Though most observers felt differently, neither Dana White nor
Paddy
Pimblett thought Jared
Gordon was robbed at
UFC 282.
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Pimblett remained unbeaten in the Octagon on Saturday night, taking
a contentious unanimous verdict over Gordon in the evening’s
co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with judges
Douglas Crosby, Chris Lee and Ron McCarthy all submitting 29-28
tallies for the former Cage Warriors champion. The general
consensus in the MMA community after the fact was that Gordon was
the victim of some bad scorecards.
Not so, says the UFC president.
“Gordon had a horrible game plan going into that third round,”
White said at the UFC 282 post-fight press conference. “You think
you won the first two rounds with the judges? How do you know that?
Why go in there and throw away the third round and not go in and
fight your ass off and try to win.
“If you think you know who won what round or whatever, you’re
crazy. I’ve been doing this for 23 years. I have no f—ing idea
what those guys are going to do or what they’re going to say.”
Gordon took the fight to Pimblett from the outset, as he landed
multiple left hooks and low kicks while controlling the action in
the clinch. The action slowed in the third period, when Gordon
spent much of the frame pushing Pimblett against the fence to rack
up nearly four minutes of control time.
White wouldn’t reveal who he felt won the lightweight fight.
Instead, he continued to criticize Gordon’s approach while also
blaming referee Herb Dean for
not separating the combatants in Round 3.
“He felt that he had the first two rounds and he went in and pushed
him against the fence and I’ve got to go after the ref, too,” White
said. “A big fight, co-main event, third round, crowd’s going
crazy, you’re going to let them stand against the fence the entire
fight?
“But these are the things that happen. What are you going to do?
Horrible game plan by Gordon. The ref let it happen and he threw
the fight away.”
Not surprisingly, the outspoken Pimblett, who has become one of the
promotion’s more marketable stars in 2022, believed he did more
than enough to get the nod. To be fair, he did have his moments,
particularly when landing offense at distance. All told, Pimblett
held a 63-to-58 edge in significant strikes landed, while Gordon
had a 100-to-97 advantage in total strikes.
“I knew I’d won the first two,” Pimblett said. “When I looked at
the stats after the fight, I think I won all three. In the cage I
thought that he won the third. …But then after looking back at the
stats – four significant strikes [landed by Gordon] – control time
doesn’t mean jack s—t anymore.”
Paddy “The Baddy” attributed much of the robbery discussion after
the fight to his status as a high-profile figure in the UFC.
“I’m bit annoyed after people saying they thought I lost,” Pimblett
said during the UFC 282 post-fight show. “I’m pretty annoyed, to be
honest. But I’m 4-0 in the UFC – haters going to hate, you’ve got
to get on with it.”
On the other side of the coin is Gordon, who while much less
celebrated than his opponent, entered UFC 282 having won four of
his five previous appearances. It’s pretty clear how the Renzo Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu representative felt after the verdict was revealed.
“I was robbed everyone knows it,” Gordon wrote on Twitter. “I can
cry about it but I been back from worst and God’s plan is the best
plan so I know there’s something big to come from it.”
I was robbed everyone knows it i… I can cry
about it but I been back from worst and gods plan is the best plan
so I know there’s something big to come from it— Jared Gordon (@JFlashGordonMMA)
December 11, 2022