Polarizing Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland scorecard only the second of its kind in UFC history

Sean Strickland and Jared Cannonier fought a razor-thin contest in the final UFC bout of the 2022 calendar year. Although Jared Cannonier was awarded a victory by split decision, the official scorecard will be remembered for its polar opposite scoring.

Both fighters had their moments, but the fight lacked defining instances that could have swung the fight heavily in either fighter's favor. While judges Derek Cleary and Junichiro Kaminjo scored the fight 49-46 in favor of Cannonier, Sal D'Amato scored it 49-46 in favor of Strickland.

Interestingly, this is only the second time in UFC history with opposing scores of 49-46. At UFC Fight Night in Boston on January 17, 2016, Dominick Cruz was awarded a split decision victory over T.J. Dillashaw. In that bout, Judge Sal D’Amato gave the last three rounds to Dillashaw, while Dave Ginsberg gave the first three rounds to Cruz. Tony Weeks had Cruz taking rounds two to five.

MMAdecisions.com pointed out on Twitter that the polarizing Jared Cannonier vs. Sean Strickland scorecard is only the second of its kind in UFC history:

"Strickland/Cannonier was the second fight in UFC history with opposing 49-46 scorecards. The other was Cruz/Dillashaw. In both fights, judge Sal D'Amato had the 49-46 score in favour of the losing fighter."

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Sean Strickland lashes out at judges following split-decision loss to Jared Cannonier

Sean Strickland suffered his second consecutive loss last night at UFC Vegas 66 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Jared Cannonier by split decision. It was another close decision that went to the judges' scorecards, and 'Tarzan' believes they made a mistake.

Expressing his immediate thoughts in the aftermath of the loss, Strickland ripped the judges, claiming that they "don't know how to do their jobs":

"You know you guys, I'm f***ing sore loser. Hat's off to Jared, but again you have judges that don't know how to f***ing do their job. If you actually look at the scorecards and you look at the significant strikes, you look at how many times I wobbled him. And you know, you have people, experts in the field coming up to me and saying, 'Yeah, man, I don't know how you lost that one. You landed way more, the scorecards should say it."

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