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I know there are tons of fights that have had controversial decisions (Diaz 1, 2, 5/Shogun robbed in first Machida fight) that have entered Sherdog lore, but I haven't seen a thread dedicated to posters naming a handful of fights they think were scored wrong, at least not in quite a while. So, what are some fights you guys feel the judges got wrong? Feel free to include as much (which rounds you gave to which fighter, why you gave the fight/individual rounds to a particular fighter, etc.) or as little ("Diaz 1, 2, 5, fuck you. Come at me bro.") detail as you like.
Here's a few of mine:
GSP/Penn I: I like both fighters a lot but to me this has always been a pretty clear win for BJ even though the fight was close. BJ dominated the first round, busting Georges' face up horribly, outboxing him, checking his leg kicks and blocking his head kicks effortlessly, stuffing his takedowns, etc. The second round was closer but BJ's striking was more effective once again and the limited success GSP did have with his wrestling was negated by BJ either getting right back up or avoiding any damage on the ground. The third round was a GSP round but wasn't very eventful overall and largely consisted of GSP grinding BJ against the cage. BJ did come fairly close to a gogoplata toward the end of the fight and GSP landed some pretty good ground and pound in the waning seconds. Interestingly, judging pariah Cecil Peoples was the only judge to give the fight to BJ.
Kampmann/Sanchez: Totally baffling to me that all three judges scored this fight for Sanchez. Kampmann was far more efficient and effective with his striking throughout. Sanchez is tough as nails, which everyone knows, but his success was pretty much limited to landing a few wild punches to break up the boxing clinic Kampmann was running on him. It's been a while since I saw this fight but I believe I scored the second round (might've been the third) for Sanchez but didn't think the other two were close at all.
Arona/Wanderlei Silva II: I loved the Brazilian Top Team/Chute Boxe feud (and PRIDE's country vs. country/gym vs. gym method of fight promotion in general) and one of my favorite storylines from it was Arona beating Wanderlei only for the young protege Shogun to avenge Silva's loss later in the night in the MWGP Finals. Arona had Wanderlei's number, though, and in my opinion this rematch from the MWGP Semis, this time for Wanderlei's belt, was not any closer a fight than Arona's UD win in that one. I've always thought the allegations of PRIDE fixing fights were somewhat overblown, but this is a fight that makes me believe.
Bisping/Sonnen: I was rooting hard for Chael because I was dying to see a Silva/Sonnen rematch, but I thought Bisping got dicked over pretty badly here. He largely negated Chael's wrestling (I saw someone comment in the "1-10 How good was Chael's wrestling?" thread the other day that Chael's wrestling was made to look better than it really was by his "dominating" so-called "poor wrestlers," then go on to list Bisping as one such poor wrestler... what???) and won most of the striking exchanges, plus he hurt Chael badly at one point with a punch. Thought it was a clear 29-28 for Bisping.
Couture/Vera: Watching this fight live pissed me off because not only did I feel Vera got absolutely raped by the judges, but the actual fight was a piece of shit and Rogan kept exclaiming giddily, "What a fight!" throughout. Vera defended pretty much all of Randy's takedown attempts (9 out of 10) while taking Randy down once himself in just two tries and he also landed the better strikes. I was never a huge Brandon Vera fan or anything, but he was on the receiving end of a couple of questionable decisions (the Jardine one was questionable; this one was, IMO, abysmal) and a bad stoppage (Werdum fight), which were largely responsible for perpetuating the idea that he never realized his full potential. Maybe he wasn't two weight class champion material, but he was (and may still be; I haven't seen any of his post-UFC fights) a very good fighter.
Here's a few of mine:
GSP/Penn I: I like both fighters a lot but to me this has always been a pretty clear win for BJ even though the fight was close. BJ dominated the first round, busting Georges' face up horribly, outboxing him, checking his leg kicks and blocking his head kicks effortlessly, stuffing his takedowns, etc. The second round was closer but BJ's striking was more effective once again and the limited success GSP did have with his wrestling was negated by BJ either getting right back up or avoiding any damage on the ground. The third round was a GSP round but wasn't very eventful overall and largely consisted of GSP grinding BJ against the cage. BJ did come fairly close to a gogoplata toward the end of the fight and GSP landed some pretty good ground and pound in the waning seconds. Interestingly, judging pariah Cecil Peoples was the only judge to give the fight to BJ.
Kampmann/Sanchez: Totally baffling to me that all three judges scored this fight for Sanchez. Kampmann was far more efficient and effective with his striking throughout. Sanchez is tough as nails, which everyone knows, but his success was pretty much limited to landing a few wild punches to break up the boxing clinic Kampmann was running on him. It's been a while since I saw this fight but I believe I scored the second round (might've been the third) for Sanchez but didn't think the other two were close at all.
Arona/Wanderlei Silva II: I loved the Brazilian Top Team/Chute Boxe feud (and PRIDE's country vs. country/gym vs. gym method of fight promotion in general) and one of my favorite storylines from it was Arona beating Wanderlei only for the young protege Shogun to avenge Silva's loss later in the night in the MWGP Finals. Arona had Wanderlei's number, though, and in my opinion this rematch from the MWGP Semis, this time for Wanderlei's belt, was not any closer a fight than Arona's UD win in that one. I've always thought the allegations of PRIDE fixing fights were somewhat overblown, but this is a fight that makes me believe.
Bisping/Sonnen: I was rooting hard for Chael because I was dying to see a Silva/Sonnen rematch, but I thought Bisping got dicked over pretty badly here. He largely negated Chael's wrestling (I saw someone comment in the "1-10 How good was Chael's wrestling?" thread the other day that Chael's wrestling was made to look better than it really was by his "dominating" so-called "poor wrestlers," then go on to list Bisping as one such poor wrestler... what???) and won most of the striking exchanges, plus he hurt Chael badly at one point with a punch. Thought it was a clear 29-28 for Bisping.
Couture/Vera: Watching this fight live pissed me off because not only did I feel Vera got absolutely raped by the judges, but the actual fight was a piece of shit and Rogan kept exclaiming giddily, "What a fight!" throughout. Vera defended pretty much all of Randy's takedown attempts (9 out of 10) while taking Randy down once himself in just two tries and he also landed the better strikes. I was never a huge Brandon Vera fan or anything, but he was on the receiving end of a couple of questionable decisions (the Jardine one was questionable; this one was, IMO, abysmal) and a bad stoppage (Werdum fight), which were largely responsible for perpetuating the idea that he never realized his full potential. Maybe he wasn't two weight class champion material, but he was (and may still be; I haven't seen any of his post-UFC fights) a very good fighter.
