In one of the most stacked cards of the year, UFC returns to Madison Square Garden with two massive title fights. In the main event of UFC 281, Israel Adesanya defends the middleweight title against Alex Pereira.
On the other hand, UFC veteran, Carla Esparza defends her strawweight title against the former champion, Zhang Weili. With an incredible main card ahead, fans have already seen a lot of dram and action packed fights in the prelims.
In the early prelims, former UFC title challenger, Karolina Kowalkiewicz fought Silvana Gomez Juarez. Kowalkiewicz had 5 losses in her last 6 fights coming into UFC 281. It’s safe to say that she was fighting for a spot in the UFC roaster when she took on Silvana Gomez Juarez, who was on a two fight winning streak leading into UFC 281.
It was a close fight and going into the third round many believed that both Silvana Gomez Juarez and Karolina Kowalkiewicz won one round each. While Kowalkiewicz secured the first round comfortably with her grappling Silvana Gomez made a comeback in the second round and arguably won the round.
In the third round, Silvana Gomez was winning the round until Kowalkiewicz secured a knock down. The majority of the fans would agree that Kowalkiewicz won the fight against Silvana Gomez. However, the judges were not too sure about their decision at UFC 281.
Judges Changed the Scorecard at UFC 281
After Bruce Buffer was given the judges’ scorecard, a commissioner from New York State Athletic Commission entered into the octagon and changed the judges’ scorecard. This was a confusing moment for the fans, UFC commentators and also Bruce Buffer who was going to read a new scorecard infront of a clueless audience at MSG.
Talking about the situation, the former UFC two division champion, Daniel Cormier stated: “Oh my god they are flipping the scorecards. I have never seen this in my life. Somebody is going to be really mad”.
Karolina Kowalkiewicz got the decision nod over Silvana Gomez Juarez after a strange scene with the scorecards before the result was read. 🧐#UFC281 | Live results: https://t.co/IwlReiajNE pic.twitter.com/fPxFOpw9wM
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) November 13, 2022
In the end, the judges scored the fight in favour of Karolina Kowalkiewicz. This marked the second consecutive win for Kowalkiewicz after her devastating 5 fight losing streak. But, even she was concerned when the judges decided to change the scorecard inside the octagon.
“I was little bit scared. But now I’m happy”: Kowalkiewicz stated
UFC fans showed their frustration and mocked the UFC judges for this mishap and trolled them on twitter after the fight.
