UFC 265: Judge Defends 30-27 Score In Fiziev vs. Green

Judge JJ Ferraro stands by his universally panned decision at UFC 265.

JJ Ferraro is standing by what many called an absurd scorecard in the Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green fight at UFC 265.

Fiziev (10-1) scored a unanimous decision win over Bobby Green (27-12-1), which took place at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX on Sat., Aug. 7. Most agree the rightful winner was crowned; however, Ferraro’s 30-27 scorecard in Fizeiv’s favor received a near-unanimous thumbs down. Ferraro, a mixed martial arts (MMA) judge assigned by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, defended his scorecard in a long statement posted on Sunday.

“Strikes that are deemed most effective are strikes that have potential to end the fight,” Ferraro wrote on Twitter (h/t MMAjunkie). “Those are the strikes that hold more weight than any other strikes. It doesn’t matter if they are punches, kicks, elbows, you name it, we have to assess who is trying to end the fight with their weapons. Those are the strikes that hold most weight in the criteria. I’m not making this stuff up. (It’s) in the Unified Rules. Looking at the fight about one minute in Fiziev landed a shot that in my opinion hurt Green, Green played off well by shaking his head no. This is entertaining I understand, but antics are not scored, toughness is not scored.

“If you look at the fight UFCstats.com it also shows more of a percentage to spread the damage/impact out through the whole body head to toe for Fiziev. That is to show there can be style bias for Green’s busy handwork and hard kicks being overlooked. It happens all the time in MMA. It happens all the time in MMA. Round 3 could have gone either way,” he continued. “One of the other judges told me immediately after the fight that he could see my score as well and was not surprised or shocked at all when I went to Fizev 10-9.”

MMA Decisions gathered scorecards from 20 members of the media for Fiziev vs. Green. 16 scored the contest 29-28 Fiziev, one had it a draw, and three assigned it 29-28 for Green. None of the aggregated media sources scored the fight 30-27 Fiziev. Additionally, of the 193 fan scorecards submitted to the site, only 2.1% had it 30-27 Fiziev, approximately four people.

For complete UFC 265 results and play-by-play click here.