Alan Jouban left the arena unhappy in one of the oddest decision wins of the night from UFC 236. A split decision win for Dwight Grant (29-28, 27-30, 29-28) had Jouban fired up. He wanted to address the judges about the decision and was concerned with how it will affect his contract negotiations. He mainly wanted to question them on their martial arts background and what fight they watched as he felt the decision should have gone to him.
Jouban cited Grant’s lack of aggression among other things as to why the fight should have gone to him when speaking to ESPN immediately after the fight. He said, “I don’t see how you scored 28-29 to him, and another judge see 30-27.” Jouban has not fought in 14 months and said while he does do other things to make money, “fighting pays my bills.” He re-iterated that Grant, “ran the whole time,” while Jouban tried to press the action.
Alan Jouban
“I’m looking at a loss, from a fight that I won, that bored the fans to death and it just breaks my heart.”
Jouban feels that the loss costs him financially and contractually when looking ahead at negotiating his contract. “They just took half of my freaking money,” said Jouban and added, “They just took my renegotiation leverage, they just took the win that I deserved in the octagon.”
Jouban said this was not the first time poor judging cost him a fight. In Brazil at UFC Fight Night 56, he lost a decision to Warlley Alves in a fight the crowd booed Alves and he was still awarded the decision. Jouban thinks perhaps adding more judges or implementing half points could be a possible resolution to situations like his but it is not the first time in combat sports, or the last time the judge’s knowledge of the sport would be questioned.
What did you think of the scoring of fights at UFC 236?
