Mario Bautista has taken a lot of criticism following the biggest win of his career at UFC 307 this past weekend.
He knew that it was always going to be tough for him to get support from the majority of the fan base when you're going up against a legend of the game like José Aldo. However, it wasn't just that he defeated a beloved fighter, it was the way that the contest ended up playing out.
Bautista was able to nullify a lot of Aldo's striking by clinching with him against the cage and when the Brazilian seemed fine with settling there at points in the fight, this is where it stayed.
He got his hand-raised via a controversial split decision where many believed that his opponent should have got the win after landing the more effective strikes and defending takedowns.
In a recent interview with James Lynch for Sportskeeda, Bautista spoke about some of the intense messages that he has received from fans that are annoyed about his win. Though the conversation about the scorecards and his method of victory hasn't helped proceedings, he also believes that there is another factor.
Bautista said that many of the messages he has been recieving reference the fact that a lot of people lost money on this fight because they bet on Aldo and felt like he should have won. "The King of Rio" closed the fight as the underdog, meaning that he will have been a staple of many parlays, especially considering his performance earlier this year.
I would get hate no matter what, win or lose so and I do think that’s a big part too because I was a favorite coming into that and I know people are just going to put their money on Aldo for sure so I know people lost a lot of money, quite a bit of people it seems like. Even like in the messages and stuff, they say that. ‘You made me lose my parley,’ and this and that and they say a bunch of other stuff too but I think the main thing behind it is losing those bets.
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