Best and worst from UFC Fight Night 159: Rodriguez vs. Stephens

#2 Worst: Weird judging mars two main card wars

The decision by two judges to not give Alexa Grasso a 10-8 third round was baffling

Okay, so I’ll preface this by stating that I loved both the fight between Carla Esparza and Alexa Grasso and the one between Brandon Moreno and Askar Askarov.

All four fighters left everything they had in the Octagon, and I don’t think any of them should really come away feeling like losers today. Unfortunately, I felt the judges’ decisions marred both fights horribly and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Firstly, the Flyweight fight between Askarov and Moreno; this was full of back-and-forth action, but in the end, I felt that Moreno surely did enough to take at least the second and third rounds, if not the first too, using his cardio, scrambling skills and aggressive striking to combat Askarov’s skilled grappling.

But the judges ended up scoring the fight a split draw – one going with the logical 30-27 for Moreno, but one going 29-28 Askarov and one with a 28-28 draw – a baffling card given neither fighter seemed to have earned a 10-8 round at any point.

The scorecards for Esparza vs. Grasso were even worse in my opinion. Esparza edged the first two rounds with her wrestling despite some high points for Grasso, but in the third round, the Mexican fighter turned up the heat and beat the former champion up on her feet before coming incredibly close to submitting her with an armbar.

Somehow though, two of the judges failed to give her a 10-8 third round, meaning Esparza was awarded a majority decision with two 29-28 cards.

In the long run these results probably won’t make much difference for any of the four fighters, but it’s still baffling how Grasso could be so dominant in the third and yet not get a 10-8 round, while Askarov was apparently awarded a 10-8 round for doing far less on the same night. Despite how far it’s come, MMA judging still has a long way to go.