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#1 Worst: The judging in the Moraes/Aldo fight
The majority of UFC fans – myself included – firmly believed that Jose Aldo’s drop to 135lbs to face Marlon Moraes was a mistake. Well, the former UFC Featherweight champion lost his debut in his new division, but in the end, it turned out that his performance was far better than his last one at 145lbs, and the worst thing about the fight was the performance of the judges.
Moraes came out strongly and appeared to have Aldo on the ropes early, but ‘Junior’ hung tough, and then turned up the heat in the second and third rounds to the point where he had ‘Magic’ backing up for the majority of the final ten minutes. The stats appeared to back that up too, with the more fluid Aldo reportedly landing more strikes in the second and third rounds than his fellow Brazilian.
Somehow though, two of the three judges decided that Moraes had done enough to win the fight, 29-28. Quite how they came to that conclusion is anyone’s guess, and is more evidence – along with other questionable decisions lately like Cody Stamann’s recent draw with Song Yadong – that despite supposed improvements, MMA judging still has a lot of improving to do before it becomes completely credible.
