‘Big Wrong’ McCarthy! Veteran Ref Reacts To Son’s Pimblett Score

“Big” John McCarthy feels Jared Gordon deserved the win at UFC 282 this past weekend (Dec. 10, 2022).

The match up between Gordon and Paddy Pimblett in the co-main event left the mixed martial arts (MMA) community talking, but not for good reason. Winning a unanimous decision with a trio of 29-28 scorecards, Pimblett controversially extended his current streak to six straight (four in UFC).

Amongst the judges who scored the fight was McCarthy’s son, Ron, who’s been judging fights in UFC since as early as 2013, per MMA Decisions. Alongside Doug Crosby, Ron McCarthy gave the first two rounds to Pimblett with 10-9 scores.

“No f—king way Paddy Pimblett won that fight,” John McCarthy said on his Weighing In podcast. “My son was one of the judges and he asked me and I said, ‘You got that wrong. I thought Jared Gordon won 29-28.’

“First round, Jared Gordon hit Paddy Pimblett with a left hook like it was a magnet. He hit him over and over and over again and he stunned him. You could see it,” he continued. “Now, Paddy had his things, but this can happen when you’re a judge sitting there. You’re getting the crowd responding every time Paddy does something. Because truthfully, Paddy did not punch as many times as Jared Gordon. He didn’t land as much as Jared Gordon and the shots that he landed were not as good. But when you get the crowd reaction and that’s what you’re hearing, there’s times when you’re not seeing that angle but you’re hearing the reaction of the crowd and it’s an influencer. And I think they got influenced by what the crowd was into.”

Immediately after the win, Pimblett expressed how he saw no issues whatsoever with the decision. Per MMA Decisions at this time of posting, 90.7 percent of 2032 fan voters scored the fight in favor of Gordon with the most agreed upon card being 30-27 Gordon at 47.1 percent.

According to the votes, round two was the closest within the community. All three judges had Pimblett winning the middle frame, however, as did “Big John.”

“Jared Gordon won that first round, he won the third round, I give Paddy Pimblett the second round,” McCarthy said. “But if you go back and you watch that fight, that first round, a lot of people said it was really close, not really that close. I’m not like one guy ran over the other, but it’s pretty clear Jared Gordon should have won that round.”

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For complete UFC 282 results and coverage click here.