UFC 204 judge missed five minutes of Martins vs. Santos bout; Martins’ camp seeking no contest

News of a UFC 204 judge missing the first round of Adriano Martins’ preliminary bout with Leonardo Santos may lead to the close split-decision to be turned to a no-contest following recent revelations.

MMA photographer Esther Lin tweeted during the fight that one of the judges was missing from his designated seat during round one of Adriano Martins vs. Leonardo Santos:

https://twitter.com/allelbows/status/784894961183494144

https://twitter.com/allelbows/status/784896373795721216

The missing judge in question was Jeff Mullen, who was no where to be seen while fellow judges Maciej Motylewski and Paul Sutherland sat in the judges booth watching onward.

The fight ended up going to a very close split-decision in Santos’ favor, with judges Jeff Mullen and Paul Sutherland both awarding Santos the first and second round, while Motylewski awarded Martins rounds two and three.

There is no formal athletic commission to oversee the UFC’s judging affairs, causing the UFC to self-regulate the entire UFC 204 card.

Naturally, Martins and his camp have protested the decision given the recent judging revelations.

The UFC released a statement addressing the issue:

“At the UFC 204 event on Oct. 8 in Manchester, England, a judge was not in the proper judge’s chair during the first round of the Adriano Martins vs. Leonardo Santos bout,” according to MMAjunkie.com.

“Judge Jeff Mullen was seated in the first row of the commission seating area and was observing the bout. Upon noticing that Judge Mullen was not in his appropriate seat at the end of round 1, Marc Ratner, UFC Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, asked Mullen if he believed that he could adequately score the round from his vantage point. Judge Mullen confirmed that he had observed the entire round and that he could appropriately score the round. As a result, Mullen filled out his judge’s scorecard for round 1 and took his appropriate judge’s seat to observe and score the remaining two rounds of the bout.”

Do you feel the decision should be overturned? Sound off, PENN Nation!