UFC Robberies
UFC RobberiesEven though the term “robbery” is used far too often in MMA, this year presented some scorecards that made it particularly difficult to defend the judges.
The unfortunate truth is that the scoring criteria in MMA, particularly in its current form given its focus on “impact,” allows for an insane amount of subjectivity when it comes to justifying a slew of scores for a single fight. For this reason, close or even competitive rounds (which are two different things), can be interpreted in almost polar opposites when it comes to seeing it as a clear round for one fighter or reluctantly edging it towards the other.
That said, as a lifelong martial artist who has not only covered this sport for the past decade – but has also taken and passed judging and referee courses – I am fairly confident when it comes to what I’m seeing and competent when it comes to explaining it.
I have a ton of respect for the thankless job of judging and officiating and am grateful for the time that top-level judges in this sport have personally given me. However, in this article, I’ll be listing some of the most egregious and indefensible scorecards of the year.
Without further ado, here are the worst robberies in the UFC of 2024, in no particular order…
Chris Unger | Zuffa LLC
Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Carlos Leal
- UFC 308 (Oct. 26, 2024)
Despite Leal looking like he robbed a pharmacy with the physique he was rocking on fight night, the Brazilian still found himself on the wrong end of some of the worst scorecards of 2024.
Not only could I not find two frames to give to the “Gladiator,” but 30-27 Leal was a more appropriate scorecard than 29-28 Fakhretdinov.
I understand that Leal’s low-handed guard provided some poor optics in that final frame (which I’m okay with going to Fakhretdinov, by the way), but the Brazilian was doing a good job of rolling with the more point-scoring punches of Fakhretdinov, showing little-to-no effect from said shots.
Unfortunately for Leal, that defensive choice – coupled with his propensity to counter and work the body – remains a consistent common culprit when it comes to suspect scorecards in MMA.
I wish that the casual MMA fan’s cries about boxing judges in MMA were a correct criticism, because if that were the case – then bodywork, counters and shoulder rolling would actually get the respect they deserve (making the records of fighters like Chris Curtis, Tim Means and Bobby Green look a whole lot different in the process).
Fakhretdinov did land his best shots of the fight in the final frame, but both the scoring criteria and past precedence from the judges make it hard for me to see how the Russian’s clinching against the fence was rewarded. Aside from Fakhretdinov failing to score any meaningful takedowns throughout the entirety of the fight, Leal was landing the better quality strikes in closed quarters (as knees to the body from the fighter with their back to the fence continually seem to be criminally underrated).
Fakhretdinov should be 0-2 in his last two appearances (and arguably could be 0-3), but the Russian rolls on with one of the more fraudulent winning streaks in the organization.
Joanderson Brito. | Belga Fotoarena
William Gomis def. Joanderson Brito
- UFC Paris (Sept. 28, 2024)
Speaking of fraudulent winnings streaks, there’s no way I wasn’t going to mention William Gomis and his controversial split-decision win over Joanderson Brito in his hometown of Paris, France.
Now, before anyone screams “hometown cooking,” I’d like to remind you that the judges on duty – as is often the case when the UFC hits the road – are experienced, traveling judges who are pulled from the higher end of the talent pool.
In this case, the judges were Ben Cartlidge, Anders Ohlsson and Clemens Werner – – all judges whom I respect and consider some of the best among their peers. That said, I was very surprised by the scorecards of Cartlidge and Werner, despite them technically being the judges in the majority.
Akin to my prior point about judges, in general, having a huge blindspot when it comes to both bodywork and counters, Cartlidge – whom I and many consider one of the best in that seat – has a history of misreading bodywork when it comes to the controversial cards he has turned in (e.g. see his round 1 scores for fights ranging from Alex Morono-Keita Nakamura to Sean O’Malley-Petr Yan).
So, with that in mind, it was especially ironic to see Gomis, of all people, be the fighter to finally force (or trick) some high-level judges into actually rewarding that aspect of the game.
RedWolfMMA | Twitter
Although Brito fighting incredibly wild and recklessly didn’t exactly help his case, I still found it difficult to give Gomis round 1 based on some sparse early counters and positional changes in the grappling department that produced no meaningful strikes or submission attempts.
I’m not the biggest fan of a fighter ‘stealing a round’ (which is something that judges are specifically cautioned against in their training, for what it’s worth), but Brito clearly rocked Gomis at the end of the frame, having his French foe frantically trying to find his footing on the back-foot before locking up a deep guillotine attempt to close the round.
Although this fight was closer than I care to admit, I ultimately see this as a competitive but clear win for Brito, who should’ve gotten the opening/swing round due to scoring the most meaningful and impactful offense on both the feet and the floor.
MagicM | Twitter
So far, all of Gomis UFC wins – outside of his fake TKO victory over Yanis Ghemmouri (which was a clear low blow upon replay) – are basically close, controversial decision wins.
Photo by Jeff Bottari | Zuffa LLC
Mario Bautista def. Jose Aldo
- UFC 307 (Oct. 5, 2024)
Although Aldo’s optics of succeeding control time against the cage weren’t great, I still found it hard to reward Bautista the final frame – which ended up being the swing round of the fight.
Aside from failing to achieve a single positional change en route to going 0/10 on takedown attempts against an aging Aldo, Bautista presented little to no meaningful striking offense in closed quarters outside of some weak knees to the thigh (that were nowhere near as strong as the ones Brito landed on Gomis in a losing effort, by the way).
Bautista, to his credit, was good about breaking off of his failed clinches in order to quickly spray Aldo with some point-scoring stanzas, but both the power and effect of Aldo’s strikes were clearly superior to anyone watching. Whether Aldo was countering Bautista’s jabs or landing stinging straights of his own, he was the more damaging and effective striker on the night.
Caposa | Twitter
Even though cage-pushing victories feel atrocious out of principle, they also tend to come in the company of low-action affairs that leave the door open to controversial scorecards.
Regardless of whether or not you feel this one qualifies as a robbery, the real crime here was booking Aldo at elevation against another opponent with a propensity to cage-push after Merab Dvalishvili already stole one from the former featherweight GOAT in the same place and fashion.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Julianna Pena def. Raquel Pennington
- UFC 307 (Oct. 5, 2024)
Speaking of suspect scorecards at high elevations, let’s keep the scene set at UFC 307 and talk about Julianna Pena’s split decision win over Raquel Pennington for the women’s bantamweight belt.
WireMartialArts | Twitter
Between the dated and limited 10-point must system to the insanely wide range of a 10-9 round score, it’s not unusual to see passionate arguments made one way or another when it comes to MMA fights that are adjudicated with a one-round differential. In this fight, round 1 was the swing round in question.
Although it was ultimately a round with little action (which, again, leaves the door open for sketchy scores), I still felt it was fairly clear that Pennington was the more effective striker.
However, as I often cite, the fighter who counters and works the body more tends to be the one who gets the short end of the stick. And even though Pennington had more success off the front foot than I initially remembered, she still invested heavily into the legs and body that round – something that was sadly not given its due by the judges.
Akin to other horrible scorecards like Mackenzie Dern’s disgusting decision win over Tecia Torres, everyone from the judges to the Gen-Pop alike was fooled by big swinging sloppy headshots that largely didn’t land clean (as headhunting and aggression are still attention grabbers that get grossly overrated).
And like the example of Dern-Torres, you’ll often see that the headhunter – in this case Pena – seldom ever wins two exchanges in a row, which tells me that said ‘power shots’ weren’t as powerful as projected. Whereas Pennington, who landed consistent quality at all three levels, was able to de-base Pena’s stance with leg kicks and get her to back up with head and body strikes on multiple occasions.
Again: if you want to actually see who the more effective striker is, then look for fighter reactions and consistency in exchanges rather than reacting to commentary on live watches and reinforcing your arguments with inaccurate stats that don’t even fully represent degrees or context after the fact.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Ciryl Gane def. Alexander Volkov
- UFC 310 (Dec. 7, 2024)
Although this fight wasn’t for a title, the stakes and the context of the matchup make this result extra hard to swallow for Volkov and his supporters alike.
Dan Tom | Twitter
Betting or any other biases aside, this was yet another fight where a 30-27 scorecard for the loser is arguably a better score than 29-28 for the fighter who ended up winning.
Although round 2 is technically the swing round, there’s an easy argument to make for Volkov winning the first frame due to landing the more consistent and harder strikes.
Many will point to Gane’s submission attempts for his arguments in regards to winning rounds, but – aside from the fact that submission catches traditionally score incredibly low with judges (which I don’t necessarily agree with, by the way) – Gane did not come close to finishing the fight with any of his attempts.
Outside of closing the first round flat on his back with little leverage to finish a guillotine choke, every other Gane submission attempt came in the company of questionable fight I.Q. that allowed Volkov back to his feet each time.
Not only was Volkov landing much more consistently than what the statistics say (as MMA stats are insanely flawed given that they are devoid of real context and mis-tallied on the regular), but the Russian also landed the more eye-catching strikes to secure the big moments as well – – making this decision extra egregious.
It’s not the judges’ fault that this sport largely institutes a faulty win-show pay structure, but this was definetley one of those outcomes that severely affects a fighter’s career in an unfairly adverse way given that this was an important, title-implicating matchup for an aging Volkov.
Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Tabatha Ricci def. Tecia Pennington
- UFC St. Louis (May 11, 2024)
Akin to Fakhretdinov, Tabatha Ricci is another fighter with multiple qualifiers for this year’s robbery list.
In fact, if Yan Xiaonan didn’t pitch a shutout against the Brazilian in a home game in Macau, then Ricci would still be in the running with Gomis as far as fraudulent UFC winning streaks go. But I digress.
As far as her fight with Tecia Pennington is concerned, this is yet another example of 30-27 Pennington being a more acceptable scorecard than the 29-28 that two of three judges ultimately submitted for Ricci. Rounds 2 and 3 were both swing rounds in this instance, with the second being more of a standout frame in regards to poor scoring.
Aside from Pennington piecing up Ricci in the early and late stages of the round, “Baby Shark” spent the majority of her time pushing her opponent against the fence en route to going 0/5 in takedown attempts (scoring even less striking offense than any of the previously-mentioned cage-pushers on this list).
I’m not sure what the majority of judges have been watching while Ricci is out there, but I doubt it’s the fighting. Either way, I couldn’t help but feel for Pennington in this spot given that her previous appearance was the aforementioned robbery opposite Mackenzie Dern.
Photo | ESPN
Chris Weidman def. Bruno Silva
- UFC on ESPN 54 (March 30, 2024)
Although this robbery falls uniquely on the referee in this case, Chris Weidman’s “technical decision win” over Bruno Silva was still a robbery nonetheless.
Akin to this being an extra bad year for traditional woes like judges’ decisions, this was also a banner year for referees and their typical refusal to take points and properly enforce the rules.
Dan Tom | Twitter
In this case, veteran referee Gary Copeland allowed Weidman to commit repetitive fouls that ranged from egregious eye pokes to strikes to the back of Silva’s head without even the threat of taking a point (which can be taken off the first offense regardless of intent given that the first warning comes before the contest). To put a cherry on top, it was a “double eye poke” that technically ended the fight as not a single legal strike landed for Weidman in the finishing stanza.
Copeland, who missed the fouls in real-time and failed to even address them on replay, initially stuck to his guns by having the fight called as a TKO win for Weidman before the New Jersey Athletic Commission sloppily attempted to clean up after their official by changing the ruling to a technical decision.
Despite the NJAC having two swings at-bat to get it right in a fight with three potential outcomes (a DQ win for Silva, a no-contest, or a technical draw based on the point deductions that should’ve happened), they still managed to fumble the bag. And to make things worse, the Athletic Commission doubled down on their incompetence by denying Silva’s appeal of the decision – further proving the corrupt, empty-suited nature of these commissions that claim to prioritize fighter wellbeing and safety.
Silva not only lost half of his paycheck and the biggest opportunity of his career from a fighter name perspective, but “Blindado” also lost 30 percent of his vision due to the fouls he sustained in this contest.
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