Texas MMA judge explains scorecard in Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green fight at UFC 265

Texas MMA judge JJ Ferraro explained his controversial scorecard in the Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green fight at this past Saturday’s UFC 265.

Fiziev vs. Green was a fantastic lightweight battle that won “Fight of the Night” honors on a card full of great fights. While Fiziev was correctly deemed the winner of the bout after winning the first two rounds of the fight, there was some controversy when one of the judges scored the bout 30-27 in Fiziev’s favor, even though round three was a clear Green round. Although the good news is that the right fighter got his hand raised, MMA fans and media were up in arms about the 30-27 scorecard that didn’t give Green any credit.

In a rare move, judge Ferraro took to social media to explain his controversial scorecard in the Fiziev vs. Green fight. It’s very uncommon to see a judge explain their rationale for a particular scorecard, so it’s nice to see some transparency here. However, the general sentiment about those on social media is that the judge is doubling down on a bad take.

@seanMFmadden @MMAjunkie @kennyflorian @Jon_Anik @dc_mma pic.twitter.com/5I5HmmdhBj

— The_Muay_Thai _Ref (@JJ_TX_Referee) August 9, 2021

“Strikes that are deemed most effective are strikes that have potential to end the fight. Those are the strikes that hold more weight than any other strikes. It doesn’t matter if they are punches, kicks, elbows, you name it, we have to assess who is trying to end the fight with their weapons. Those are the strikes that hold most weight in the criteria. I’m not making this stuff up. (It’s) in the Unified Rules. Looking at the fight about one minute in Fiziev landed a shot that in my opinion hurt Green, Green played off well by shaking his head no. This is entertaining I understand, but antics are not scored, toughness is not scored,” Ferraro wrote (h/t MMAjunkie).

“If you look at the fight UFCstats.com it also shows more of a percentage to spread the damage/impact out through the whole body head to toe for Fiziev. That is to show there can be style bias for Green’s busy handwork and hard kicks being overlooked. It happens all the time in MMA. It happens all the time in MMA. Round 3 could have gone either way,” Ferraro said. “One of the other judges told me immediately after the fight that he could see my score as well and was not surprised or shocked at all when I went to Fizev 10-9.”

How did you score the Rafael Fiziev vs. Bobby Green fight at UFC 265?