Fabricated robberies

[Psychojoe86]

I feel like some robberies are just created by fans to justify a narrative. Some fights are deemed a robberies retroactively when convinient.

Like Usman vs Chimaev, some people argue Usman won or that it's a draw.
When you look at the fight live, it's a clear Chimaev round 1 win, Usman claws back his way in round 2, has decent momentum at the start of round 3 and then gets taken down and does nothing.

Islam vs Volk 1 is another example. Watching it live, Islam was always a step ahead and outstuck Volk, Volk had great moments in round 5 and had a good slip/kd but that's not enough to win the fight.

Marlon Morraes vs Aldo is another good example. Aldo got hurt bad in round 1, round 2 he found his groove back and in round 3 he pressure Marlon non-stop but he was the one getting damaged. Hovewer, the robbery narrative was convinient for the ufc to justify an Aldo TS and some fans ran with it.

Whittaker vs Izzy 2 is another good example. It's was a pretty close fight but Izzy had the best moments by hurting Whittaker and matained control of the fight despite the takedowns.

Volk vs Max 2 is another good example. Prior the trilogy it was a good way to justify it by saying they were even. Now that the dust has settled, we can agree it was a close fight that Volk barely edged.

Strickland vs Jared is another good example. A pretty boring fight where both fighters did not managed to fully achieve their gameplan. Sean did not drown Jared and Jared did not find a big shot. Jared edged it because of his power. Now that Sean is champ, soem fans are pretending he was robbed.


Final note with Usman vs Edwards 2. Some fans are on crack and think Usman won lol.
I also saw a thread this week saying Charles did good with Islam. When you rewatch the fight, you see that Charles did not achieve anything beside an upkick and some stalemate clinchs.

Well maybe you should lay down the pipe before criticizing because it was Usman vs edwards 3 that went to decision not 2

 

[Psychojoe86]

Islam himself said volk caught him with a good punch in that knockdown sequence. Not sure why people can't accept the fact that the guy is human.

Anyways, I'll never understand how anyone scored the Diaz vs. Condit fight for Diaz.

I feel like back then a lot of us fans considered “aggression” and “center of the octagon” valuable for scoring, but in truth they were essentially irrelevant.

Back in the day my initial reaction was that Diaz was robbed, but condit clearly won the fight and I understand that now

 

[RockyLockridge]

He didn't win that round though.


I don't think he needs to tell himself that RDA got the majority nod in round 1 and 4. That's just a fact


I think Colby obviously won that, but you are also obviously only responding as a contrarian here. Best not throwing around 'delusions' from that chair

Cringe

 

[RockyLockridge]

There is literally no argument RDA beat Colby other than being biased.

I doubt even RDA thinks he won that fight. lol

He was completely dejected when the final bell rung you could see it he still raised his hands up like but he didn’t mean it

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Cringe

Another contrary without substance. Who could have guessed. Please tell us more about who is biased here

 

[RockyLockridge]

More people shit their pants about Joe Soliz giving Jon a 4-1 victory over Reyes (which makes no sense when they wouldn't condemn either of the other 2 split judges), but conveniently forget earlier that night where Soliz gave Giles a round over Krause where Giles had nearly no offense and got his back ridden for 4 minutes. And not only is that NOT a case of him being ignorant of grappling since he was a blackbelt and BJJ instructor, but it's even more egregious since he was belted and instructed for years under Giles' head coach at his gym.

I remember a few times in threads about robberies where some people tried to argue that the "biggest" in biggest robberies didn't refer to the wideness of how badly it was scored but just the size of the fight

The worst part about jones vs Reyes scoring is the complete and total lack of consistency.

The fight right before it had Lewis beat Latifi and I feel like if they judged those two fights on the same criteria, latifi and jones should be winners. It doesn’t make sense that latifi lost his fight and jones won his. The argument for both winning is pretty much the same. And they were back to back fights

 

[RockyLockridge]

Another contrary without substance. Who could have guessed. Please tell us more about who is biased here

It was just never worth a serious response

 

[maximus__]

Lots of fights involving Michael Bisping winning, mostly due to how disliked he is around here and not because they actually were robberies, because they weren't.

Michael Bisping vs Matt Hammill- Close fight but not a robbery. Hammil got a bunch of takedowns but wasn't able to do anything with any of them and Bisping always was able to get back up after a short time. The rest of the fight was Bisping outstriking Matt before being taken down again. Scoring criteria dictates that you have to do something with takedowns in order for it to be worthy of stacking up points. Hammill never did. People say this is the worst robbery of all time when it was actually just a close fight that people really wanted the winner to lose in.

Michael Bisping vs Anderson Silva- Clear 3 rounds to 2 decision for Bisping. People say it was a robbery because Anderson won by KO in round 3. When you can just watch the fight and see this is a lie. Anderson does a flying knee at a distracted Bisping (Herb Dean's fault by the way) and drops him. Bisping, who according to Sherdog narrative is out cold at this point, immediately starts giving Herb Dean an earful because what happened was his fault.

Bisping vs Hendo 2- Narrative is Hendo was robbed, did more damage. Dropped Bisping twice. However the 2 H bombs he landed were the only 2 significant strikes he landed over a 25 minute fight. For 23 and a half minutes Bisping gave Hendo a kickboxing lesson, had him wobbled multiple times on the feet and pieced him up for the whole fight. Clear as day 4 rounds to 1 decision for Bisping.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Alan Belcher- Never understood why Sherdog calls this fight a robbery. The striking was dead even for the entire fight, with neither man getting the better of the other, and the grappling was very one sided for Akiyama. He was able to take Belcher down, always get top position and control Belcher on the ground. When the striking is so even and the grappling is that one sided you have to give the win to the guy who outgrappled the other, which was clearly Akiyama.

Sean O'Malley vs Petr Yan- similar to Hammill vs Bisping, this fight being called a robbery is heavily influenced by Sherdog not liking one of the fighters and wanting badly for him to lose. It was a close fight that could have gone either way. O'Malley did more damage in the striking and Yan made up for that with some takedowns and a small bit of control time. The fight depends on what you score more heavily, but the official scoring guidelines place damage at the forefront so they gave it to O'Malley.

Matt vs Bisping was scored during an era when takedowns did score highly. They were treated as knockdowns effectively. A late takedown and control time would easily score a round. That was a dodgy decision.

SIlva vs BIsping should have been a flash ko and Herb moves in like he is stopping the fight. BIsping was trying to get recovery time as he was getting chased down. Because of everything that happened after I am ok with it, SIlva was told early it wasn't stopped. Really it should have been a NC due to the commissions inability to manage the recovery period. The issue is Herb comes in as if to stop it and then doesn't and then Bispings corner aren't allowed in to treat their fighter. Herb is initially justifying(to BIsping) why he didn't stop it for the mouthpiece and then clarifies he never stopped the fight when he realises Silva is celebrating. It just shows why fights shouldn't be stopped for knockdowns without follow up shots or a clear KO.

O'malley vs Yan is one of the worst robberies in history. Yan outstruck, outwrestled and dealt with his opponent being given 3 separate fouls with no points deducted in every single round. That fight was a complete and total robbery as the only reason Yan didn't have success on the ground was due to repeated fence grabs and glove grabs. Even with all that Yan still beat O'malley 2-1. The UFC deemed every single strike that O'malley landed in the first round as a sig strike to sell that narrative. He landed 91 total strikes in that fight with 84 considered significant strikes. In comparison they credited Yan with 58 sig strikes out of 97 landed. O'malley didn't win that first round at all. Yan outstruck him, took him down and O;malley was on the back foot landing nothing of consequence the entire 1st round. Don't confuse not getting immediately destroyed with winning a round.

 

[Poatan Power]

Dillashaw vs Sandhagen - Another instance of just picking againt the fighter you dislike, TJ clearly won that fight and IMO move up on the goat rankings big time with that win.

You're just trolling now. Sandhagen did all the damage in that fight...TJ held him against a cage and "controlled" him. I don't make the rules, but the unified rules cleary would say that Sandhagen won that fight based on damage and output. Somewhere the ghost of Octagon Control is floating around in some of ya'lls heads as scoring criteria.

It was amazing to me seeing Sandhagen visibly damage and hurt TJ standing, literally dropping him, while TJ rarely landed a decent shot other than a jab -- and people thought TJ won based on octagon control. OCTAGON CONTROL IN 2021

 

[chinarice]

He was completely dejected when the final bell rung you could see it he still raised his hands up like but he didn’t mean it

Yeah I feel like I remember RDA knowing he lost that fight and it being very obvious on his face when the bell rang. I feel like it was a clear-cut win for Colby, although the fight was close.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yeah I feel like I remember RDA knowing he lost that fight and it being very obvious on his face when the bell rang. I feel like it was a clear-cut win for Colby, although the fight was close.

But like you see in this very thread some people still refuse to let it go. What a dumb hill to die on.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

Jones/Gus - I think we are all emotional watching that fight and just wanted to see Jones lose. If you watch it back, Gus had a lot of good moments and definitely won rounds but it was super competitive and ultimately, Jones edged it out and took over in the later rounds. It in no way was a robbery. Just a competitive, grueling fight.

I thought Reyes actually did beat Jones though by the same margins. Not quite a robbery and still competitive but I thought he edged it out.

 

[chinarice]

Oh my days, who is an RDA fanboy at this point? Genuinely? I have nothing against colby either like I was telling the other guy, I half wanted him to beat leon and I’m also right wing and he’s never beaten my favourite welterweight or anything like that, I’ve no reason to dislike him, I’m not like you this isnt “oh well I like this guy more and this guy less so let’s call robbery or pretend the decision was correct” I care about people getting robbed much more than fanboying

im so not a fanboy in these situations, my favourite fighter is yoel and i will gladly accept that he didn’t beat jacare, it should have been a draw. ITS NOT ABOUT MAKING ANY ONE FIGHTER LOOK GOOD. It’s about the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth

i IMPLORE you to rewatch round 2, and count how many of colbys strikes land, slow it down, rewind it, whatever, just tally up the strikes even just in your head, and I guarantee you will agree with me, unless you’re a “he pushed him against the cage that means he wins!” guy

Ok but like who does that? Who can do this live while watching a fight? If you need to go to that length, it's obviously debatable he didn't win.

Did you do the same slow mo and nitpick everything RDA did or only Colby? This is just a weird way of hindsight looking at fights.

Colby got TDs and was just as successful on the feet as RDA was. Neither landed anything overly meaningful standing and Colby edged out the grappling.

Seemed like an easy fight to score from what I recall, even though it was close.

 

[Levi_]

Definition of a robbery in traditional fight culture, especially boxing/kickboxing- One fighter dominates the whole fight or nearly the whole fight, the other fighter gets the decision.

Therefore- A relatively close fight cannot be a robbery.

Sherdog definition of a robbery- A decision they disagree with.

 

[MarleyLynx]

Diaz condit wasn't a robbery.

 

[Skarsgard]

Honestly I think a lot of the most egregious robberies are fights people don't even remember because they don't care about either of the fighters involved.

My go to example is always Michihiro Omigawa vs Darren Elkins on the JDS/Carwin card. It was on early in the prelims and both were coming off of losses. Should have been a very clear 30-27 for Omigawa.

He outboxed Elkins in all 3 rounds, butchering his face (which has since become Elkins' calling card of course). Essentially landed everything he threw whilst avoiding any returning fire with some really slick head movement. Everytime Elkins went for a takedown he shrugged him off easily with his strong judo base, it was a complete shutout.

All 3 judges scored the fight for Elkins and someone even gave Elkins a 30-27. Nobody cared. Commentary didn't really dwell on it beyond some mild surprise at the result right after, never saw any threads here about it. Never gets brought up in threads about the worst robberies, except for when I mention it.

Yet its not uncommon to see fights fhat weren't even robberies get talked about as being the worst of all time, and it always involves champions or the big names of the sport.

I remember getting really mad at that decision and then forgetting the fight happened. Damn.

 

[El Fernas]

Marlon Morraes vs Aldo is another good example. Aldo got hurt bad in round 1, round 2 he found his groove back and in round 3 he pressure Marlon non-stop but he was the one getting damaged. Hovewer, the robbery narrative was convinient for the ufc to justify an Aldo TS and some fans ran with it.

Watching live i thought Aldo edged it, and if you look at the official decision, Moraes thought the same too, its the classic reaction of a guy that knows he lost the fight and still got the decision win, he knew, Fighters often think they won even when they didnt, Moraes thought he lost.

 

[maximus__]

You're just trolling now. Sandhagen did all the damage in that fight...TJ held him against a cage and "controlled" him. I don't make the rules, but the unified rules cleary would say that Sandhagen won that fight based on damage and output. Somewhere the ghost of Octagon Control is floating around in some of ya'lls heads as scoring criteria.

It was amazing to me seeing Sandhagen visibly damage and hurt TJ standing, literally dropping him, while TJ rarely landed a decent shot other than a jab -- and people thought TJ won based on octagon control. OCTAGON CONTROL IN 2021

I think this thread is outing the people who didn't want the UFC during those eras and forgot that MMA was scored differently. TJ 100% lost that fight, but he might have gotten the nod back in 2010.

Damage wasn't scored back in the early era of UFC. A cut was treated no differently to a right cross with no damage. It was just a sig strike. Current scoring criteria a cut and some blood will win a round even if you get outstruck and taken down 3 times.

 

[gentel]

Dillashaw vs Sandhagen - Another instance of just picking againt the fighter you dislike, TJ clearly won that fight and IMO move up on the goat rankings big time with that win.

I scored that fight for TJ when watching live, then on re-watch I found it to be a lopsided win for Sandhagen. Don't remember my exact scorecard but I think I had it as 4-1. Dillashaw had the appearance of being more dominant cause he moved forward more and did some grappling but Sandhagen landed so many strikes to the face with little being done in return

 

[LindyBrah]

I always defended Moraes when people discuss the Aldo bout. Clear 29-28 for Marlon, as even on the back foot for much of the third round he was landing the more impactful shots.

A handful of bouts with Raphael Assunçao (Dillashaw 1, Sterling, Moraes 1) are regarded as robberies, when even for me on several reviews they’re all razor thin and I’ve changed my opinion.