LAS VEGAS – Andre Fili did not hold back when criticizing the scorecard from one judge of his UFC Fight Night 210 bout against Bill Algeo.
Getting back in the win column on Saturday was important for Fili (22-9 MMA, 10-8 UFC), who entered winless following his three previous walks to the Octagon. Algeo (16-7 MMA, 3-3 UFC) made the fight interesting until the end, but Fili had the bigger moments throughout the contest, turning in a solid performance. However, Fili had to hold his breath while hearing dueling 29-28 scores being read in the fourth split decision result of his UFC career.
“I think I clearly won that fight,” Fili told reporters including MMA Junkie at the post-fight news conference. “It was competitive, but these judges are – I don’t f*cking know with these judges are looking at, man. Thank God they didn’t rob me, but dude, they gotta stop trying to scare me.”
The first two rounds of the fight were fairly clear to score; the first round went in Fili’s direction, and then Algeo had a better second round. The judges became split in the third, when Fili found the back of Algeo and began hunting for a rear-naked choke submission. During that time, Algeo landed repeated backward punches to hit Fili while defending the choke.
If you ask Fili, there should have been no question who won that round, despite being on the receiving end of a number of punches to the head. Judge Chris Lee thought Algeo was more effective in the final round, while Derek Cleary and Sal D’Amato scored the frame for Fili.
“What is a more significant threat to finishing a fight: my hand under his throat ready to strangle him or him punching me on the top of my forehead from two inches away?” Fili questioned. “If a judge legitimately looks at that and says he was closer to winning that fight than me in the third round, f*ck that guy.
“Like, I don’t know what else to say. I wish I had a more eloquent thing to say, but if you think that punches from here (backward, over the head) is a more legitimate fight-ending threat than a rear-naked choke from the back, you shouldn’t be judging fighting. That’s just my opinion. What do I know? I’ve only been doing this my entire life.”
Ultimately, Fili got his hand raised to pick up the 10th win of his UFC career. While he is happy with two of the judges’ scorecards, “Touchy” would like to see something done to ensure judges are held to account for their decisions.
“Honestly, thank God they didn’t rob me,” Fili said. “Thank God they got it right, but I think we really gotta have some accountability with these judges man, and have some better calls.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 210.
