Sean Strickland rips the judges following split decision loss to Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 66
UFC middleweight contender Sean Strickland ripped the judges following his split decision loss to Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 66.
In what was the final UFC main event of 2022, Cannonier edged out a close split decision over Strickland. The judges scored the bout 49-46, 46-49, and 49-46 in favor of Cannonier, who earned the split nod. It is rare to see judges on the opposite ends of 49-46 scorecards, but in this particular fight, it was a bout that featured five very close rounds, so it’s understandable why the judges had a hard time coming to a consensus on a winner. Still, Strickland is not happy with the scorecards.
Taking to his social media following the fight, Strickland was critical of the judges for their scorecards in this fight. As far as Strickland goes, he believes he deserved to win the decision, and he made it clear with his latest Instagram video.
“I’m a f*cking sore loser. Hat’s off to Jared, but you have judges that don’t know how to f*cking do their job. You actually look at the scorecard and you look at the significant strikes and you look at how many times I wobbled him. You have experts in the field come up to me and say, ‘Yeah man, I don’t know how you lost that one. You landed way more. The scorecards should say it.’ Anyways, I’m going to shut the f*ck up now. Get off my soapbox,” Strickland said (h/t MMAjunkie.com).
Despite the loss, Strickland is still one of the top-10 ranked middleweights in the UFC and he figures to draw a top-ranked opponent in his next fight. For Cannonier, meanwhile, the win over Strickland keeps him ranked in the top-five and another win could get him back in title contention.
Do you think Sean Strickland deserved to win the decision over Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 66?
