Henry Cejudo has taken aim at Mike Bell for his scoring of the UFC Atlanta main event between Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley.
This past Saturday, the premier promotion returned to Atlanta for UFC Atlanta with a welterweight main event between former champion Kamaru Usman and soaring contender Joaquin Buckley.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ successfully snapped his three fight losing skid, dominating Buckley over five rounds and picking up the unanimous decision win.
Following his win, Usman declared that he wants to fight the winner of the upcoming welterweight title fight between Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev, turning down Belal Muhammad’s callout.
Henry Cejudo slams Mike Bell for scoring of UFC Atlanta main event
Coming into the event, Usman was being written off by a large majority of the UFC fanbase because of his inactivity over the last two years as well as his persistent knee problems.
The 38-year-old’s performance was that impressive that even his rival Muhammad praised him for his performance.
For the majority of the fight, Usman showcased his extremely dominant wrestling, nullifying ‘New Mansa’s’ powerful striking.
Two of the judges scored the fight 49-46, scoring the final round for Buckley after a late rally. However, experienced judge Mike Bell scored the fight 48-47, only giving Usman a one round advantage.
And with that, Bell has been targeted by former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo who has questioned Bell’s scorecard.
“I had it 49-46, whatever judge had it 48-47 should never judge again, that is terrible, dude. And I hope it wasn’t Derek Cleary because Derek Cleary has screwed me on multiple occasions and if it’s that dude, I’m not surprised, I know Derek Cleary and Sal D’Amato were the judges and those dudes are known for f—— s— up, man,” Cejudo said during a recent episode of the Pound for Pound Podcast.
Cejudo hopeful that AI judging will take over in the UFC
With the growing influence of AI in sport, UFC boss Dana White has consistently claimed that AI will come in and over overhaul the current UFC ranking system.
However, ‘Triple C’ is hoping that the UFC will take it one step further and have AI judge fights to get rid of human error.
“I hope AI at one point can come together and do it,” Cejudo stated.
White’s business partner Turki Alalshikh has introduced AI judging to his boxing events, albeit not taking over official human judges as of yet.