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The UFC San Antonio judging controversy has been a talking point over the past few days. Many notable names in the sport of MMA have reacted to it as well, including Israel Adesanya.
Cory Sandhagen took on Marlon Vera in a highly anticipated bantamweight matchup last weekend. 'Sandman' was quite clearly the better fighter and managed to dominate Vera for the majority of the fight. While Sandhagen looked set to win the bout via unanimous decision, one judge shockingly scored the bout in favor of 'Chito,' and 'Sandman' just managed to rope in a split decision to his name.
Reacting to the same on his YouTube channel, former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya seemed surprised by one judge scoring the bout in favor of Marlon Vera. He said:
"Some judges, bro. But good fight though and good show of heart."
Watch the video below:
It is worth noting that Joe Ojeda, the judge who had Marlon Vera winning the bout, is rather inexperienced. While he has been a judge in regional promotions such as Fury FC and Invicta FC, Ojeda has scored just four UFC bouts in his career, including the Cory Sandhagen vs. Marlon Vera fight. Moreover, he has just scored 75 MMA bouts in his entire career.
UFC San Antonio judging: What did Cory Sandhagen say?
Cory Sandhagen, like the majority of the MMA world, was shocked by the scoring in his bout against Marlon Vera. Following his win over 'Chito', Sandhagen sat down at the post-fight press conference to discuss a variety of topics. During the press conference, 'Sandman' was asked to comment on one judge scoring the fight in favor of Marlon Vera.
Commenting on the same, Cory Sandhagen suggested that he thought he had won most of the rounds and said:
"I thought that I was winning most of those rounds. Maybe the third, I was like, ‘Eh, you know, that was maybe a little bit close,’ but I thought that I was bagging the other ones. Definitely knew that I had the first two. So yeah, confusing, but that’s the sport of MMA. Until the rules get fixed, it’s just going to keep happening. If they would’ve scored one of those first two [rounds] for him, that would’ve been a real riot.”
Watch the post-fight press conference below:
