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Oh no… California judge Marcos Rosales scored BJ Penn demolition a 28-28 draw

By Zach Arnold | June 25, 2017

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The ghost of BJ Penn surfaced again in 2017, this time in a fight against Dennis Siver at UFC’s Oklahoma City event. Penn was destroyed by Yair Rodriguez in February. I was surprised that UFC booked him again. I’m surprised athletic commissions, at this point in time, still would approve a BJ Penn fight.

On Sunday night, an emaciated-looking Penn faced long-time tank Dennis Siver. Siver was reportedly a 2-to-1 favorite. How he wasn’t a 4-to-1 favorite, if not higher, amazes me.

Siver dominated the first round. It was terribly sad to watch. Dominick Cruz was giving it his all on the broadcasting, wishcasting as much advice as possible to Penn. Cruz’s commentary was the interesting glue that kept my attention during the fight. He was more fan and fighter than analyst.

Siver was dominating round two until Penn clipped him with a punch and smothered him on the ground to ride out the second round. Technically, Penn won the round on points but it could have gone either way in terms of actual effectiveness of offense.

Round three was brutally sorrowful to watch if you’re an old-school MMA fan. Siver was just doing whatever the hell he wanted to against Penn. He nearly finished him and I wouldn’t have blamed referee Kevin McDonald from stopping the fight. Penn survived by barely.

Which brought us to the score cards. The correct score for this fight was 29-27 Siver. 10-9, 9-10, and 10-8 would be the correct and proper scores. Judge Geraldn Ritter got it right. Judge Cardo Urso scored it 29-28 by not giving Siver a 10-8 R3. Debatable but at least the right winner.

Then came Marcos Rosales. Oh no…

Rosales, inexplicably, gave Penn R1 by a 10-9 margin. By doing this, giving Penn 10-9 R2 and 10-8 R3 Siver meant there was no way for Siver to win the fight. This is an abomination. Whether it’s UFC scoring or PRIDE rules, Siver won the fight rather easily. It wasn’t even close.

There is no humanly way possible that a competent, experienced MMA judge would have scored Penn vs. Siver a draw. This fight was classic remedial tape for beginner students. I can guarantee you that most students, if not inclined to do 10-8 round scoring, would have at least reached the same conclusion as Cardo Urso.

There are zero justifications or excuses to score Penn vs. Siver 28-to-28. In a sport with insurmountable head-scratching score cards, this scoring was one of the most egregious errors in a long time on a big stage.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

4 Responses to “Oh no… California judge Marcos Rosales scored BJ Penn demolition a 28-28 draw”

  1. Diaz's packed bowl says:

    ‘ow about fn yamazaki? That guy’s brain is shot. He’s in mazzagatti landless territory now.

  2. Fluyid says:

    “Mario Mazzagatti does it again!!! This guy is more concerned with doing this dumb ass heart bullshit then Ref’n the fight!!! Steals a great moment from Lee or let Mike fight it or tap. Nobody gives a shit that u can make a heart with ur hands like a 12 year old girl they want u to pay attention to what’s going on in the fight and do ur job.”

  3. Diaz's packed bowl says:

    People actually sticking up for yamazaki?!?!

    People, the rnc is a 5 second choke, meaning when its on you pass out from lack of blood to the brain in 5 seconds 6 tops.

    So with that in mind,
    At 39 seconds left Lee hits the rnc.
    However Chiesa fights out for 10 seconds.
    At 29 seconds left Lee switches his hand position and re-secures the rnc. At no time does chiesa go out.
    However 2 seconds into the choke, Yamazaki calls it…
    at 27 seconds left. He never gave him a chance to fight through it like he did the first time!!!
    No giving 5 seconds then lifting and dropping his hand to check for consciousness, like other competent refs do.

    Ol Yami left the octagon pretty quick after that.
    If Chiesa cant get that lbs loss overturned why bother even having refs?

  4. Diaz's packed bowl says:

    Penn wearing his reebok shorts inside out was subversive!

    Scoring the fight a draw I can see.

    The first round was pretty close, and if you weren’t counting strikes you could easily score it a draw. Which means you could make a case for Penn.
    Penn won the second obviously. 10-9 maybe even 10-8 since he dropped Siver then controlled for several minutes. Slouching on the stool, Penn looked exhausted after the second.
    Penn was mildly dominated for the entire third round but was he dropped? I give Siver 10-8 even though he just henpecked Penn for the whole round, never dropping him or controlling like Penn did in the second…

    Similar to the hendo Bisping decision, do you score for the one almost ko? or the 4:35 of constant offense and light strikes?

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