Apparently, judge Mike Bell owned up to his mistake, not publicly, but privately.
Bell was under heavy public scrutiny this past September after he scored the fifth round of the Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko rematch a 10-8, a score that led to the UFC women’s flyweight fight to end in a split draw. Many, including Shevchenko – who felt she won the fight – wanted answers from Bell as to why he scored the fifth round a 10-8, as the vast majority of people disagreed.
John McCarthy, a former veteran referee, who’s been working as a commentator for Bellator in recent years, said he spoke to Bell and Bell admitted he was in the wrong.
“Mike Bell, the moment it happened, said, ‘I f*cked up. I screwed that up. I gave it too much. This is what I was looking for, but it wasn’t enough, and I made a mistake,'” McCarthy told MMA Junkie Radio. “What more can you ask for than someone that says, ‘Hey, I was wrong, and I’m going to work to fix it’? That’s what he did (by) taking some time off. ‘I’m going to go back to watching fights,’ and Mike Bell watches more fights than anybody out there that’s a fan. Trust me.”
McCarthy confirmed Bell took some time away from judging to get his mind right, as he believes he made the wrong call at Noche UFC. McCarthy assures that Bell is a quality judge and feels the public doesn’t understand how difficult their job actually is.
“I understand, based upon talking to him, exactly how he got to it,” McCarthy said. “Now, I was honest with him and told him, ‘No, I didn’t have the 10-8 and these are the reasons why,’ and I walked him through it. But I can understand when you’re there and under that moment, you’re looking and trying to see the differences.
“… A lot of people have felt like, ‘Oh, he was making up because he didn’t like that score he did earlier.’ That’s bullsh*t. Look, he’s done too many world title fights. He is a phenomenal judge, but he is human. He made a mistake. He was honest about it. One of the things commissions don’t want, they don’t want you to be talking to a judge. So when you’re not talking and everybody else is, there it is, ‘Oh, he did it on purpose,’ and they come up will all these goddamn conspiracy theories.”
