One of the judges from this past Saturday’s UFC 75: CHAMPION vs. CHAMPION explains his decision in awarding Michael Bisping a very controversial win over Matt Hamill.
UFC Junkie has an article up that features UFC 75 judge Jeff Mullen explaining what went into his decision to give Michael Bisping the win over Matt Hamill.
Mullen, who says he first started judging UFC contests in 1996 (and has been doing it twice as long as any other current judge), recently posted a message on The Underground Forum, where he’s been a member since 2001.
Mullen argues that he had a clear view of Bisping early in the second round — a view that the television camera and the UFC broadcasters didn’t have — and that the local fighter “was landing the jab again and again and not getting hit.” Additionally, he argues that Bipsing was “using an active guard trying to turn for armbars and sweeps” in the second round while Hamill was “doing very little on top.“
Both Jeff Mullen and Cecil Peoples scored the fight 29-28 (awarding Bisping the second and third rounds) while British judge Chris Watts gave all three rounds to Hamill.
In the end, it was a controversial split-decision for Bisping.
“By the way, Mario Yamasaki thought Bisping won rounds two and three,” Mullen wrote. “Mario was the ref and had a better view than any of us.
Because England has no athletic commission, the UFC was responsible for regulating the event. UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner was charged with the tasks of drug testing the fighters and choosing officials — including Mullen — to judge Saturday’s fights.