Underfire After “Criminal Incompetence” of Douglas Crosby’s Decisions, California Commission Amends Rules on Travelling Combat Sports Judge

The California State Athletic Commission has taken some stern steps to counter controversial judgments. In a recent amendment, the commission has now disallowed Judges from traveling across states to judge for back-to-back events. The judging standards in MMA were recently under a lot of fire from fans and experts alike. A lot of fighters and MMA experts did not find decisions at UFC 282 and Bellator 289 satisfactory. It’s noteworthy that both these events had one thing in common: Douglas Crosby as a judge.

Apart from dissatisfied and criticism-laced voices that were heard all around the MMA realm, a formal complaint was also filed with the California State Athletic Commission. The Commission has a specific time period allotted for public comments and complaints. The only comment that appeared for the recent meeting was about Crosby and his decisions.

The final sentence of the complaint summarised the public sentiment. It said, “He (Crosby) demonstrated criminal incompetence, in my opinion, judging that event over the weekend and I don’t understand why it was allowed to happen.”

UFC 282 decisions prompted the change in rules

Things got heated after a controversial decision that was made at Bellator 289. Douglas Crosby judged the fight 50-45 in favor of Danny Sabatello over Raufeon Stots. The decision didn’t sit well with people. Further, Stots went on to say that he would not allow Crosby in any of his fights in the future.

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Talking to a media house, he said, “Professionally, I’m cool on Doug Crosby. I hope he has a good life away from me, but as far as anything [related to] me, I don’t want a part of it.”

The situation got worse when Douglas Crosby flew across to Judge at UFC 282 and adjudged Paddy Pimblett the winner against Jared Gordon.

What exactly is the new rule?

The California State Athletic Commission has now barred Judges from judging in back-to-back events if they are going to judge a California event. According to the commission, this step has been taken to ensure that the Judges are sharp and in their prime state.

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The official statement also mentioned that if a judge accepts any such back-to-back events, especially those where they need to fly further than Nevada, the Commission may remove the judge from the California Assignment. Fighters put in a lot of effort and training, preparing for every fight. One wrong decision, however, can rob them of a deserved victory and sometimes can spoil careers, too. To maintain the credibility of the fighting game, the step seems to be exemplary and imminent. What’s your take on the amendments?