The first fight on the main card at last Saturday’s TUF 12 Finale event featured contestant Nam Phan against WEC/UFC veteran Leonard Garcia.  The bout was expected to deliver fireworks and for the most part it came through.  After the decision was called Leonard Garcia 29-28, Nam Phan 30-27, and Leonard Garcia 29-28, boos echoed in the Palms.  Joe Rogan went on a tirade criticizing the judging.  

He stated “I don’t think the last fight was close and the decision went the wrong way. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on fighters not knowing what kind of officiating you’re getting. It’s gross. You should be able to leave it in the hands of the judges. You should be able to just fight. And we should point out, that is the situation because of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It has nothing to do with the UFC. People keep saying ‘oh the UFC!’ We have no say whatsoever. And (NSAC executive director) Keith Kizer has denied that there’s an issue. I think (Kizer) needs to clean house. There’s a few very good judges surrounded by a bunch of incompetent morons, who know nothing about the sport. They need to do something about that, because it’s ruining MMA. It’s making people think that this sport is corrupt. It has nothing to do with corruption. It’s sheer and total incompetence.”

But was Nam Phan robbed?  I don’t think so.  Should he have won? Probably.  There is a big difference in being robbed and losing both of the close rounds on the judges scorecards.  In round 1 it was back and forth and both fighters had their moments.  Based on the fight metric report, Garcia landed 30 significant strikes.  18 to the head, 6 to the body and 6 to the legs.  Phan landed 33 significant strikes.  23 to the head, 6 to the body and 4 to the legs.  Based on the numbers alone, it’s a very close round.  I am assuming that the two judges that gave round 1 to Garcia took his aggressiveness into consideration.  According to the report, Garcia threw 111 strikes in the round compared to Phan’s 71.  

In round 2 it was all Nam Phan.  He dominated the round, landing 45 total strikes compared to Garcia’s 18.  Garcia had one takedown, while Phan had one submission attempt.  It was a dominant round by Phan, but probably did not warrant a 10-8.

In the final stanza, Garcia swung for the fences most of the round.  Phan was able to land more significant shots, 35-21, but again Garcia was the aggressor.  He threw 106 strikes in the round compared to Phan’s 96.  Garcia was 13 of 71 for power strikes. Phan was 16 of 33.   Garcia also landed 1 out of 2 takedowns.  Obviously the two judges that gave Garcia this round liked his activity, specifically power shots thrown.  Also he did score a takedown.  

I believe that Nam Phan won the overall fight, but based on the way the rounds played out, it isn’t that crazy for Garcia to get the nod in rounds 1 and 3.  Like it or not, barely winning 2 out of 3 rounds and getting dominated in the 3rd will get you a decision.  I watched this fight 3 separate times and scored it differently every time.  I could understand anything from Nam Phan winning 30-26 all the way to Leonard Garcia winning 29-28.  I like to think that the outcry from some fans and media is due to when viewing the fight as a whole, Phan won, no question.  I do not think there is a judging epidemic, or that they are incompetent by any means.  Judges have a different view than us keyboard warriors.  If people feel there is such a problem with the judging, I would like the complainers to be the first ones in line trying to get certified as a judge.  If the view is so much better from my house and TV, maybe the judges should just stay home and text how they called the round after it.  All in all, I would like this fight to be retired as a controversial or debatable decision.  At the end of the day, this fight is far from a robbery.