The right fighter got his hand raised in the UFC Sacramento main event Saturday. There's little evidence to dispute that.
Gregory Rodrigues (20-6 MMA, 11-3 UFC) largely was counted out of having a shot to beat Anthony Hernandez (15-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 285 headliner at Golden1 Center in California if he had to go the distance. He'd never been out of the fourth round before.
But the Brazilian went on the road, as the underdog, into Hernandez's home turf – and kept "Fluffy" frustrated most of the 25 minutes with stellar takedown defense, a consistent leg kick that hurt Hernandez's lead leg early, and steady jab work that busted him up.
Rodrigues took a unanimous decision with a pair of 48-47 scores and one 49-46. But it was the appearance of two 48-47s that had some observers wondering how the math worked. The consensus was that Rodrigues definitely lost the third round, when Hernandez rallied and threatened submissions, but that he appeared to have won the other four thanks to his striking and takedown defense.
Further, there was an argument to be made that Rodrigues' second round might have warranted a 10-8 score.
The rounds that differed with the judges were the first and fifth. Ron McCarthy scored the opening frame for Hernandez, and Derek Cleary gave Hernandez the fifth. Do you find a path to a 48-47 loss for Hernandez, or should it have been 49-46 across the board? Or even 49-45, with a 10-8?
Sound off in our poll below, and don't miss the full fight replay above.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Rewatch Rodrigues-Hernandez: How did you score the UFC Sacramento main event?
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