Daniel Cormier has revealed that he wasn’t impressed with the judging in the UFC 271 main event, where Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision to retain his middleweight title.
Adesanya rematched Whittaker this past weekend at UFC 271, where he started off really well, dominating his arch-rival in the first round. ‘The Last Stylebender’ also scored a knockdown in the first frame, but ‘The Reaper’ was able to survive and make a gritty comeback, giving the champion a run for his money for the remainder of their five-round battle.
The fight was incredibly close, with all three judges scoring it in favour of Adesanya, much to the surprise of the thousands of spectators at the Toyota Center in Houston. The crowd, which was completely behind the Nigerian-New Zealander at the start of the fight, booed the decision believing that the Aussie deserved to win.
Daniel Cormier On Bad Judging At UFC 271
Speaking on the Lion’s Den Super Bowl Companion alongside Brendan Schaub and Mike Tyson (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), Cormier said that he was surprised by the crowd’s reaction and explained why he wasn’t happy with the judges.
“Izzy won the first round very cleanly,” Cormier said. “Second round, I thought Robert Whittaker could’ve won the round. Third round, Izzy won. Fourth round, Izzy won. Fifth round, Whittaker won, which was his best round. I thought it was 3-2, but the problem was the judges gave Rob round three. Bro, they got some bad judges.
“When I went in for the interview, I figured Izzy won I just didn’t know by how much. I didn’t know if it was going to be 3-2 or 4-1. When the crowd reacted the way they did by booing, I thought ‘Wow, I must’ve been watching a different fight.’”
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier?
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