Kick him back to minor leagues! Dana White BERATES controversial judge after shocking UFC 302

It’s not even a Sean Strickland matter if things do not go beyond controversial. The former champion and middleweight top dog edged out seventh-best peer Paulo Costa at UFC 302’s feature co-main event. The scoring, however, was a little disconcerting. In a lackluster bout, ‘Tarzan’ fired on all cylinders, but one judge scored the fight for the Brazilian fighter. It baffled everyone, including CEO Dana White!

There was zero grappling in the twenty-five-minute affair. He did his signature feet planting and semi-defensive boxing. All on the way to an odd decision win (46-49, 50-45, 49-46). The controversial judges’ scoring comes at the behest of Dave Tirelli, favoring Costa with a staggering 49-46 through all rounds (4X9s-10 vs 4X10s-9). Dana White had a scathing remark, to say the least.

That wasn't [just] weird, it was fu*king nuts...it was insane...That guy should never ref a big fight again. They should kick him back down to the minor leagues...and let him work on his judging...It's unbelievable how anybody, who isn't a lunatic. could call that fight split decision.

Sean Strickland came out at Prudential Center to walkout tunes of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” Then, quite literally followed through, marching to a path of linear dominance against Paulo Costa. The 33-year-old spammed his steps of sure-footed boxing, stomp and distancing, and excessive jabbing. He had promised war in the lead-up; hence, those in attendance booed the discourse thrice.

But nowhere did it mean the Xtreme Couture MMA standout wasn’t dominant. It’s hard to defend defensive push kicks and stomps when they have no rhythm. Paulo Costa kept circling around, away from his hitbox, and even answering with slicers and shots. However, he gassed out very early, having to circle away from Strickland’s attacks. More than the match, the controversial numbers have gone extremely viral.

MMA Pro Twitter reacts to Sean Strickland outpointing Paulo Costa in slow game and weird scoring

Strickland (now 29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) was sad about his slow running against Dricus Du Plessis in January. The narrow decision scoring had cost him the undisputed gold. Hence, this should have been reason enough for the disgruntled American to go to unhinged war. He did mount an elite defense. Yet this did not goad him enough against Paulo Costa.

Sean Strickland’s style doesn’t always slake the desire for violent highlights. But it’s mostly frustrating to decipher, as was for Team Pitbull Brothers middleweight Costa. A controversial 10-8 differential is still understandable. Dana White has often reacted against it, but it remains common. But Costa overshooting on the scorecard is baffling. Here are some top reactions from peers and pundits:

‘Borrachinha couldn’t answer Strickland’s slow but effective risk management pushes. Costa constantly found himself on the retreat yet came out strong at one end of a sure unanimous scoring. Was it some audible call from the other end as a cage-side tactic that influenced it? His corner did try to amp him up by saying they were up 2-1. Or was it just some blatant bias?

All in all, many peers and analysts consequently remain dumbfounded at the split. Many, like Dana White, have called for the firing of Tirelli. One thing’s for sure, there are dark days ahead if the weird change in the nature of scoring in MMA gets any further convoluted.

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