Rayanne dos Santos cries foul on judge who scored 30-27 in favor of Puja Tomar, claims to know him personally: "I believe he doesn't like me"
Rayanne dos Santos is incensed over her split-decision loss to Puja Tomar on June 8 and even accused judge Matt Jones of personally sabotaging her fight with the 30-27 scorecard in Tomar's favor. Taking to Instagram, dos Santos shared pictures of her strawweight scrap with Tomar.
Despite appearing to land the harder shots and controlling the pace of the bout, dos Santos was handed a split-decision loss for her efforts, stunning both herself and several fans.
The controversy surrounding the result ultimately overshadowed Tomar's milestone of becoming the first Indian athlete to win a UFC fight. After posting pictures of her fight on Instagram, dos Santos engaged a fan in conversation in her comment section.
The fan opined that Jones, the judge who scored the fight 30-27 for Tomar, ought to be investigated, stating that Jones is either an incompetent judge or set out to intentionally sabotage dos Santos. The Brazilian strawweight seemed to imply that the latter was true in her reply to the fan's comment.
"I already know who he is. He's an active professional MMA fighter. Matt Jones is his name. He fought recently at an event in Texas. And I believe he doesn't like me."
Several fans in the MMA space were of the opinion that the result was due to erroneous judging, but little can be done now that the verdict is official.
Dos Santos now finds herself on a two-fight losing streak, and is still in search of her first UFC win, having tasted defeat in her two bouts in the promotion. Dos Santos also had a previous stint on Dana White's Contender Series, but was on the receiving end of a unanimous decision loss to Denise Gomes.
Given how brutal the UFC can be with fighters with no name value on losing streaks, dos Santos will need to win her next fight to justify her spot on the roster.
Rayanne dos Santos wasn't the only fighter involved in controversy at UFC Louisville
Unfortunately, Rayanne dos Santos' fight wasn't the only bout to generate controversy yesterday. The UFC Louisville headliner between multi-division knockout artist Jared Cannonier and slick French striker Nassourdine Imavov ended with the MMA world in uproar.
Check out Nassourdine Imavov's controversial TKO of Jared Cannonier:
Within a minute of round four, Imavov rocked Cannonier badly. As the former heavyweight stumbled across the cage, Imavov pounced in pursuit of the knockout. However, referee Jason Herzog stepped in to wave off the fight while Cannonier was still standing and moving reasonably well.