If you watched UFC 127 this past weekend you saw some good fights. Of course, a main event draw is always a bit of a let down, even though the fight itself was entertaining.
However, most people seem to be in agreement on one thing. debuting Japanese middleweight Riki Fukuda got royally screwed.
Fukuda (17-5), the current DEEP middleweight champion, took on another fighter making his UFC debut, 32-year-old undefeated Canadian, Nick Ring (11-0).
Fukuda and Ring went three hard rounds with lots of action on the ground and standing. The official result was a unanimous decision for Ring, with all three judges scoring it 29-28 for the Canadian.
Let us take a look at how some of our well-known online MMA analysts scored this fight.
I personally had Fukuda winning all three rounds 10-9. I specifically remember thinking after the fight that Fukuda had one of the most impressive performances of any Japanese fighter I had seen in quite some time, especially in the UFC. So, I was dumbfounded when I heard the official result.
Sherdog had three people scoring each round on their play-by-play. Two of them (Nelson and Whitman) had the first round tied 10-10, and one (Breen) had it 10-9 for Ring. As for rounds two and three, all three Sherdoggers scored both rounds 10-9 for Fukuda, and in the end, all three Sherdoggers had Fukuda winning.
MMAJunkie scored the first round for Ring 10-9, and rounds two and three for Fukuda 10-9. They had Fukuda winning 29-28.
What made the judges’ decision even more strange, was that they seem to get the rest of the fights right. I even thought the main event was a fair call and had no problem with the draw.
If there is a silver lining here, it is that UFC President Dana White has stated in the past when something like this happens, not only will they pay the fighter who lost, their win bonus, but they will treat him as if he won, meaning he will not get cut and will not drop down in the UFC’s quite arbitrary and metaphysical-like ranking system that resides somewhere between the mind and whims of one Dana White.
Thankfully, for Fukuda, White agreed with us on this one. He feels Fukuda deserved the decision and will be paid accordingly.
The news comes via White’s Twitter (@danawhite) on Sunday:
For those unfamiliar with how fighters are paid in the UFC, in most cases, the win bonus will basically double the fighter’s salary for a particular fight. So, it is a pretty big deal.
It is certainly nice that the UFC is able to do this. Good job Dana.
Good for Dana and Fukuda.