Judge Doug Crosby reacts to recent controversy: “There is a system and protocols in place for officials to comment on fights.”
Doug Crosby won’t go into detail about his controversial scoring in recent UFC and Bellator fights.
The veteran judge has been criticized for his scorecards during Bellator’s Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello title fight. Crosby scored the fight 50-45 in favor of Sabatello which brought on criticism. Notably, the two other judges scored the fight 48-47 for Stots.
The next night, Crosby traveled from Connecticut to Nevada to judge UFC 282’s Paddy Pimblett and Jared Gordon matchup. Crosby, along with the two other judges, scored the fight 29-28 for Pimblett.
During an appearance on Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast, Crosby explained how he is prohibited from speaking on the scorecards from the two fights.
“There is a system and protocols in place for officials to comment on fights that they have judged and I respect that,” Crosby said “There’s a process in place for any fighter who’s interested in information about how their fight was judged. That information is based upon the officials using the scoring criteria and any fight, not just this past weekend, or any fighter is welcome to contact to the administrators and ask them about that process.”
“As far as me commenting on particular fights right now or maybe ever, that is up to the discretion of the administrators. That’s not me trying to duck out of answering hard questions about judging fights but there is a process and I respect the process.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
There was also criticism on how Crosby was allowed to travel from Connecticut to Nevada for back-to-back events. The California Athletic Commission issued a new travel restriction following the controversy. It will not allow CSAC officials to travel across the country to judge on back-to-back nights.
Doug Crosby Explains How Judging Has Evolved
Crosby did comment on how judging has changed over the years.
“Over the last 15 years when you talk the fighters, the overarching comment — and I’m not going to call it a complaint, I’ll call it a comment or a concern — is that effective grappling is not given enough weight in the scoring criteria,” Crosby stated. “Recently, I don’t know how recently, but the scoring criteria has been modified and updated so that effective striking and effective grappling are considered equal.”
“If effective grappling is considered the equal of effective striking, and then you look at any of my scores through that newly ground mental lens, the scores may become easier to understand. But that has to do with reaching and understanding the criteria and I don’t know who does that and who doesn’t.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
Crosby went on to comment on the recent CSAC regulations. He says he can’t comment on the decision but says the critics are “not members of the working class”.
