Douglas Crosby, the judge presiding over last Saturday’s co-main event in favour of Paddy Pimblett, is under investigation by Mohegan Sun’s commission over a controversial decision posted in a Bellator title fight just hours before.
Crosby scored the first two rounds of the UFC 282 co-main event in favour of Paddy Pimblett, even though Gordon clearly won the first round in the eyes of much of the MMA media and fighters alike. Aggregator website MMADecisions.com saw that 23 of 24 media outlets scored the first round and the fight in favour of Gordon.
Douglas Crosby Under Scrutiny
Even though the Paddy Pimblett fight stirred up the most controversy in the MMA world, the decision between Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello was the one that got Crosby in hot water with Mohegan Sun’s commission. Douglas Crosby has found himself under investigation after judging two fights less than 24 hours and thousands of miles apart, both with suspect scorecards.
Mohegan Sun is its own separate commission due to the arena being on the land of the Mohegan tribe. For those unfamiliar with Native American legal structure, they are not subject to state law, only federal. This mostly comes into play with gambling laws, as reservations can regulate gambling and sporting commissions how they see fit.
Douglas Crosby scoring the bout 50-45 would normally not be an issue, but the other two cards went to Sabatello’s opponent Stotts 48-47. Instead of just scoring the fight for Sabatello, Crosby scored every single round for Sabatello. This marks the first instance in MMA history that the loser of a fight finished out 50-45 on the cards of one judge.
For now, there are no investigations into Doug Crosby’s judging of the UFC bout, but the head of the Mohegan Tribe Commission, Mike Mazzulli, says that the judging inconsistencies are “very serious”. As such, Crosby and his techniques are under review by the Mohegan Sun Commission. The Nevada State Athletic Commission has not yet investigated him or the other two judges on the fight.
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“In the last Bellator event (December 9, 2022) there was a controversy in the Sabatello vs Stots fight,” they said in a statement. “After reviewing the fight, three of the five rounds were extremely close, and the other two were marginally close rounds.”
“One judge had Sabatello winning all five rounds, which is controversial. But ultimately Stots won the decision which is the correct result. In an effort to make this a learning moment, I have informed all three judges we will be reviewing the fight together,” added Mazzulli.
“This is a very serious situation; the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department always looks out for the best interests of all fighters. In the past the Mohegan Athletic Department has sanctioned officials that are not performing to the level that is required. Such sanctions, when they occur, are not made public.”
The last time any commission has sanctioned an official was when Vycheslav Kiselev was fired mid-card by the UFC and then suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Judges, however, rarely get public sanctions. This remains a slippery slope, as judges could be sanctioned by promotions and commissions when results are not the ones desired. Unfortunately, promotions are often tight with the commissions that sanction their fights.
No matter what happens to Douglas Crosby, MMA judging is far from perfect and needs to be improved. Until it is, fighters’ careers lay in the hands of people who get it wrong far more often than other sporting officials.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
