MMA judge Doug Crosby condemned by fighters and fans for repeated controversial decisions

MMA judge Doug Crosby has found himself under fire once again for his controversial scoring at Bellator 289. Crosby's scorecard following the Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello headliner has come under heavy scrutiny from the MMA community.

Stots narrowly won the bantamweight contest via split decision after two of the judges scored the bout 48-47 in his favor. However, Crosby scored the fight 50-45 in favor of Sabatello and viewers have expressed a mixture of shock and disgust at the dissenting judge's scorecard.

Stots/Sabatello Scorecards from Bellator PR https://t.co/9juYDG7BtJ

With a history of controversial decisions, many viewers vented their thoughts on Twitter. Former Bellator champion Ben Askren wondered why Crosby was still allowed to judge MMA fights, tweeting:

"Why TF is Doug Crosby still judging fights???"

UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling wrote:

"Bro, idk Crosby but that’s gotta be the most ignorant judging I’ve seen in awhile at a high level of MMA. 50-45???"

ESPN reporter Brett Okamoto simply tweeted:

"Stop letting Doug Crosby Judge Fights."

Former UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta suggested calling the federal authorities on Crosby for his scoring:

"Since we’re taking fixing fights… FBI should look into Doug Crosby"

Check out some of the best reactions to Doug Crosby's scoring below:

Crosby's Bellator 289 scorecard reactions via Twitter

Why Doug Crosby is among the most derided judges in MMA

As a Hollywood stuntman who also judges MMA fights at the highest level, Crosby has certainly earned himself a reputation for being one of the most controversial judges ever.

One of his most infamous judgments came at UFC 112 when it looked like B.J. Penn was on his way to another lightweight title defense but shockingly lost via decision to Frankie Edgar. With fans already surprised, it was revealed that Crosby scored the fight 50-45 for Edgar and when criticized, tried to defend himself on a public forum.

I’m old enough to remember when Doug Crosby scored the first Penn-Edgar fight 50-45 for Edgar and took to the UG to defend himself against the Hilo Boy zombies.

I have 50-45 Crosby PTSD. https://t.co/nVg9X4pd8o

Another such incident occurred at UFC Fight Night 63 when Al Iaquinta beat Jorge Masvidal via split decision. Crosby scored the fight 30-27 for Masvidal, with the other two judges scoring 29-28 for Iaquinta. However, it later came to light that Iaquinta's coach had been feuding with Crosby and once again, the MMA judge found himself drawing ire for potentially being biased.

Interestingly, Crosby also doesn't think holding judges accountable would make much of a difference. Speaking to Chael Sonnen on his podcast, he said in a now-deleted episode:

"Do I think judges should be accountable? Yeah. Of course... There’s no reason to do it because there’s no way to make money at it. I don’t know if accountability would make people happy to be honest with you."