Welcome to “Judges Gonna Judge,” where our MMA Junkie staff panel revisits the most controversial decision that occurred over the weekend.
This week, we take a closer look at the Noche UFC main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a women’s flyweight title rematch between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.
The fight was a thrilling back-and-forth affair that saw both fighters have big moments over the course of 25 minutes. When it was all said and done, the judges could not collectively determine a winner, as two judges turned in 48-47 scores for either fighter, while a third saw the fight as a draw with a 47-47 score.
Guadalajara’s Grasso retained her flyweight title without recording a win, much to the delight of the crowd in attendance celebrating Mexican Independence Day.
However, many eyebrows were raised at the 47-47 score turned in by cageside judge Michael Bell, who saw Round 5 as a 10-8 in favor of Grasso. Sal D’Amato scored the fight for Shevchenko while Junichiro Kamijo saw it for Grasso with dueling 48-47 scorecards.
Media members who had their scores recorded on MMA Decisions were nearly equally split as well, with 12 seeing the fight for Grasso and 11 for Shevchenko.
MMA Junkie’s Matthew Wells, Farah Hannoun and Simon Samano put on their judging hats and break the fight down by each round.
If you need a refresher on the official scoring criteria before we dive in, you can check it out here.
Judges Gonna Judge: Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 2 and the draw that shouldn’t have been