MMA judge Mike Bell, who took time off after 'f***ing up' a major title rematch, was part of three controversial split decisions at UFC 307
MMA judge Mike Bell recently had another night to forget, after he was directly involved in three controversial scorecards that marred UFC 307. The card took place last weekend, on Oct. 5, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Bell had previously made headlines back in 2023, when he was part of the judging team for UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2. The controversy then came in the main event, as Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko went the distance in a back-and-forth contest.
The fight was ruled a split-draw and the scorecards later showed that it came down to Mike Bell, who had scored the fifth round a 10-8 in favor of Grasso. The other two judges scored it 10-9 to Grasso and if Bell had done the same, Shevchenko would have walked away victorious.
The highly contentious scorecard saw many, including Shevchenko, demand answers, and former octagon referee John McCarthy later revealed Bell had spoken to him privately and apologised for his decision.
Per Yahoo! Sports, McCarthy said:
"Mike Bell, the moment it happened, said, ‘I f*cked up. I screwed that up. I gave it too much. This is what I was looking for, but it wasn’t enough, and I made a mistake."
Following the fallout from his 10-8 scorecard, Bell opted to take some time away from judging. He then returned to his first PPV action of the year last weekend and once again, found himself on the wrong end of controversy.
There were four split-decision results on the night, but three can be considered highly contentious. Iasmin Lucindo, Mario Bautista and Julianna Pena all narrowly edged out their respective contests much to the dismay of fans, with Bell's scorecards all siding with the controversial victors.
Check them out here:
How long has Mike Bell been a UFC judge?
Following Mike Bell's controversial 10-8 scorecard in the rematch between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko, fans flooded their search engines to find out all the details they could about the UFC judge.
Many had questioned whether or not Bell should have even been in the judging booth. However, they soon realised he was one of the most qualified judges on the roster.
According to MMA Decisions, Bell has been with the promotion since 2013 and has overseen some of the UFC's biggest fights in that time. Due to his reputation, Bell also saw his services touted by other promotions such as Bellator, PFL and Invicta FC.