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While UFC 242 ended with anther Khabib Nurmagomedov masterclass, the co-main event of the evening managed to grab quite a few eyeballs as well.
Paul Felder took on Edson Barboza for the second time in the UFC, and he avenged the loss he suffered at the hands of the Brazilian in 2015.
Felder edged out a split decision victory over Barboza, an outcome that has not been universally accepted in the aftermath of the fight. The Brazilian had to be consoled by his coaches after he stormed out of the Octagon once the result was announced.
Now, Barboza's manager Alex Davis has gotten in touch with UFC Senior Vice President Marc Ratner regarding the process to file an official appeal against the outcome.
The Controversy
The scorecard of the fight revealed that judge Howie Booth gave Barboza the nod with a 30-27. Judges Maria Makemutova and David Lethaby, however, weren't in favour of Barboza and handed Felder the win. Makemutova scored the fight 30-27 while Lethaby viewed it as a 29-28 win for the Irishman.
Barboza's manager stated to MMA Fighting that they felt Barboza was robbed of a victory.
“We think that the fight was judged inaccurately. The fact that one judge gave it 30-27 Junior and one have it 30-27 Felder is a big indicator of their confusion. Our perception—and to everyone we spoke with, everyone in the arena, every journalist and media—the fight was 29-28 for Junior, who won the first two rounds.”
“We can’t let this happen. These fighters put a lot of effort and invest their time to get up there to do what they do so we have judges making these type of mistakes and not being reviewed. “We think Junior won two rounds to one, but we wouldn’t complain if it was 29-28 Felder. Nothing against Paul Felder, he’s a great fighter, a great person, his whole team, but I think Junior did a great fight and we’ll contest this.”
The statistics of the fight support the claims of Barboza's manager.
While Felder did attempt a majority of the strikes in the fight, Barboza was the one who landed the most, along with a takedown to complement the striking.
Felder may have been the more aggressive fighter, but the scorecard certainly doesn't paint a fair picture of how the fight actually panned out.
By the looks of it, an official review of the judges' decision will indeed take place, and we'll keep you updated regarding any new developments on this story.
