UFC 284: Fans slam judge Derek Cleary's controversial 49-46 scoring against Alexander Volkanovski, Daniel Cormier chimes in

Controversial UFC judge Derek Cleary has put himself in hot waters once more after he scored the highly competitive UFC 284 headliner between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski a 49-46 in favor of the Dagestani champion.

Meanwhile, the other two judges scored the title fight much closer at 48-47 in favor of Makhachev.

Cleary has a long history of seemingly bizarre scoring. His latest scorecard has riled up MMA fans and fighters alike, with many taking to social media to express their wrath against the controversial scoring.

Former two-division champion Daniel Cormier agreed with a fan on Twitter questioning the 49-46 scorecard:

"That [49-46] was a bad scorecard. 3-2 [to Makhachev] Volk lost nothing tonight. He fought better than anyone thought he could. He is as good as anyone at any weight in the world. Great fight overall."

In a hilarious tweet, @SavinTheBees joked that the judge must've scored the fight 49-46 after seeing an extended cut of the bout:

"49-46 is the craziest sh*t this whole card bro. Mfs must’ve been watching the directors cut of that fight."

However, there were a few who didn't see much wrong with the one-sided scorecard. MMA journalist @JESnowden opined that the 49-46 score by Cleary was not "out of line":

"I didn't see the 49-46 scorecard for Islam as out of line. Not my score, but it's not wild or anything."

Check out a few other tweets below:

---

Who is Derek Cleary, the judge who gave the 49-46 scorecard?

According to a report by MMA Decisions, Derek Cleary has been scoring fights for the UFC since UFC 145 in 2012.

In recent years, MMA judging has come under heavy scrutiny owing to some bizarre scorecards and results. Unfortunately, Cleary's actions have been one of the proponents fueling the hatred towards MMA judging.

One of Derek Cleary's most recent hits came when he scored the UFC London fight in March between Cory McKenna and Elise Reed as 30-27 in the former's favor. What makes the scorecard stand out is that the other two judges saw the fight as 29-28 in favor of Reed.

The controversial judge also famously scored the 2022 fight between Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira as 48-47 in favor of the Brazilian, a bout that more than a dozen sports websites scored as a clear win for 'The Preacher's Daughter'.