“F**k These Judges” – Gilbert Burns Criticizes Officials for Controversial Split Decision

Last weekend, Rafael dos Anjos took control of Paul Felder over the course of five rounds in the main event of UFC Vegas 14. Despite nothing unusual during the fight, the scorecard of one of the judges stirred a lot of controversies. UFC welterweight challenger Gilbert Burns blasted the official for the way he scored the fight.

This past Saturday, the former lightweight champ, Dos Anjos, dominated Paul Felder. The latter had taken the fight on a brief notice of five days. Felder did what he could, but he just couldn’t fight with an opponent who came into the fight with a full camp. At the end of the contest, even ‘The Irish Dragon’ knew that he was about to suffer back-to-back defeats.

However, when Bruce Buffer read the scorecard of the first judge, Felder was as surprised as everyone else who had watched the fight. Judge Chris Lee had scored the fight 48-47 in favor of Felder. The scorecard garnered a lot of criticism.

The next challenger in line for a title shot at 170 pounds, Gilbert Burns, was very critical of Lee’s decision. He didn’t mince his words when he addressed the same.

Gilbert Burns is not the only one who was critical of the scoring

Rafael dos Anjos took control of the fight when he pushed Felder to the fence. He was efficient with the takedowns and even made attempts at submitting his opponent. On the other hand, the timing of Felder felt a bit off. Perhaps a fully dedicated camp would’ve given him a much better chance to defeat the Brazilian.

All in all, there was no doubt regarding the winner of the fight. Therefore, the scorecard of Chris Lee left a number of fighters puzzled, not just Gilbert Burns.

The scorecard has once stirred a discussion on if there is a need for the scoring system to be modified. One possible change that has suggested is that the judges can be asked to label some factors based on which they have scored a round in favor of someone. This way they can be held more accountable as compared to evaluating the rounds on a purely statistical basis.

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