10 worst judges' decisions in UFC history

#3 Tyron Woodley vs. Jake Shields, UFC 161 – June 15th, 2013

How the judges awarded Jake Shields a win over Tyron Woodley remains a mystery

Current UFC Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley might have a bit of a reputation with the fans as a dull fighter to watch, but back in 2013 he was involved in a boring fight that was not his fault in any way. The fight in question – a split decision loss to Jake Shields – also remains one of the worst robberies in UFC history.

Woodley was coming off his UFC debut – a knockout of Jay Hieron – and the feeling was that he had the style to beat Shields – a stronger wrestling base and a far superior stand-up game too. Shields had traditionally struggled to defeat opponents he was unable to take down, and Woodley fit that mold down to a tee.

Indeed, Shields never came close to putting ‘The Chosen One’ on his back, and although he did manage to gain some clinch control and landed numerous glancing strikes on the future champion, he was also dropped in the first round by a heavy leg kick, and stunned badly in the third round by a spinning backfist.

Admittedly, Woodley didn’t exactly throw strikes with a lot of volume, but when he did land he clearly made more impact than Shields, and with all other things – i.e. the clinching, of which there was a lot – seeming equal, the decision should’ve gone to Woodley by a score of 30-27.

Instead, two of the judges went 29-28 for Shields, tipping the scales in his favor with the lone dissenter going 30-27 for Woodley. It was a totally unearned decision for Shields, while Woodley was clearly robbed of his first victory over a true top-ranked Welterweight contender. Due to its dull nature, the fight has largely been forgotten since, but it remains a truly baffling decision.