John McCarthy trashes UFC 247 judging: ‘It was bad’

Bellator commentator and veteran MMA official Big John McCarthy trashed the judging at UFC 247, saying the judges did a poor job scoring the fights.

The judges were involved in a number of controversial decisions at UFC 247 which has re-ignited the debate about how to score fights in MMA and whether or not the sport needs open scoring. Among the controversial decisions were the main event between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes, the women’s flyweight bout between Lauren Murphy and Andrea Lee, and a bantamweight bout on the preliminary card between Andre Ewell and Jonathan Martinez.

McCarthy is one of the most respected figures in MMA and was instrumental in creating the Unified Rules of MMA and defining the scoring criteria for the sport. He also holds refereeing and judging seminars on the regular, so he’s an authority on the subject. Speaking on the “Weighing In” podcast, McCarthy blasted the poor judging at UFC 247.

What was the judging quality like at ⁦@ufc⁩ 246? See what we think at “Weighing In” podcast with ⁦@THEREALPUNK⁩ and me ⁦@JohnMcCarthyMMA⁩ pic.twitter.com/slRDwDKbUB

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) February 11, 2020

“Joe Rogan was absolutely right in the fact that the judging at that show, overall, it was bad. It was bad. I mean you look at the Lauren Murphy vs. Andrea Lee fight, that was bad. Someone went 30-27 on that, and you look and go, ‘What are you looking at?’ Like come on, you can’t do that,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy did defend the judges to a degree, saying that the angle of where the judges are sitting around the Octagon could change their perception of the fight compared to what everyone else was seeing. He believes the seating arrangement could swing a close round in another direction. But in general, he says that the judging at UFC 247 was a problem and he believes the judges need to be held accountable for their scorecards.

Do you agree with Big John McCarthy that the judging was terrible at UFC 247?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/11/2020.