Former referee and Bellator color commentator “Big” John McCarthy doesn’t agree with the judges who scored Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway II.
Much has been made over the co-main event of UFC 251. Volkanovski put the UFC featherweight championship on the line against Holloway in a rematch. “The Great” defeated “Blessed” to capture the gold back in Dec. 2019. In the rematch, Volkanovski took home the split nod. Many felt Holloway did enough to take the decision and McCarthy is of that belief.
‘Big’ John Talks Volkanovski-Holloway 2 Judges
During an edition of the Weighing In podcast, McCarthy said there was a serious problem with judging at UFC 251 (h/t BJPenn.com).
“Max Holloway got — I don’t want to say robbed — but he got jobbed because he definitely won that fight,” McCarthy said.
“There are certain people that were — this is where I have a problem — the UFC is responsible for the people who are their officials there. This isn’t the British MMA council who is doing the inspector job and things, it’s the UFC. You picked some really bad people to be your judges because they do not have the levels that it takes to be in the position that they are and judge the fight. Because the Volkanovski fight was not that hard of a fight to judge,” continued McCarthy.
With the loss, Holloway may find himself at the back of the line in the featherweight title picture. Volkanovski could be looking at a potential matchup with the winner of Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez. One can’t rule out bouts with the “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Brian Ortega either.
Holloway’s pro MMA record drops to 22-6. UFC president Dana White said he believes “Blessed” deserved the nod over Volkanovski. Whether or not this will lead to a third bout despite Holloway going 0-2 against “The Great” remains to be seen.
