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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Farah Hannoun

Jackson Wink MMA condemns judging after Holly Holm loss: ‘The legitimacy of this sport is at question!’

Jackson Wink MMA, the home gym of former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm, doesn’t agree with her split decision loss to Ketlen Vieira and has let it be known.

Holm (14-6 MMA, 7-6 UFC) was edged out by Vieira (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 206 main event, a decision that has sparked outrage and opinions on what the judges’ criteria for scoring actually is. All three judges agreed on the scoring of every round except the deciding third, which two judges gave to Vieira.

For that, Jackson Wink has issued a statement on Instagram calling for the judges to face consequences and questioning the validity of judging in general.

“Judges need to be held accountable for making mistakes, just like everyone else is held accountable, penalized, and punished for wrong doings,” Jackson Wink said. “… Judges are not above everyone else… Why are their decisions so untouchable and are never overturned? If this is not fixed, the legitimacy of this sport is at question! PS: What’s the point of counting strikes if they don’t mean anything and judges don’t even look at the stats. What do they go by?”

The likes of Daniel Cormier and John McCarthy scored the fight in favor of Holm, who outstruck Vieira – but not by as much as was originally reported unofficially.

After scoring back-to-back wins over ranked contenders Raquel Pennington and Irene Aldana, the loss to Vieira snapped Holm’s two-fight winning streak and seemingly thwarts the 40-year-old’s pre-fight aspirations of reclaiming the bantamweight title anytime soon.

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