One person notably absent from the spontaneous outrage over last Saturday’s Diego Sanchez vs. Ross Pearson split decision win for Diego was Dana White. He did not tweet anything during the UFC Fight Night card as he was away in his vacation home in Maine. White has broken his silence on the subject and told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that Pearson clearly won, and they’ll move on without a rematch:
“It was horrible. In the second round, Diego got dropped and one judge still gave him that round. Insanity, man. Pearson got robbed. Pearson won that fight clearly. He easily won that fight. We have to treat Pearson like he won and give him that next level fight.”
“The thing about our sport is there’s never any of that hometown advantage bulls—. Yeah, more people are going to be cheering for you than the other guy, but it’s not like the judges are all from that town. Usually, athletic commissions pull the best from around the country. Whoever gave that fight all three rounds to Sanchez should never judge a fight again.”
The judge in question who somehow managed a 30-27 for Sanchez is Jeff Collins, who has judged several UFC fights in Nevada dating back to 2007. Chris Tellez scored the contest 29-28 for Diego, giving him rounds 1 and 3, while Marcos Rosales had it 30-27 Pearson, which was the prevailing score for media members.
Pearson appealed the decision to New Mexico’s Athletic Commission but it won’t be heard until next Tuesday’s meeting. Meanwhile, they’ve confirmed that no errors were made in tallying the scores, so it’s looking likely that Pearson won’t be getting this result overturned.
If White is as adamant as the rest that Pearson won and that they’re going to move forward as if that was the official result, then hopefully Pearson will get (or has already received) his win bonus after what is being regarded as one of the biggest robberies in UFC history.
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