
Photo | Getty
UFC Saudi Arabia
The last time the UFC set foot in the middle east for UFC 308, we witnessed what was considered the worst robbery of 2024, as Carlos Leal saw his UFC debut ruined by awful judging that awarded Rinat Fakhretdinov a questionable Unanimous Decision.
Fast forward to early 2025, and the UFC lands in Saudi, with legends like Cristiano Ronaldo present cage-side, and let’s just say, with the exception of one fight, fans were pleasantly pleased by the judging.
Hamby Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues
Let’s start by ripping off the “invisible bandaid” and let’s briefly talk about the early-prelim opener of Hamdy Abdelwahab and Jamal Pogues. Many pundits and fans foreshadowed a closer fight between unranked heavyweights and let’s just say, they weren’t too far off.
The first round saw Pogues outland Abdelwahab 22-11 in significant strikes, while Abdelwahab, a former olympic wrestler landed one singular takedown and collected just shy of one total minute of control time. Based on judging, damage trumps control, however the one minute of control time could’ve perhaps swayed Sal D’Amato into The Hammer’s way.
Referee Tony Weeks and Ben Cartlidge were the only ones who awarded this round for the American, taking into account the damage he effectively conducted through the first round, while already controversial Sal D’Amato, leaned into the control time.
The second round was perhaps the most controversial of rounds. Once more we saw Pogues outland Hamdy by 22-12, almost identical numbers to that first round, with the exception of one strike. Again, judge Tony Weeks awarded this round to Pogues, while judges Cartlidge and D’Amato took Hamdy’s side.
While this round saw near identical striking stats, the absence of the takedown made this, in my opinion, a clear Pogues round, which leads us to question Ben Cartlidge and Sal D’Amato’s decisions.
The third and final round saw both men a bit more fatigued, but once again, the output should be favored towards the American though, only slightly, by 4 strikes.
In this case, judges Tony Weeks and Sal D’Amato awarded it for Pogues, while Cartlidge awarded it to the former olympian.
Conclusively, I would tip my hat to judge Tony Weeks, as I saw his incorporation of a damage-based criteria effective in a fight that quite frankly, was hard to judge. In these cases, the outburst from fans are much more due to circumstances, location and past events, rather than the judging from the actual fight.
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We must give credit where credit is due. While off to quite the sour start, the rest of UFC Saudi Arabia went quite well. It is worth highlighting Vinicius Oliveira’s Unanimous Decision win over Said Nurmagomedov in an electrifying back and forth fight.
While a clear win, it’s a good example of a fight that would be swayed into the different direction, and many fans braced for it. Oliveira’s valiant effort with an inflamed rib-cage made the win all the more impressive, over a fierce and lethal finisher in Said.

Photo | Getty Images
Adesanya vs. Imavov
The only semi-controversial moment was the main-event stoppage between Israel Adesanya and Nassourdine Imavov. Because of Goddard’s past history involving the TKO stoppage between Alex Pereira and Adesanya, many pointed out the irony of his involvement with this stoppage.
Again, a referee’s obligation is to stop a fight if the fighter can no longer defend themselves, and any further damage is deemed unnecessary. While Adesanya contested briefly, it seemed he understood it was a fair stoppage, far less controversial than the one against Alex Poatan, that even then, was a fair stoppage too.
We will tune back in next week as we take a look at any potential controversy at UFC 312.
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