Isaac Dulgarian could have coughed up his undefeated document final evening (Sat., March 16, 2024) throughout UFC Vegas 88, however he didn’t achieve this with out controversy.
In actual fact, Dulgarian dominated Christian Rodriguez for not less than 5 minutes. That a lot is undisputed. All three judges agreed, awarding Dulgarian a 10-8 on the primary spherical scorecards. Dulgarian threw “CeeRod” all around the cage, spent a number of time in mount (and again mount), and actually gave the impression to be breaking down Rodriguez. He landed a wholesome quantity of strikes, threatened submissions, and in response to UFC Stats — the supply for all of the numbers I’ll be utilizing on this submit — spent however 12 seconds of the spherical in management positions.
Appears like a 10-8!
Let’s fast-forward to the third body for a second, by which the script was completely flipped. Dulgarian was drained, and Rodriguez was kicking his butt throughout the cage. Rodriguez was fatigued as properly, which is the rationale no end materialized, nevertheless it was nonetheless dominant work. Rodriguez landed some onerous pictures on the ft, reversed takedowns, and practically completed the combat from flattened-out again mount on a few events.
All informed, 74 Rodriguez strikes landed in comparison with 5 from Dulgarian, in addition to 3:14 of management. That additionally appears like a 10-8, and once more, all three judges agreed. That’s a number of settlement and clear-cut scoring for a weird scorecard, however all of the strangeness is packed into the center body, that pesky second spherical.
The judges have been break up on the second. Two awarded Rodriguez the 10-9 nod, whereas choose Anthony Maness dissented and gave the spherical to Dulgarian. The proper occasion relies upon how strictly you comply with the judging standards, which stays an eternally grey space open for interpretation.
In line with the present scoring standards, harm is prioritized over management, and hanging is prioritized over grappling. For wrestling and jiu-jitsu to attain, it has to end in significant offense. From this viewpoint, and brought completely black-and-white, Rodriguez is the winner, as a result of he landed three extra strikes than his opponent (18 vs. 15 complete, 12 vs. 8 important).
And, in equity, his landed pictures have been additionally the tougher ones, which does matter.
The issue is that Dulgarian landed 4 takedowns and managed 4 complete minutes of the combat. That makes the state of affairs not less than slightly grey, proper? I’ve been punched and brought down in skilled fights, and I’ve to say, the common takedown hurts not less than as badly as a mean punch.
It’s sort of an absurdly strict following of the foundations. I’m inclined to argue too strict. Whereas I’m in favor of the harm choice general, we can not fake that Rodriguez wasn’t manhandled for lengthy parts of the spherical, and he didn’t win the hanging differential by all that a lot. In a lot of different fights, a 4 strike distinction is taken into account VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL, forcing the judges to weigh within the different info like grappling, Octagon management and aggression.
Rodriguez/Dulgarian was the fifth break up choice in UFC historical past with 28-27, 27-28, 28-27 scorecards, however the first and not using a level deduction.
— MMADecisions.com (@MMADecisions) March 17, 2024
In truth, we don’t know precisely how Rodriguez’s lands examine to Dulgarian’s. Measuring a strike’s significance is just not a precise science. Harmless wanting jabs can damage. A chipping floor strike from Demian Maia was in all probability written down as a complete strike (not important), but it surprised the famously sturdy Carlos Condit.
Is one onerous low kick value a couple of onerous jab? Who f—king is aware of!
It’s a judgement name, and on this case, the judges determined that the man who received 4 minutes out of 5 in a spherical misplaced the spherical. Barring distinctive circumstances, that appears foolish, and 4 strikes don’t make for notably distinctive circumstance.
My private backside line is that this: I don’t suppose Rodriguez deserved the choice in response to the present judging standards. Admittedly, I additionally don’t have an issue with him getting his hand raised, as a result of Dulgarian deserved to lose some extent for fingering Rodriguez’s gloves within the third spherical, which can have offered a technical knockout stoppage.
It was an in depth combat, so in some ways, an in depth choice is an applicable consequence come what may. Nonetheless, it’s one of the crucial weird scorecards in latest reminiscence, essentially the most standout second in a normal Apex occasion.
It was allegedly slightly greasy, too.
For full UFC Vegas 88: “Tuivsasa vs. Tybura” outcomes and play-by-play, click on HERE.
