John McCarthy explains why UFC could remove Mark Collett from Fight Island after poor judging performance

Long-time MMA official Big John McCarthy explained why the UFC could remove judge Mark Collett from Fight Island after a poor judging performance at UFC 251.

Collett is one of the judges the UFC hired to work the Fight Island series. However, he had a very questionable night of judging that has been criticized by fans, media, and fighters. According to McCarthy on Twitter, Collett’s performance on the scorecards at UFC 251 was questionable enough that the UFC could potentially remove Collett from his role as judge.

The @ufc hired, transported, tested & paid for Mark Collet to be part of 251 and they will be paying him to be a part of the other shows on Fight Island. When your performance is not acceptable, your employer has the right to remove you from their employ. Let’s see if they do it https://t.co/FL1ExUdquK

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) July 13, 2020

The @ufc hired, transported, tested & paid for Mark Collet to be part of 251 and they will be paying him to be a part of the other shows on Fight Island. When your performance is not acceptable, your employer has the right to remove you from their employ. Let’s see if they do it

There’s no other way to put it: Collett had a rough night at the score table, and he should be held accountable for his questionable scorecards.

In the main event of the evening, Collett scored the first round for Kamaru Usman over Jorge Masvidal despite Masvidal having a comfortable edge in the striking. Usman was the correct winner and ultimately Collett did score the fight in his favor, but a 49-46 scorecard was more acceptable rather than the 50-45 that Collett turned in.

In the co-main event, Collett scored the fight 48-47 for Alex Volkanovski over Max Holloway, a scorecard that UFC president Dana White decried following the event. It was a competitive fight, but a lot of people including McCarthy and UFC superstar Nate Diaz believed Holloway deserved to win the fight. The majority of the MMA media also scored the fight for Holloway.

But perhaps the most egregious scorecard turned in by Collett came in the rematch between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade. This was a very easy fight to score, as Namajunas won the first two rounds and Andrade won the last round. It was one of the most clear-cut fights to score in a long time, yet Collett somehow scored the fight in favor of Andrade, giving her the first round despite Namajunas outstriking her.

Collett scored one more fight, a 30-27 decision in favor of Marcin Tybura over Maxim Grishin, which was an acceptable scorecard. But overall, he had a rough night. You can see more of Collett’s historical scorecards over at MMA Decisions, which shows that Collett has been judging UFC fights since 2011. Unfortunately, he had a rough night at UFC 251.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with a comment from John McCarthy, who said he is not encouraging the UFC to remove Collett as a judge, but rather educating the masses on the fact that the UFC could do so if they choose to.

@MMAAdamMartin if you’re going to write an article off of a tweet please don’t change the context of that tweet. I never called for the removal of a judge. You added your own take which was never said by me. I simply answered a question. Your Headline & Story are false

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) July 13, 2020