Dana White buries Gordon after controversial loss to Pimblett
UFC 282’s main and co-main event ended in controversy.
UFC 282 petered out as the night went on last night, leading to disappointing finishes in both the main and co-main event. The main event between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Anakalev finished in a draw, after a very dull contest, meaning the UFC light heavyweight title remained vacant.
The co-main was won by Paddy Pimblett via unanimous decision. However, many onlookers thought Jared Gordon had done more than enough to hand ‘The Baddy’ his first loss in the Octagon.
Among the viewers who felt Gordon won the fight is our own Tim Burke, who live scored the fight. He gave Gordon the first round and Pimblett the second before scoring the final round for Gordon. His 29-28 scorecard for Gordon was shared by 12 other media members (per MMA Decisions). 11 other media members gave Gordon 30-27 scores. On that site, only one media member score was in favour for Pimblett.
UFC President Dana White, who yucked it up with Pimblett on a podcast a few days ago, was asked about the scoring. All White offered was a critique of Gordon.
“Jared Gordon had a terrible gameplan against Paddy Pimblett,” he said (ht bjpenn). “He shouldn’t have coasted through the third round thinking he was up on the scorecards.”
Safe to say the controversial ending won’t hurt Pimblett’s stock in the UFC.
This isn’t the first time Pimblett has benefited from a controversial judges’ decision.
In 2016 he defended his Cage Warriors featherweight title against current fellow UFC roster-mate Julian Erosa. The British judges gave Pimblett a unanimous decision win that night against the American fighter with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
Those scores came despite Erosa hurting Pimblett throughout the fight and edged out Pimblett on much of the grappling exchanges.
Adding to the controversy around that decision is the fact that Cage Warriors is owned by Pimblett’s manager Graham Boylan.
Despite how this one ended, Pimblett can still say he is undefeated in the UFC. And if Dana White truly thinks he beat Gordon, then the Liverpudlian could receive a step up in competition next time out. We’ll see how that goes.