Anthony Smith believes Joe Soliz and the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation have some explaining to do.
UFC 247 was marred by questionable score totals at the judges’ table. Fight fans were up in arms about the split decision verdict in favor of Lauren Murphy over Andrea Lee. They were also upset with one judge having Jon Jones winning his fight with Dominick Reyes 49-46. Many believe Reyes won the fight 48-47.
Anthony Smith Calls For Fight Result To Be Overturned
A new controversy has surfaced thanks to a report from TSN. It was discovered that UFC 247 judge, Joe Soliz, received a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Eric Williams of Elite MMA. Williams is the coach of Trevin Giles, who fought James Krause on the UFC 247 card. Giles won the bout via split decision. Soliz scored it 29-28 in favor of Giles.
Smith took to his Twitter account to express his belief that the fight result should be changed to a No Contest.
“Mr. Soliz and Texas AC owe the entire MMA community an explanation and owe James Krause an apology and have that L overturned to a no contest. He wasn’t given a fair shake at a fair contest.”
Krause responded to the report of Soliz’s alleged ties with Giles. He insisted that while the fight was close, his problem with Soliz is that he scored the first round for Giles. Many agree that Krause took the opening frame clearly due to his ability to maintain back control.
Soliz told TSN that he hasn’t been associated with Elite MMA in over eight years. Williams also spoke to TSN and he claimed that he hasn’t been in contact with Soliz in over a year.
Do you think there will be any action taken after Joe Soliz’s alleged conflict of interest?
