Poor judging strikes UFC 287 as MMA world calls out Michelle Waterson vs. Luana Pinheiro split decision

Women's strawweight veteran Michelle Waterson took on up-and-coming Brazilian prospect Luana Pinheiro in the UFC 287 late prelims.

While Waterson and Pinheiro went toe-to-toe over the course of three rounds, the veteran appeared to be more successful in rounds 1 and 3. However, 'The Karate Hottie' became the latest victim of the MMA judging curse, ending up on the short side of a controversial split decision.

A large section of UFC fans and fighters disagreed with the judges and minced no words while voicing their thoughts on Twitter. UFC veteran Lando Vannata wrote:

"Close fight but I thought @karatehottiemma won the first and third."

Ben Askren wrote:

"What in the HELL!!! Waterson won that fight easy, what does @VerdictMMA say??"

UFC bantamweight Brian Kelleher wrote:

"It’s so shitty that someone loses half there paycheck which is a huge lump sum"

The UFC 287 judging controversy comes less than a fortnight after Texas judge Joel Ojeda grossly messed up in judging a main-event clash against Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Vera.

Fans continue to point out the rampant increase in botched UFC scorecards. A fan wrote:

"HORRIBLE decision #UFC287 Michelle Waterson-Gomez clearly won that fight. Unfortunately the judges screw another fighter. Again. And again. And again."

Catch more reactions below:

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UFC 287 results: Michelle Waterson drops three in a row

Michelle Waterson has fought only once a year since 2021 and has lost all three times. While her most recent loss to Luana Pinheiro could be pinned down to bad luck, 'The Karate Hottie' was dominated by her two previous opponents.

The UFC 287 loss also made it 1-5 in her last six outings for Waterson, who recently expressed interest in a move to pro wrestling. Weighing in on the UFC-WWE merger, the 36-year-old recently told Hindustantimes.com:

"I've been fighting for over 15 years. This is the 16th year of me fighting, maybe even longer geez. But it would be nice even for me to transition into something like that. So a bridge for the fighters to do something after they're done fighting would be amazing and I would absolutely welcome that opportunity."

Meanwhile, Luana Pinheiro has extended her unbeaten UFC run to 4-0 and will be looking to enter the top-10 strawweight rankings.