Angela Hill wants judges to be as famous as referees, face same criticism as them
There was plenty of controversy surrounding Angela Hill’s loss to Amanda Lemos at UFC Vegas 45 this past weekend, with Hill losing by split decision in a razor-thin fight, with one judge scoring it 30-27 in favor of Lemos.
While many argued that Hill won the fight, as that is how the media scored it over on MMA Decisions, the loss would go down as the 9th career decision loss for Hill, in 11 losses during her professional career. Now on a two-fight skid, Hill previously dropped a unanimous decision to Tecia Torres at UFC 265. For her career, most of which has been spent with the UFC, Hill, one of the most popular female fighters on the roster, has a 13-11 professional record.
Earlier this week, Hill, who now will do weekly co-hosting duties on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation show ‘MMA Today’ opened up on her loss to Lemos and called for more eyes on the judges. Angela Hill explained that while some referees like Herb Dean, Mark Smith, and Dan Miragliotta are known by face and name, the same can’t be said for the judges scoring the fights. She explained why she feels that judges should be just as known, and be held as accountable as the well-known referees.
"I really wish that the judges were as famous as the referees."@AngieOverkill shares her frustration with judges never being held accountable for bad score cards w/@ReneePaquette & @MieshaTate
FULL Interview PLUS #PaulWoodley reactions on the podcast⏬https://t.co/ecYa1w8Yyz pic.twitter.com/FADruCBH0Y
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) December 21, 2021
“I really wish that the judges were as famous as the referees because every refree is held accountable for whatever bad decision they make in there. If anything, the referee is way harder than the judge’s job because they have to make that split-second decision. If they let it go too long, people are going to talk, if they stop it too soon, people are going to talk. A judge, if they make a wrong call, people are gonna know their name but they’re not going to know what they look like. “
Referencing one of the most well-known judges, Adalaide Byrd, who has her scorecards come into question several times, Angela Hill explains how judges being unknown, takes away from them being held accountable.
“Adalaide Byrd, she gets a lot of slack because people actually know what she looks like, they recognize her name, there aren’t that many judges like that, who have the same fame for being on the wrong end of a decision. I think if we held the judges more accountable as well then maybe that wouldn’t happen as often, they’re getting away with whatever.”
While she didn’t want to go full conspiracy theory in her thoughts, Angela Hill said she starts to think that there could be gambling involved with how some of the fights are scored.
“I start to think that they have people telling them which way to swing the bet because they put money on a favorite and think ‘Okay let’s double-up some money, we have this guy in here who’s gonna make sure the decision we want to happen, happens.’ I don’t know, I know it’s like all consipracy theories but I feel like it would be so easy to do something like that and get away with it.”
Judges being influenced through betting implications opens up an entirely different conversation when it comes to fights being scored, but Angela Hill does make a valid argument in calling for judges to be held as accountable as the referees.
