Rory MacDonald wants an investigation into his recent loss to Gleison Tibau.
The two competitors competed Thursday on the 2021 PFL 5 card at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. Many believed MacDonald was comfortably winning and seemed to be cruising to an easy unanimous decision win; however, the judges saw it differently. They awarded Tibau the split-decision win to the surprise of many and certainly Macdonald.
After the fight in the post-fight press conference, MacDonald told reporters that he thought he undoubtedly won the fight and believes that the result should be investigated.
“I’m very disappointed,” MacDonald told reporters. “I believe and everyone I talked to, and everyone online, scored the fight for me. Even three rounds to zero, so I think it was a clear robbery. I thought I was dominant in this fight. It was a hard fight. Gleison brought it, and respect to him, but I believe that I clearly won that fight and I think that this should be looked into.”
MacDonald expressed his complete shock when the judges’ scorecards were read out and scored the split decision for Tibau, meaning that two of the judges scored the fight for Tibau whilst only one thought MacDonald won.
“I was totally sure,” MacDonald said. “I was so surprised when the first judge, they announced and scored it for him. I was shocked. But when I heard the split decision that he got it, I was blown away. What do you say? I just didn’t see it that way at all.”
MacDonald resentfully expressed that fighters shouldn’t have to worry about the decision, assuming the judges to be fair. The former UFC fighter was discontent on how wrong decisions seem to be happening on a frequent basis in the sport of MMA, considering how the fighters are risking their health and livelihood on the line every time they enter the cage
“We shouldn’t have to as fighters, as competitors (worry about the decision),” MacDonald said. “We should be able to fight and rest easy that we have competent, fair, truthful judging in our sport. It shouldn’t be something that we have to worry about and stick our necks out on the line and our health to do something stupid. It’s just crazy. We don’t have this in any other major sporting event. It just seems like over and over and over again, we’re getting this in our sport and it’s just a real shame.”
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