Every UFC event has something that you have never witnessed before and UFC 305 offered just that. Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik was one of the most anticipated fights and the latter looked really good. He controlled the fight with more accurate striking, and fans knew he would win. Well, he did win. But it was the scorecards that shocked everyone and even reminded us of a similar incident that took place in 2014!

Charlie Keech scored the fight, 28 – 29, in Rozenstruik’s favor and so did David Lethaby with 27 – 30. But Howie Booth scoring it 30 – 27 in Tuivasa’s favor not only rubbed the fans wrong but also the promotion. People argued that Booth’s scorecard was the worst they had seen in decades. Owing to this, the promotion took quick action and Booth was removed from the night’s co-main event between Steve Erceg and Kai Kara-France. What does the promotion have to say about what took place?

During the post-fight press conference, Dave Shaw revealed that Western Australia’s Combat Sports Commission had made the decision. He further said, “I guess someone probably made the call on the performance was probably not worth keeping him involved for the rest of the night… I think everyone needs to be held to high standard. It doesn’t matter if I don’t do my job or you don’t do your job, you know, it’s good to sit on the bench for a while and reconsider the work and look to get back on track then next time.”

Well, a lot of people may agree with Shaw’s

statements. Rozenstruik threw more than twice as many strikes (92) than Tuivasa (37). The Surinamese heavyweight was more efficient with his offense. No doubt, he was happy to know that Booth, who scored all three rounds in Tuivasa’s favor, was pulled out from judging more fights for the night.

Judge Ben Cartlidge replaced Booth in the co-main event between Kara-France and Erceg. It didn’t matter much though because Kara-France knocked out Erceg in the first round. But have judges been pulled out during UFC events before?

Yes, this was not the first time. We have seen several controversial decisions in the past and one similar incident took place in 2014: UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le.

That night, the event witnessed two controversial victories, where Milana Dudieva and Royston Wee walked away with two split-decision wins. Fans rallied that the judgments were wrong and even the promotion seemed to agree, as Judge Howard Hughes was removed from his post early in the night. In the press conference, Dana White had confirmed this. “Yes, he was. He was involved in the first fight and the second fight. I told the guys to go let him grab some beer and some popcorn and go sit down and start watching some fights, not judging them.”

As reported by Bleacher Report in 2014, the promotion does not have an athletic commission regulating the local events. Hence, the UFC takes the reins when it comes to appointing judges. But at UFC 305, it seems like Dana White or the promotion didn’t directly make any decisions regarding Booth.

Regardless, MMA judging has always been a controversial topic from the very start. This also reminds us of Adalaide Byrd.

Adalaide Byrd: The most controversial combat sports judge

Now thankfully, UFC 305 didn’t witness Jairzinho Rozenstruik getting robbed of his win. But some fighters have faced questionable decisions made by judges. The whole Rozenstruik-Tuivasa incident forces us to think about Judge Adalaide Byrd, who was forced by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2017, to take a ‘breather’ from work. Their decision came after her questionable scoring in the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez boxing match.

Byrd provided a scorecard of 118-110 in favor of Alvarez, which angered people and also led to NSAC’s decision to bench her. In 2018, she returned to judge UFC 222 in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Was she any better?

Well, she judged three fights that night and her scorecards were an outlier in two of those fights:

• Cody Stamann vs. Bryan Caraway: Byrd scored it 29-28 for Stamann and her scores were in agreement with the other two judges.
• John Dodson vs. Pedro Munhoz: She had 30-27 in Dodson’s favor. The other two judges were split with 29-28 scores for opposing fighters. While they all agreed that the fight was close, Byrd was the only judge to score every round in Dodson’s favor.
• Mackenzie Dern vs. Ashley Yoder: Byrd 29-28 for Yoder. This scoring was a big outlier, as she was the only judge to score the fight in Yoder’s favor.

Of course, split decision wins are common in MMA and judges have differing opinions based on several aspects. But where does the line need to be drawn?