Controversy Report: UFC 314

UFC 314: Controversy Report

UFC 314 ended in a wholesome war, a beautiful display of violence in a perfectly scored title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. While fans applauded Volk’s return and his vintage masterclass as well as the beautiful bravery and bright future of Diego Lopes, a few moments in the prelims were the cause of some controversy. 

Let’s take a look at the few moments of controversy in what was otherwise the best UFC card of the year so far. 

Sumaderji defeats Mitch Raposo

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

In a damage based sport, this fight had the right man having his hand raised, however let’s break down why one scorecard was tilted toward Mitch Raposo’s end. Sumaderji ‘s strategy was simple. Maintain range and pick his shots carefully. 

The first round was the sole round unanimously scored for Mitch Raposo. The round consisted of 7 takedowns attempted by the American, with only two being landed. Sumaderji landed 11 strikes to Raposo’s 5, though the shots of Raposo seemingly had a bit more sting to them and had more impact. That, paired with the takedowns and 1 minute of control time, it was a clear yet close round to score. 

As we head to the second round, the gap in significant strikes was higher. 14 significant strikes landed when placed in comparison with Raposo’s 2 significant strikes. 6 Takedowns were attempted by Raposo with only one sole takedown landed, gathering 1 minute of control time. The damage in this round was once more favored towards Sumaderji, however judge Junichiro Kamijo sided with Raposo. In my view, Judges Edgehill and Wincapaw scored it correctly, awarding Sumaderji this round for actual damage being done. 

The third and final round saw Sumaderji’s striking increase once more, as we saw a discrepancy of 18 strikes on Raposo, including 14 strikes landed on the head with a 44% striking accuracy. While Raposo did in fact land 3 takedowns and almost two minutes of takedowns, damage is the main factor when judging and again, Raposo did none. 

Despite the clear cut victory fort Sumaderji, Home of Fight’s own Jake Noecker added to the controversy as he was the only MMA media member to score the fight for Raposo.

Fortunately, Sumaderji was awarded with the win, despite judge Kamijo erroneously awarded the second round for the American, overlooking a damage based scoring criteria. 

Dan Ige defeats Sean Woodson

• Rd. 3 TKO 

The matchup between Dan Ige and Sean Woodson was considered a curiosity between fans. Would Ige be able to figure out the puzzle of Sean Woodson out? We’d soon get our answer, albeit with hints of controversy. 

Following referee Andrew Glenn’s stoppage, Dan Ige was awarded a R3 TKO. Known for his heavy hands, his path to victory would always be to land the bigger shots, as he’d most likely struggle on  a volume based striking game. As for the stoppage, Woodson was hurt, and most likely would have been stopped as we had nearly 4 minutes more of a fight. Regardless, the stoppage was early, Woodson was still in a decently good defensive position and was on his way up.

Was he getting hit with a lot of shots? Yes. Was this an early stoppage? Also yes, he was on his way up and seemingly finding a way out of this situation. Was this the worst stoppage I’ve seen? Absolutely not. At the end of the day it is preferable to see early stoppages rather than late, and with 4 minutes left on the clock, Ige could have caused much more damage. 

Additionally, a lot of people are pointing out that Ige was up 2-0 on all score-cards. Well, it does make sense. Woodson landed 26 strikes to Ige’s 9 however the strikes landed by Ige were far more impactful, and at the end of the day, the referees do not have access to the stats, and solely judge off what they see. Seemingly Ige would be much more efficient with his striking, while throwing less.

I personally would have had the fight at 1 a piece heading into the third, awarding Woodson with the first round as I did see the volume having a bigger impact than Ige’s single shots. Woodson landed 26 strikes to Ige’s 9 that round and none of Ige’s strikes were particularly too impactful.

Regardless of the early stoppage, we were on our way to a Dan Ige win, be it by TKO or by 29-28 Unanimous Decision. 

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