Edson Barboza To Appeal UFC 242 Split Decision Loss To Paul Felder
Edson Barboza and his team will be appealing his loss to Paul Felder.
Barboza and Felder fought in a back-and-forth rematch in the co-main event of UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. After the final bell, Barboza was celebrating as he felt he had done enough to win on the judges’ scorecards.
One judge even scored the bout 30-27 to the Brazilian. Oddly enough, another scored it 30-27 to Felder while the third scored it 29-28 to give “The Irish Dragon” the split decision victory.
Barboza and his team will now be appealing the loss as they feel the bout was judged inaccurately — highlighted by two scorecards giving all three rounds to each fighter:
“We think that the fight was judged inaccurately,” Barboza’s manager Alex Davis told MMA Fighting. “The fact that one judge gave it 30-27 Junior and one have it 30-27 Felder is a big indicator of their confusion.
“Our perception—and to everyone we spoke with, everyone in the arena, every journalist and media—the fight was 29-28 for Junior, who won the first two rounds.”
Barboza Did Enough To Win
Appealing a loss usually never results in anything. And while Davis is fine with Felder winning with a 29-28 scorecard, he feels a 30-27 scorecard for either fighter is something that must be reviewed:
“We can’t let this happen,” Davis added. “These fighters put a lot of effort and invest their time to get up there to do what they do so we have judges making these type of mistakes and not being reviewed.
“We think Junior won two rounds to one, but we wouldn’t complain if it was 29-28 Felder. Nothing against Paul Felder, he’s a great fighter, a great person, his whole team, but I think Junior did a great fight and we’ll contest this.”
How did you score the fight?
