"This guy is shining" - Isaac Dulgarian accuses Christian Rodriguez of cheating after controversial split decision loss at UFC Vegas 88

Isaac Dulgarian's contentious split decision loss to Christian Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 88 has sparked a wave of controversy, with Dulgarian himself raising allegations of foul play.

Despite a dominant performance in the opening round and a grappling-heavy strategy that seemed to give him the edge, Dulgarian found himself on the wrong end of the judges' decision, prompting fans to voice their frustrations and suspicions on social media.

Taking to Instagram, he expressed disbelief at the judges' scoring, particularly in the second round, where he believed his control time warranted a clear victory. He lamented the disparity between his perceived performance and the judges' interpretation, stating that he did not feel like he lost the fight, considering the control he exerted throughout the match.

“I don’t feel like I lost this fight, and as you can tell I’m not super banged up. Round one I scored a 10-8 across the scorecards, and round two I had about four minutes and 10 seconds of control time, only really ate one significant trike… Yet somehow two of these judges gave him round two.”

However, Dulgarian's most significant accusation was directed at his opponent, Rodriguez, whom he accused of cheating by allegedly applying lotion to his body. In the video, he said:

“One thing I did notice though is that I had to use a lot of strength and energy to keep this guy down. About three minutes into round one and I’m completely dry and this guy is shining, I’ve grappled thousands of bodies and I know when people are cheating.”

Check out Issac Dulgarian's comment below:

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What is Isaac Dulgarian's professional career record?

This defeat marks Issac Dulgarian's first professional defeat in his career. Before this, the featherweight fighter was riding on a six-fight-unbeaten streak, with four of them coming via way of knockout, two via submission, and six being first-round finishes.

He had amassed five of his wins from fighting at the Fighting Alliance Championship before debuting at UFC with a win over Francis Marshall at UFC on ESPN 51 last year.