Clear and cut robberies as well as undeserving opportunities in MMA. Discuss them.

[Uncle Chester]

In what is an unfairly subjective sport like MMA many times have we witnessed more than questionable decisions from 'blind' judges, stupid referee calls etc. This thread is created to discuss instances of 'roberry'-not just decisions and the actual fight itself (referee fuckups, early stoppages, stupid doctor decisions, etc.) but outside the fights too. This can include guys who were the most deserving of a title shot at that point of time but never getting it, guys who deserved to fight certain fighters, rematches etc.

And also guys who didn't deserve the opportunities they were given, unnecessary title shots, got into UFC based on connections, fights they didn't deserve etc.

So discuss here.

 

[JWGunslinger]

First off great idea for a thread Chester, secondly I have a feeling this is going to create some damn good discussions

The first thing that came to mind for me was Marcus Davis not getting a title shot after winning 6 straight(in impressive fashion) in the octagon, and 11 straight after his loss to Melvin Guillard at the Ultimate Fighter 2 finale. I am a bit biased being a huge MD fan but even ignoring the 5 fights he won outside the UFC he beat tough vets like Shonie Carter and Pete Spratt, he won a Knockout of the Night over Jason Tan and his epic comeback armbar over Paul Taylor won Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night. All together he racked up 3 subs, 2 KO's and one decision, leaving me asking how in the hell did he not get a shot or a contender matchup? That was his best chance at a title, at the time I believe he could have won or put on a great show for the belt. But then again alot of that is by psycho fan biased coming out. Thoughts?

 

[Window Licker 101]

Speaking of robberies, which one this year was worse?

Marcus Galvao losing to Joe Warren (Bellator 41)

Riki Fukuda losing to Nick Ring (UFC 127)

or Ricardo Almeida losing to Mike Pyle (UFC 128)

I'm bound to have forgotten one so please remind me.

 

[Uncle Chester]

Fukuda vs Ring was a travesty, it was sad like a soggy biscuit meant to be eaten crunchy.

I thought a pretty glaring shame would be Maynard's delayed title shot against Penn, I'm unsure as to why Edgar received it even tho' Maynard beat him and continue beating pretty damn good competition. Of course this is all looking back in retrospect as I wasn't an MMA fan during that period.

 

[ArcherCC]

Hermes Franca Vs Ferrid Kheder

At the Xtreme Vale Todo 5 event that took place in Costa Rica on December 19th, 2010, Hermes Franca was awarded a judges decision over Ferrid Kheder before the promoter, Lu Dwyer, attempted to overturn it, causing widespread controversy.

In addition to the fight's announcer, all three judges and the referee had scored the bout in favor of Franca. Regardless of the actual scores, Lu Dwyer declared Kheder the victor, and another promoter raised Kheder's hand in victory after the referee refused to do so.

There is a potential conflict of interest due to the fact that Kheder is primarily sponsored by Dwyer and her business J & L Irrigation. Dwyer sponsors "Team FK" by paying his living expenses and taking a percentage of his winnings.

Days after his controversial decision win, Ferrid Kheder posted on his Facebook page that Dwyer decided to overturn the fight result to a "No Contest" and suggested a 5 round rematch, presumably in the same promotion.

 

[Uncle Chester]

I always thought the initial title shot given to Pettis was bullshit, but a win over Guida would truly legitimize him not some ninja kick that won't ever be repeated. Jim Miller was much more deserving and still is.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Speaking of robberies, which one this year was worse?

Marcus Galvao losing to Joe Warren (Bellator 41)

Riki Fukuda losing to Nick Ring (UFC 127)

or Ricardo Almeida losing to Mike Pyle (UFC 128)

I'm bound to have forgotten one so please remind me.

I definitely agree on the Galvao-Warren fight and the Fukuda-Ring fight but I wouldn't go so far as to call Almeida-Pyle a clear cut robbery. I'm a huge fan of both guys and been following them since before their UFC days, but it was a very close fight that I would say could have gone to either one. Which of these was the worst of the year? Definitely Ring "beating" Fukuda, that was one of the worst decisions ive seen not just this year but in years.

Another I thought of that some might disagree with is the Martin Kampmann vs Diego Sanchez fight at UFC on Versus 3. In my opinion being picked apart for three rounds(and knocked down) means you lose, just because you move forward while you're getting punched does not mean you are winning, and when your face looks like it was bashed in by a Louisville Slugger then winning a unanimous decision is ridiculous. What Diego did in that fight was move forward and he had a few flurries of punches but for the majority of the fight he was picked apart by a technical kickboxer and should have lost, the fact that he still won and the fact that the decision was unanimous blew my mind. Then again that was not the first time Martin fell victim to a bad decision due to his style.

 

[INDYjon22]

The first Rua/Machida fight has to be the biggest robbery to me. Rua looked out of this world in that fight and beat up on Machida for 5 rounds. Granted the fight was close, the fact that Rua lost just blows my mind. To me he dominated that fight the entire time definitely won a clean decision, but the messed up judging in MMA reared its ugly head and snatched away what should have been Rua's biggest moment in MMA. I guess it is a little alright though since he ultimately won the title from Machida, but the judging in that fight was just head scratching.

 

[SalvIsWin]

The first Rua/Machida fight has to be the biggest robbery to me. Rua looked out of this world in that fight and beat up on Machida for 5 rounds. Granted the fight was close, the fact that Rua lost just blows my mind. To me he dominated that fight the entire time definitely won a clean decision, but the messed up judging in MMA reared its ugly head and snatched away what should have been Rua's biggest moment in MMA. I guess it is a little alright though since he ultimately won the title from Machida, but the judging in that fight was just head scratching.

I agree with IndyJon. I had scored that fight 50-45 at the time, and whenever I think there is no way a decision could go another way, I think back to this fight as proof that it can happen. Also, I don't think there's been a bigger shitstorm kicked up than the one that happened after this fight.