Bellator women's featherweight champion Cris Cyborg has stated that MMA judges who consistently score cards differently than the other should be reviewed properly. She believes they should also be imparted with additional training because, in every fight, there is a lot at stake for fighters.
Cris Cyborg claims MMA judges should be accountable for scoring fights wrongly
Recently speaking to James Lynch, Cris Cyborg was asked to share her thoughts on the scoring in Rafael Dos Anjos' split-decision victory over Paul Felder at UFC Vegas 14.
People were shocked to see that judge Chris Lee had scored the one-sided fight in favor of Paul Felder. Cris Cyborg revealed that the same judge almost cost her a title-fight win against Holly Holm at UFC 219.
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"When I fought Holly Holm, he [Chris Lee] scored the fight 2-2 but to me, I won at least 4 to 5 rounds. Imagine if I lost the fight by split-decision, it would have changed a lot of things for me. I think they should be more careful about this. I believe there should be a proper review and he should be given proper training because fighters have a hard time when something like this happens."
Cris Cyborg said that Lee had scored the fight a draw by giving two rounds each to both fighters and scoring the remaining round a draw. However, she believes that she won four to five rounds in the fight, and the statistics make a good case for exactly that.
Cyborg outlanded Holm in terms of significant strikes, having landed a massive 118 out of 223 attempted strikes. "The Preacher's Daughter" only managed to land 44 out of 227 attempted strikes.
MMA judge Chris Lee has come under the scanner for allegedly scoring fights absurdly during his recent assignments. Lee has drawn flak from the MMA community after being involved in a couple of highly-controversial split decision dissents over the past few weeks.
At last weekend's UFC Vegas 16 event, Lee was the only person to score a fight between Roman Dolidze and John Allan in favor of the latter. Most people felt that Dolidze was the outright winner in the fight, including UFC president Dana White.
This is what White had to say about Lee following the fight.
"I don't know how that guy could score that fight that way."
Dana White further stated that a friend of his who isn't even from the world of combat sports didn't understand how the judge scored the fight in favor of Felder.
Do you agree with Cris Cyborg's take on MMA judges? Sound off in the comments.