Jackson Wink MMA academy lashed out at the judges following Holly Holm’s controversial loss to Ketlen Vieira
This weekend’s UFC Fight Night featured a bantamweight clash between top-ranked fighters Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira, which ended on a controversial note. While Ketlen won on the judges’ scorecards, many fighters and MMA experts scored the fight the other way around. This opened up the debate for open scoring inside the UFC.
Holm controlled majority of the fight barring the second round, in which she was caught in a deep rear-naked choke. The American survived that and continued to dominate pretty much the entire fight, confident that she had done enough to win on scorecard.
In the last round. Vieira attempted an early head kick, and followed it up with a spinning elbow and good punches inside when Holm tried to tie her up. Overhand left by Holm caught the Brazilian off guard. Holm continued to attack from the outside with leg kicks and sidekicks, attempting to close distance with clinch. Vieira on the other hand looked a bit rusty in the last round, and lacked sting in her attacks like before. Eventually, Holly hauled Vieira to the fence and connected with a right hand on the exit. She hauled Vieira again to the fence again with a minute to go and landed a Two-piece this time on the exit. Vieira won the fight by split decision, although many fighters and MMA experts scored the fight the other way around.
Holm proposed the idea of open scoring in the UFC. Open scoring offers fighters and fans the opportunity to see how the judges score fights in real-time. At the end of every round, the judges’ scorecards are displayed for fans to watch.
Holm’s gym – Jackson Wink MMA academy, lashed out at the judges.
They said (via MMA Junkie): “Judges need to be held accountable for making mistakes, just like everyone else is held accountable, penalized, and punished for wrong doings… Judges are not above everyone else… Why are their decisions so untouchable and are never overturned? If this is not fixed, the legitimacy of this sport is at question! PS: What’s the point of counting strikes if they don’t mean anything and judges don’t even look at the stats. What do they go by?”
Although Daniel Cormier wasn’t sold on the idea of open scoring, he did say that the judges need to be held accountable for their mistakes. One of the biggest issues plaguing the sport has been the awful judging that fans and MMA experts alike can’t wrap their heads around.
Reacting to the incident Cormier said, ‘“This is where I don’t really understand what I’m watching in terms of the fight,” Cormier said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “Anders fight, Holm fight – both had so much control time against the side of the octagon that I don’t know how they are losing the fight.
“But once again, it’s on the judges,” Cormier said. “Once again, they keep on making these mistakes, I would think? Or we just don’t know what the hell we’re watching. … The Holm fight last night was wrong.”
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