Chris Lee and David Lethaby sided with Santos. The debate here is primarily if judges are awarding takedowns with limited damage more than striking, which could have been the case. Despite having one minute of control time, Santos landed 11 strikes over what Marshall did, which unfortunately could explain the decision. 

Round 3 was the decisive round of this conundrum. Once again Cleary sided with Marshall awarding him the 10-9 while the two other judges gave this round to the young Brazilian. In this round, Santos landed more than Marshall by 6 significant strikes, landed more efficiently at 44% compared to the American’s 23%, with only 38 seconds of ground control for Marshall. Based on the damage, I thought this was a clear round for Santos. Despite that, it was still close in terms of impact, which could explain Cleary’s decision. 

Conclusively, this was a competitive fight which I personally had Round 1 as a clear Marshall round and Round 3 as a clear, though competitive, Santos Round, with Round 2 being the controversial round. Based on solely statistics, it is more than understandable why it was awarded for Santos, though watching the fight, the optics could have made a bigger difference. Moreover, looking at this fight live and after the occurrence has made me realize it was much closer than I initially thought. 

Another curious fact is that these rounds are scored equally. Marshall had the biggest moment of the fight, though that was solely one round. Unfortunately, the bigger moment doesn’t necessarily win you the fight when each round is scored individually. This could be something for commissions and the UFC to discuss in the future. Should judges be more open to 10-8 rounds ?

Armen Petrosyan Gets Point Deduction

While nothing controversial happened during this fight, it is important to give out positive recognition when something positive occurs. Early in the very first round, Armen Petrosyan landed back to back groin kicks on Brunno Ferreira, deducting him a point following the second groin shot. Many praised Mark Smith for this as it occurred in succession to each other. 

Mark Smith has been criticized previously for his decision making, though this was an occasion where he should be praised for his rapid and prompt decision to take away a point. I believe one stern warning is enough before points start being taken away. Again, there is not a lot of regulatory clarity on this matter, but for the sake of consistency, this should be it. 

Magomed Ankalaev defeats Alex Pereira

• Unanimous Decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)

The moment MMA fans saw Dana White’s facial expression, it was quite evident this fight was not going the way of his star athlete and three time defending champion, Alex Pereira. It is always a blow when the organization loses a top-tier star in place of a fighter that isn’t quite that. In a very anti-climatic ending, Magomed Ankalaev was crowned the new light-heavyweight champion, backed by frustrated “boos” from fans. 

The common concept of “In Order to beat a Champion, you truly need to beat a Champion” was highlighted in this fight. The anti-climatic ending made it feel like Ank’s win missed something. We often think of close title fights staying with the Champion, like we saw with Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes or Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker II and countless others. Every opportunity in a close round to score the round for the long-reigning champ, the judges take it. That wasn’t the case here, so let’s break down this fight round by round. 

Round 1 was a Unanimous win for Alex Pereira. Pereira landed the better significant strikes here and was more aggressive and overall did better. He landed 16 to Ank’s 9 significant strikes, did some good damage with his classic leg kick, landing 14 in one singular round, a lot going unchecked. A quick takedown attempt at the end of the round was negated by Poatan. This round was unanimous for the champion. 

Round 2 was much more competitive as Ankalaev took control with the pace and aggression, landed 11 more significant strikes, including 18 to the head. Evidently, this round was marked by the beautiful sequence that wobbled the Brazilian towards the end of the round. Again, no problems scoring this round, primarily because of that sequence that damaged Pereira. 

The first two rounds were split between the two men, and so far, a very easy fight to score. Here is where it becomes a little bit more competitive. The striking numbers point to Poatan’s favor, outlanding 21 to 17, landing at a 61% rate compared to Ank’s 42% and having near even head shots landed this round. By all means this was a hard round to score. I’d say the damage was on Pereira’s side but the “pressure and pace” was given to Ankalaev. 

Personally, this is one of the situations which I had mentioned above, where the champion is given the benefit of the doubt in close rounds, which was not done here. All three judges unanimously gave this round to Ankalaev, which was quite odd. Based off damage, I would give this to Pereira, despite it being a close round. 

Round 4 was another easy fight to score. While by far the most dull round of this fight, Ankalaev won on aggression and control. Luckily for us, the UFC tracks clinch control, and Ankalaev had an outstanding 4 minutes of that in this 5 minute round. There isn’t much more to score other than that. Ankalaev won this round soundly because the rules of MMA permit this. No takedowns were landed, and we were off to a decisive Round 5. 

Significant strikes were closer this fight with Ankalaev landing 20, compared to Alex’s 14. Alex was 11% more efficient with his strikes, landing more to the head. Ankalaev did have 1 minute of clinch control, but the heavier shots and bigger moments were on Pereira’s side. Based off the standard that damage trumps it all, Pereira wins this round. Two judges, Mike Bell and Derek Cleary scored it for the champion, while the infamous Sal D’Amato scored it for Ankalaev. 

The result was a Unanimous Decision Victory for Ankalaev. In his defense, Ankalaev did have the bigger moments of the fight, did look for the bigger shots and overall out-struck Pereira through the larger portion of the fight. Despite all that, fights are scored individually by round. There were two clear rounds for each men. Rounds 1 and 5 for Pereira and Rounds 2 and 4 for Big Ank, with Round 3 as the controversial swing round. Again, I am a firm believer in awarding the closer rounds to the champion, but this isn’t a rule, more so an unspoken tradition of the sport. 

Regardless, I do not think calling this a robbery is fair. Awarding this to Ankalaev is more than just despite it being anti-climatic and not helping his overall stock with the casual fanbase. Ankalaev utilized the ruleset to his advantage, which I understand many consider bad for the sport. While Round 4 was a tough watch, let’s not pretend he did not give the champion a hard fought second round, all on the feet, might I add. 

What is next remains to be discovered, though it seems Dana White and the UFC are keen for a rematch. If a rematch does occur, it will be interesting to see how each athlete adapts and makes the necessary changes for a better performance. Want to know more about each event?

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