Last Saturday, the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Fairfax featured a lightweight bout between Jorge Masvidal and Al Iaquinta, in a bout that saw the Serra-Longo fighter earn his fourth straight win in the Octagon. However, it was anything but straightforward, as many believed Masvidal deserved the nod, yet two of the three judges saw it otherwise.
Yet, while those two judges handed in scorecards that were in direct conflict with 13 of those submitted to MMADecisions.com (h/t MMAFighting.com), it was the judge who scored the bout for Masvidal, Dough Crosby, who was scrutinized after the fact.
Crosby scored the fight 30-27 for Masvidal, which came as a surprising result given that the contest appeared far closer than that. It was later revealed that Crosby apparently has a “feud” of sorts with Serra-Longo, which is why his lopsided score was questioned.
“It’s been documented, Doug Crosby has a long-going feud with — well, not a feud, but whatever, he hates on us, most particularly Ray Longo,” Iaquinta said on The MMA Hour. “He’s got a problem, and this is where it gets serious. The whole thing, MMA, this whole thing is kind of like a joke. Everyone thinks, oh, boo, I cursed them, it’s funny. But this is where it gets serious.”
Apart from judging MMA fights, Crosby is also a stunt coordinator in the movie business, and recently requested Iaquinta’s services for an unknown project. To Al’s surprise, after he turned down the project, he found Crosby to be one of the three judges scoring his fight.
“I turned down an offer from this guy, whatever the reason being, and then he’s judging my fight. So right there, I don’t know, it’s just not right. I don’t know how that happened. After the fight, I was looking around the cage and I then I saw him sitting down and I said to Ray, ‘Why is this guy judging my fight?’ I knew right away, I’m down one judge. I’m down. Three judges are supposed to be objective, see the fight how it is. I knew right off the bat, this guy wasn’t giving me nothing.”
Iaquinta also added that Crosby had an “inappropriate relationships” with fighters at the Serra-Longo gym, one of whom later requested an Order of Protection, which is issued by the court to limit someone who attempts to harm another one.
Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.
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