Israel Adesanya rips judges after Kai Kara-France decision loss
Israel Adesanya is not happy about the state of MMA judging, and rightfully so. In the main event of UFC Vegas 74, Kai Kara-France, one of Adesanya’s teammates, lost a controversial split decision to Amir Albazi. Adesanya voiced his frustration across a handful of tweets.
Nah bro…
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 4, 2023
Fuck yous!!!
Fire Chris Lee & Sal Deez nuts.
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 4, 2023
The two judges that scored the UFC Vegas 74 main event in favor of Albazi were Chris Lee and Sal D’Amato. Lee and D’Amato are well-known in the MMA community as two of the worst judges, so this is not the first time either man has turned in a poor scorecard.
I tweeted that before even seeing the scorecards because I knew them two will fuck it up!! Hoooow many times will they rob athletes of their moments of glory, if their money, their livelihood for their family. Fuuuuuuuck them cunts, they need to expire quickly and go. Mike Bell… pic.twitter.com/aCRG646b1i
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 4, 2023
For those that did not watch the fight, the majority of people scored the fight in favor of Kara-France. On Verdict MMA, the fans scored the bout in favor of Kara-France. On MMA Decisions, 19-of-21 media members scored the fight for Kara-France. Needless to say, Lee and D’Amato are in a very small majority.
The worst part of this entire situation is how Lee scored the bout. Chris Bell was the only judge to score the fight alongside the consensus. That scorecard awards Kara-France rounds one, four, and five. That said, for those that scored the fight in favor of Albazi gave him Rounds 1, 2 and 3. That was the scorecard of D’Amato.
Lee managed to differentiate from each side. Lee scored Rounds 2, 3 and 4 in favor of Albazi.
The problem with Lee’s scorecard is that Kara-France clearly won Round 4. In the round, according to UFC Stats, Kara-France landed 27 significant strikes, one takedown and tallied 11 seconds of control time. Meanwhile, Albazi landed five significant strikes, went 0-for-2 on takedown attempts and had 23 seconds of control time.
While stats are not the end-all-be-all, a statistical gap of that margin is nearly impossible to overcome. It is horrific that Lee watched Round 4 and said Albazi won. Well, maybe he was not watching. At UFC Austin 2022, Lee botched a Round 4 score in the main event between Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett. Maybe he takes the round off. Who knows?
All of this is to say: Kara-France deserved to beat Albazi and Adesanya has a legitimate reason to be upset.
Adesanya did provide a potential solution to MMA judging.
Start interviewing the judges after fights.
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 4, 2023
Hold them accountable for their work.
Adesanya is not the only person to propose that judges should be interviewed. In the past, MMA reporter Ariel Helwani has supported similar ideas. It is clear some sort of check-and-balance system needs to be added to MMA scoring. I would love for a judge to answer questions regarding their scorecards.
I would also love it if judges would simply write an explanation for a controversial score. In the past, MMA referees have taken to Twitter to discuss decisions they have made. It would be interesting to see judges do the same. Regardless, transparency is desperately needed in judging.
Even though Israel Adesanya and Kai Kara-France are teammates, it is nice to see an MMA star critique judges. It is nice to see someone attempt to hold judges accountable. Hopefully, Adesanya’s outcry may lead to some change. I will not be getting my hopes up, however.
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