Ray Longo is the latest coach to criticize Doug Crosby after it was announced that the veteran judge is being reviewed by the athletic commission for his questionable scorecard in the Bellator 289 main event between Danny Sabatello and Raufeon Stots.
Crosby, who was described by Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick as “combative,” scored the fight 50-45 in favor of Sabatello despite Stots being the clear winner. He is the only judge in history to score a contest 50-45 in favor of the losing fighter, prompting the Mohegan Athletic Department to conduct a review of his conduct.
Crosby also scored the co-main event at UFC 282 in favor of Paddy Pimblett, despite the majority of MMA media outlets declaring Jared Gordon the winner of the fight.
Coach Longo revealed that this isn’t the only time Crosby has come under fire, pointing to his controversial scorecard against Bellator’s AJ Agazarm in 2020 (h/t BJPenn.com) and his alleged ‘harassment’ and ‘stalking’ of renowned MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.
“Ariel Helwani hit it dead-on with his analysis and the guy harassed him, stalked him,” Longo revealed on the Anik & Florian podcast. “Why is this guy still around? He got on Chael [Sonnen]’s podcast and destroyed Nick Lembo, the guy is the commissioner of New Jersey. You’re letting this f*cking mutt dictate what’s going on, and you let him piss all over people.”
He continued, “I don’t know, [Mike] Mazzulli, answer the question, did Mike Mazzuli look into AJ Agazarm’s claims that he filled out his forms while he was judging his fight. You’re the head of the ABC, what did you do? That kid never even fought after that fight, that was in 2020. What happened to him?… You don’t that guy somehow hooked into Danny Sabatello? Are you f*cking kidding me? Kenny [Florian] you know him, you know he knows people and goes to gyms and talks to people. What the f*ck is going on?”
A formal complaint has been lodged against Crosby, per BE’s Trent Reinsmith, but it remains to be seen whether the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) will take any action. The complaint reads as follows:
“I’m calling in, not pertaining to any (NSAC) agenda item, but rather to lodge a formal complaint about the judging on UFC 282 that was hosted last weekend in Vegas. I want to know, if possible, why Douglas Crosby, in particular, was allowed to judge an event Friday night in the Northeast and then fly across the country Saturday morning, all the way to Vegas, to then judge fights Saturday night and he was deemed mentally fit to do so. It seems a bit ridiculous, in my mind.
“I think it’s very telling that for the entire tenure, as far as I can tell, of Bob Bennett, when he reigned as NSAC executive director from 2014 to 2021, Crosby was not allowed to judge a UFC event, as far as I can tell, scanning MMA Decisions, and when (current NSAC executive director) Jeff Mullen took his place, that Crosby was suddenly back judging those events. It seems a bit ridiculous.
“He (Crosby) demonstrated criminal incompetence, in my opinion, judging that event over the weekend and I don’t understand why it was allowed to happen.”
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