Irene Aldana disagrees with her split decision loss to Katlyn Chookagian.
Aldana and Chookagian went one-on-one inside the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York on the preliminary portion of UFC 210. The fight went the distance with one judge giving Aldana a 29-28 score. The other two judges saw it 29-28 for Chookagian.
Speaking with MMAFighting.com, Aldana said she processed the fight in her head and believes her hand should’ve been raised:
“I analyzed it, and it was a very good fight, but I believe I won that. I know it was a competitive bout, but I thought I won. Many of her strikes were hitting air. When we were in the back warming up before the fight, the referee [Todd Anderson] came up to us and explained the rules to us. When he explained the rules, he said that damage and the effectiveness of the strikes were going to count more than the striking volume.”
Aldana said that during the fight, she wanted her strikes to be more effective causing her not to throw as much.
“So after he said that, we went by that, and that’s why I didn’t focus on throwing too many strikes. I focused more on actually connecting them. I saw myself fighting more offensive, moving forward more, putting the pressure, and connecting the better shots of the fight. So yeah, it was very disappointing, but things happen. I’m someone that doesn’t like to leave it in the hands of the judges. I’m someone that likes to finish fights, and that was my intention in this bout, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get it done. It’s one more experience in the books, one more lesson learned, and next time, I’ll try my hardest to not leave it in the hands of the judges.”
