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Last night's UFC San Antonio closed off with a controversial moment as judge Joel Ojeda scored the main event in favor of Marlon Vera.
Cory Sandhagen took on Marlon Vera in a highly anticipated bantamweight clash. Heading into the bout as a slight favorite, 'Sandman' put on an impressive show of his fighting skills as he dominated Vera for the majority of the contest.
While Marlon Vera found a bit of success in the third and fifth rounds of the fight, it wasn't enough to earn him a victory over Cory Sandhagen. Following the end of the fifth round, 'Sandman' was expected to have earned a unanimous decision. However, in a rather shocking decision, he only managed to rope in a split-decision victory.
The bout was scored by Chris Lee, Sal D'Amato and Joel Ojeda. While Lee and D'Amato scored the fight 46-49 and 45-50 respectively in favor of 'Sandman', Ojeda scored it 48-47 in favor of Marlon Vera.
Joel Ojeda has been a judge in regional promotions such as Fury FC and Invicta FC. Saturday night was his second time judging a UFC card. Moreover, the main event was only his fourth bout with the company.
Joel Ojeda as UFC judge: Which fights did he score previously?
Joel Ojeda is relatively inexperienced when it comes to judging UFC bouts. He has scored only four bouts in the promotion, including Cory Sandhagen vs. Marlon Vera. He also scored in the preliminary bout between Steven Peterson and Lucas Alexander on the same card.
The fight between Peterson and Alexander was won by the latter via unanimous decision as all three judges scored the bout in favor of Alexander (27-30). Prior to last night's event, Ojeda had scored two other fights in the promotion.
Joel Ojeda was last brought in as a judge back in June 2022 on Fight Night: Kattar vs. Emmett. In the event, Ojeda scored two bouts on the preliminary card: Maria Oliveira vs. Gloria de Paul and Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Natalia Silva.
The fight between Maria Oliveira and Gloria de Paul ended in a split decision in favor of Oliveira, while Natalia Silva defeated Jasmine Jasudavicius via unanimous decision.
