Amir Albazi and Kai Kara France made headlines on Saturday through their bout at UFC Vegas 74. Albazi won the fight via a split decision, which turned into a nightmare for the judges.
The decision turned out to be more controversial.
UFC judge Chris Lee has drawn criticism again at UFC Vegas 16. In a light heavyweight division bout of the main card, Roman Dolidze took on the Brazilian John Allen. In an intriguing fight, Dolitze was clearly the more dominant fighter with his control time on the ground and more striking volume compared to Allen on the feet. He also secured several takedowns and attempted a number of submissions on the ground. Judge Chris Lee however, scored the fight 29-28 in Allen’s favor. Chris Lee’s decision baffled the commentators and the MMA community alike.
Both veteran judges Chris Lee and Sal D'Amato regularly find themselves at the receiving end of flak due to questionable scorings. D'Amato came under fire last year for being the dissenting judge in Sean Strickland's split decision win over Jack Hermansson. D'Amato had Hermansson winning three rounds while the other two judges had Strickland winning four.
Similarly, Chris Lee has been the dissenting judges on 37 assignments over the course of his controversial career. UFC president Dana White publicly ripped into him for controversial scores in a Roman Dolidze vs. John Allan back in 2020.