After MMA judge Douglas Crosby came under criticism for several contentious scorecards earlier this month, former UFC star Chael Sonnen attempted to defend him.
The UFC and Bellator had events on December 9 and 10 with gold on the line and a number of fascinating okbet mma stars in action, but the primary story to come out of the weekend was the perennial judging argument.
The most eye-catching outcome occurred on Saturday, when rising youngster Paddy Pimblett beat veteran Jared Gordon. Even though all three judges gave the fight to “The Baddy,” one of them got the most attention for his actions the day before.
Crosby’s last scorecard, a 29-28 decision for the Liverpool native in Las Vegas, came after he was criticized for a 50-45 decision in favor of Danny Sabatello, who contended for Raufeon Stots’ interim bantamweight championship in the World Grand Prix quarterfinals, at Bellator 289 in Connecticut.
Crosby scored the match 50-45 for the challenger, while the other two judges scored it 48-47 for Stots, with the winner’s hand being raised.
Since then, the veteran judge has taken a lot of criticism for things like the scorecards’ lack of transparency and his ability to travel across the nation for tournaments on consecutive days.
But Sonnen doubts that this reaction is fair.
The Crosby Scorecard Gets A Helping Hand From Sonnen
Sonnen, a former contender for the okbet UFC middleweight and light heavyweight titles, recently addressed the issue surrounding Crosby, a guest on the podcast Sonnen hosted in 2015.
The battle between Stots and Sabatello was described in the opening paragraphs of “The American Gangster,” who called it a bout with two clear rounds for the challenger and three “very tight” rounds.
Attempting to settle the dispute is a nightmare. “It’s incredibly hard,” Sonnen said. The next two rounds were not as close, but for some reason, nobody seems to be fussing over them. They believe that they should have been sent to Sabatello instead.
According to one commentator, “so the two rounds that should have gone to Sabatello did with one judge, and the three rounds that were incredibly close, where everybody’s thinking ‘That’s a close round.'” Well, the proper choice has been made, at least according to our standards,” Sonnen said. “Stots pulled off the upset? A victory for Stots, then.
Then Sonnen defended Crosby’s questionable performance, which MMADecisions.com claimed was the first time in company history that a loser was handed a 50-45 scorecard in their favor.
A former boxer-turned-analyst claims that judges often give credit for rounds four and five to the competitor who had already lost the first three rounds.
With that, Sonnen commended Crosby for judging the fight “straight” and not “covering” himself by awarding the tenth and eleventh rounds to Stots.
“Guys, I gotta tell you something, and you’re not going to like this… Sonnen warned that this might lead to “officials that act beyond the box of their authority.” There is no such thing as a 12 round knockout victory in boxing. Obviously, you have no idea why. The reason is that after a winner has been declared, rounds must be given to the loser. The judging profession makes it a habit.
If a fight is five rounds and one man wins the first three, the math is done and he wins the fight. With just two minutes remaining, you should begin awarding the other player rounds immediately. That way you’re not taking a 50/50 chance,” Sonnen said. ‘That judge (Crosby) might have awarded Sabatello the fight three rounds to two… He might have taken the same precautions that every other judge takes… He denied involvement and set the record right. He just said it as he saw it: direct and true.
Sonnen also brought up an issue that keeps coming up in discussions on the subject. Many brought out the fact that Crosby had to go from the Mohegan Sun Arena to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, implying that this would have affected his or her ability to assess fights fairly.
The American Gangster” questioned the validity of such criticism, arguing that most people would be praised for making an effort to go above and beyond.
“Everyone on this goddamn aircraft has gone AWOL on me. Simply said, I’ve never heard anything like that. I don’t understand the expression, “jet lag, having not slept the night before.” To quote Sonnen: Do you need a bed to get some shut-eye? okbet playnow Approximately how many hours of sleep does the average man get each night? Is there anything missing? When flying, why was he unable to get some shut-eye? There are many potential sources of conjecture, but that one seems to always be there… Do you think that’s an appropriate criticism to lodge? No one has the capacity to put up heroic efforts, right?
Due to Sonnen’s comments, Crosby now has an opportunity to speak out against the criticism that has accompanied his recent ratings.
Insinuating that there are more factors at play, Crosby found himself in the heart of the storm. In addition, he said that judges may be “forced” to rule on controversial issues like these.
