UFC lightweight Norman Parke hasn’t had it easy with decisions against Brazilians. He’s lost a pair of split decisions to Gleison Tibau and (last night to) Francisco Trinaldo, as well as a majority draw vs. Leo Santos after he lost a point due to grabbing the shorts. The Santos and Trinaldo decisions occurred in Brazil, and when speaking to the press immediately after the decision, he declared last night was the final straw. MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz has the quote:
Norman Parke: “Brazilians judges are a joke. I won this fight. I’ll never fight in Brazil again.”
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) May 31, 2015
The scoring breakdown saw Parke lose round 2 on all scorecards, but the deciding factors were judges Rick Winter and Felipe Frank awarding Trinaldo the opening 2 rounds before they all unanimously gave Parke the final stanza.
Judging: Rick Winter, Felipe Frank gave Trinaldo rounds 1 and 2 for the win. Chris Lee gave Parke 1 and 3 for split.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) May 31, 2015
As far as Parke’s complaint that “Brazilian judges are a joke”, it turns out that two of the cageside judges weren’t even Brazilian, and one of them (Winter) gave the fight to Trinaldo anyway. Whatever the case, Parke (20-4-1) is on the first losing streak of his career, and aspirations of fighting anyone in the top 10 have been dashed for the time being.
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