MMA Judge Doug Crosby sheds light on his recent controversial decisions at UFC and Bellator
MMA Judge Doug Crosby has opened up about his recent controversial decisions at Bellator 289 and UFC 282.
At Bellator 289, Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello faced off against each other, with Stots eventually being declared the victor by a split decision. Doug Crosby was heavily criticized for giving the match to Sabatello 50-45 when judges Bryan Miner and Erin Colon both scored it 48-47 in favor of Stots.
The MMA judge also received criticism for scoring 29-28 in favor of Paddy Pimblett in his fight against Jared Gordon at UFC 282. The result of the match turned out to be quite controversial, as many claimed that Gordon was the rightful winner of the bout.
In a recent appearance on Chael Sonnen's You’re Welcome podcast, Crosby commented on the recent controversies surrounding his judging, saying:
"Over the last 15 years, when you talk to the fighters, the overarching comment , and I’m not going to call it a complaint, I’ll call it a comment or a concern, is that effective grappling is not given enough weight in the scoring criteria."
The MMA judge added:
"Recently, the scoring criteria has been modified and updated so that effective striking and effective grappling are considered equal. And if effective grappling is considered the equal of effective striking, and then you look at any of my scores through that newly ground mental lens, the scores may become easier to understand.”
Ali Abdelaziz strongly condemns Doug Crosby, urges commissions to boycott the MMA judge
Dominance MMA Management president Ali Abdelaziz has called out various combat sports commissions and promotions to boycott Doug Crosby. The manager claimed that the judge, because of his controversial scoring methods, is ruining fighter's careers in the sport.
Taking to his official Twitter handle, Abdelaziz tweeted:
"I’m going to ask every commission out there not to have Douglas Crosby as judge, and I would like the support of all promotions these guys are ruining peoples' lives and ruining the sport -- enough is enough we have to stand together on this topic @bokamotoESPN @JohnMorgan_MMA"
Check out Ali Abdelaziz's tweet regarding Doug Crosby below:
I’m going to ask every commission out there not to have Douglas Crosby as judge, and I would like the support of all promotions these guy are ruining people life and ruining the sport enough is enough we have to stand together on this topic @bokamotoESPN @JohnMorgan_MMA
The manager is not the only one to protest against Crosby's scoring methods. Former UFC two-division champion Daniel Cormier also spoke against the judge on his YouTube channel recently:
"The judging in fighting has almost become a joke. One guy in particular, Douglas Crosby, I heard he's a bully too. Some of the stories you hear about this guy is some of the most insane stuff I've ever heard. He's got bad scorecards and now the guy's under review and we'll see what happens."
Check out Cormier's comments on the matter below (15:40):