MMA Judge Douglas Crosby has drawn some attention after his involvement in UFC 282 and Bellator 289 results. Ariel Helwani talked about Crosby’s questionable scorecards in the last two events which sparked some controversies.
The MMA community was shocked by the results and now they are questioning Crosby’s integrity. Helwani posted a video on his channel where he discussed this in great detail. Helwani said:
“This guy should not be judging fights. He has too many conflicts… I think he wants to be in such good graces with the promoters. Because I know he loves Dana White and he tries to curry favor with him.
He tries to score fights based on what he thinks the promoter wants. So he scores it for Danny Sabatello because he thinks that that’s the guy they want. He scores it for Paddy Pimblett, now we should also say the two other judges scored it for Paddy as well. So he’s not the only guy at fault.”
Enough is enough. https://t.co/tWkleo9yb0 pic.twitter.com/troDKTVcLe
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 13, 2022
According to Helwani, Crosby wants to be in good grace with the promoters and that’s why he scores the fights in favor of the fighter that the promoters like. Fight fans were not happy with this as they believe that this is a unfair.
Helwani also added that as Paddy Pimblett is favored by Dana White, Crosby scored the fight in favor of the Scouser. Similar thing happened in Bellator 289.
Ariel Helwani demands strict action against UFC Judge Douglas Crosby
The controversial decision results of the UFC 282 co-main event and Bellator 289 have put Crosby in a tough spot and Ariel Helwani demanded the commissions take strict actions against him.
Paddy Pimblett fought Jared Gordon in the co-main event of UFC 282 and he won the bout via a unanimous decision. However, he struggled against Gordon and some fans and fighters are convinced that Gordon was robbed in that fight.
#UFC282 Official Scorecard: Paddy Pimblett vs Jared Gordon 👇
All Tonight’s Scorecards ➡️: https://t.co/ZOw63NkfWN pic.twitter.com/xS4LbE648K
— UFC News (@UFCNews) December 11, 2022
Gordon landed more than Pimblett and was also more active on the ground but the judges scored it 29-28 for Pimblett. Crosby was also involved in the controversial result of the main event of Bellator 289. He scored a 50-45 for Danny Sabatello, who lost to Raufeon Stots in the main event by a split decision.
Check out some of the tweets below:
The judge who made this dubious history, Doug Crosby, is one of the judges who scored it 29-28 for Pimblett.
He worked a show in CT on Friday. Then flies across the country to deliver another suspect scorecard. And yet, nothing will happen and he’ll never have to answer for it. https://t.co/czB3vRplPz
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 11, 2022
I’m going to ask every commission out there not to have Douglas Crosby as judge, and I would like the support of all promotions these guy are ruining people life and ruining the sport enough is enough we have to stand together on this topic @bokamotoESPN @JohnMorgan_MMA
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) December 11, 2022
Doug Crosby handed in arguably the worst scorecard of all time last night — 50-45 for Sabatello was the first time in MMA history the loser of a fight got a 50-45 scorecard — and he faces no repercussions. Get to fly to Vegas to screw over Jared Gordon. I’m sick of it. #UFC282
— Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) December 11, 2022
Still can’t get over that Doug Crosby turned in two of the worst scorecards of 2022 in back-to-back days on opposite sides of the country. What a weekend this man had.
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) December 11, 2022
Douglas Crosby with the WTF scorecard of the year giving EVERY round to Danny Sabatello. #Bellator289
— Matthew Wells (@MrMWells) December 10, 2022
Exactly correct.
Because what’s more likely, Dana paid off the judges…(he doesn’t even like to pay the fighters)
OR, judges score for the fighter he likes to Curry favor.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.— Dan_again (@DanielSerritos1) December 13, 2022
Been saying this for years and it’s sad I’m still saying this and it’s almost 2023…
MMA JUDGING IS HOLDING THIS SPORT BACK
IT NEEDS A COMPLETE OVERHAUL ASAP
— black (@black666_____) December 13, 2022
— Burhan Abbas (@BurhanAbbasDar) December 13, 2022
Crosby’s contribution to these two fights have resulted in controversial decision victories for Pimblett and Stots. However, the fight fans, some fighters and other media members were enraged and some even demanded to ban Crosby from all commissions.