Sean Strickland’s head coach, Eric Nicksick, is flabbergasted by the scoring in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 200 main event.
The Xtreme Couture trainer saw his student get his hand raised in the middleweight matchup with Jack Hermansson, but not before one judge scored the fight against Strickland (25-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), making for a puzzling split decision result.
Although the other two judges managed to get it right, Sal D’Amato turned in a dissenting scorecard, 48-47 in favor of Hermansson (22-7 MMA, 9-5 UFC). The reaction was a widespread confusion about how he could see the fight that way.
Nicksick doesn’t understand, either. He criticized D’Amato in the aftermath of the event, and cited MMADecisions.com (an site that tracks media scoring), where not a single outlet had the fight for Hermansson (via Twitter):
Not even one media member scored it for Jack. I know we won, but if this guy is still judging, he will continue to make egregious decisions and ultimately cost fighters their careers and livelihood. #fireSal pic.twitter.com/g70PizTsuO
— Eric Nicksick (@Eric_XCMMA) February 6, 2022
Not even one media member scored it for Jack. I know we won, but if this guy is still judging, he will continue to make egregious decisions and ultimately cost fighters their careers and livelihood. #fireSal
D’Amato is one of the most commonly used judges in the sport, especially given the volume of UFC events that take place in Las Vegas, like UFC Fight Night 200 did. It’s not the first time he’s turned in a controversial scorecard.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has used D’Amato’s services for years. But Nicksick made it obvious he’s seen enough, of him and stumped for D’Amato to lose his position to make way for someone else.
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