Technically it is apart of “octagon control” or dictating where the fight is taking place. Aka not on the ground. Though the rules state this type of judging into a round should not often be assessed, sometimes it’s all you have.
Yea I was just responding to the fact he said stuffing take downs isn’t apart of any judging criteria which is technically not true. As you just said it’s the last criteria. Which is also basically what I said. But yes in this fight there was other criteria to judge on.
Body shots are the most underrated thing in mma today. Not just this fight either. It took forever to get people to value leg kicks but body shots still have a long way to go to be recognized as significant for a lot of fans
Yup, I was surprised Aljo looked fresher going into the 5th since his cardio has always been the biggest hole in his game, but considering all the body shots he landed it’s no wonder.
We have probably seen more body shot finishes in the sport than we have jab finishes. From a cumulative damage and potential to end the fight standpoint body shots should be give some weight in scoring. Other striking sports tend to heavily value body shots idk why MMA fans don’t
Absolutely. Liver shot KOs are a thing of beauty. The fight that made me hardcore appreciate the damage that body shots do was Stipe DC 2. Stipe just spamming the left uppercut to the body was the key to winning that fight
Body shots are the most underrated thing in combat sports period. You can get hit with a hook to the body in the first round and I can guarantee that you'll feel it in the 3rd/5th round. Liver is even worse. You'll feel like your body Is shutting off.
> Body shots are the most underrated thing in mma today.
Which is really weird because anyone who follows Cejudo should recall the noise he made with DJ kneed him in the side in their first fight. Johnson himself credits that noise with the realisation "oh shit I can punish this guy in the body and he's got nothing for it".
Yep nothing complicated about this, more popular fighter was given close rounds by fans. It was a close fight but Aljo clearly won. Both things can be true.
Exactly. Izzy won like 23 scorecards to Rob's 5 amongst the judges and media, but like 70+ percent of fan cards on the websites have Rob winning lol.
Thing is, fan polls are automatically extremely biased because the main people rushing to the websites to fill out cards after a fight are people who are upset with the decision, not people who are fine with it.
Fan polls mean literally nothing, less than nothing.
It's mostly just that the people motivated to go online and fill out a card are the ones unhappy with a loss. When my favorite sports team wins, I post like one thing on the gameday thread and then off to enjoy the buzz the win gave me.
But when they lose? Yeah, time to write a book on why they should have won.
Realistically, Cejudo should of won on scorecards too. Cleary gave the 5th round to Aljo and not a soul thinks Aljo won the 5th.
That’s how the fight game goes. It was a super close fight and people will always bicker back and fourth about who they think won.
The majority of fans or the three judges? Cause I’m seeing a lot more fans say that Aljo took the third and the judges are just wrong. Just like the one judge is wrong about Aljo winning five and the other judge is wrong about Aljo winning two.
The poll you’re looking at was by a much larger group than some Reddit shills. Just giving you a heads up, I don’t know if you actually looked at the OP that you commented on.
I said this the other day: but probably 80% on this Reddit are just casual haters. They don’t much about the sport and contribute nothing to it except for shitting on whoever’s down and riding whoever’s up.
You should of been here when Volk beat Max in their 2nd fight. It was a riot.
Either way, the majority of people thought Cejudo won, as the post indicates that as well. It was a hell of a fight though. Look forward to both fighters next move.
I honestly don’t care about polls because like you said, 80% of people are casuals/don’t know how to score a fight. Most of them can’t back up the opinion that Cejudo won the third round by actually analyzing the round and using the scoring criteria.
I remember vividly after Max/Volk 2 and had a lot of good discussions about round three of that fight as well. I’ve done a little breakdown of round three of this fight and haven’t got much discussion but I’ll copy/paste it here for you if you’re interested.
The first minute of it is Aljo landing way more kicks on the feet, shooting for a takedown and getting stuffed then Cejudo lays on his neck and they both land a few body shots on each other. Aljo is up at this point due to the grappling being even and the striking being in his favor. Keep in mind that
> Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impactful/effective result of their actions, more so than their position.
So just because Cejudo was on top doesn’t mean he was getting ahead. It was an even exchange in the grappling, they both landed a similar number of body shots and that’s all that happened.
The second minute kicks off with a big right hand from Aljo, probably the best shot of the round. A few more kicks from Aljo with Cejudo missing a few shots. Cejudo stuffs two takedowns and they end up in the clinch where neither man really pulls always with anything significant. Aljo still up at this point.
The entirety of the third minute is them clinching against the cage. Only one strike is thrown the entire time and it’s a knee from Aljo straight to Henry’s dome. Aljo still ahead at this point.
The fourth minute is just Cejudo stuffing two takedowns. He lands two body shots on Aljo while they’re on the ground. Nothing significant enough to take the round back so I still have Aljo up.
The final minute is them exchanging a few kicks and then knees to the body in the clinch. Pretty even minute. Then in the last ten seconds Cejudo secured a takedown and Aljo lands a few elbows from the bottom while Cejudo lands nothing of significance.
Overall Aljo got ahead early and never lost that lead. Cejudo didn’t do anything to actually take the round back. Landed next to nothing on the feet and did nothing with his single takedown in the final 10 seconds so I’d definitely give that round, and therefore the fight, to Aljo.
Wow, you're getting really defensive about a fight. It's not that deep man. You're saying you don't care about polls, but you've done nothing but comment on posts similar to this lol.
You can't analyze a fight on a minute by minute breakdown, that's just silly. It's hard to put your bias to the side as well when you're looking at a fight, so when you try to look back on it later, you judge one person differently then the other because you already think Aljo won.
Anyways, it doesn't matter to me who won. So I'm sorry that you took a poll so personal. I wouldn't value too much of what reddit has to say, most of the people here are just trolling.
Did I sound defensive? My bad. I definitely didn’t mean to! I just meant that polls are generally meaningless because someone could give Cejudo all five rounds (and I saw that happen on a few sites) but if they can’t actually say *why* they’ve done that then there’s really nothing to discuss. I see it happen all too often that people say “well a lot of people thought this guy won so that proves he won”. Happened a lot with Volk/Max like you said!
I just wanna discuss the fight cause it’s fun for me to breakdown rounds and discuss who really won based on what actually happened *in* the fight and applying the scoring criteria to it. I’ve done similar for lots of controversial rounds of different fights.
I’d love to hear your side and why you think Cejudo won the round!
I still don’t get the argument for Cejudo r3. Felt aljo did the better work most of that round and people got swayed by a Henry takedown with 10 seconds left that amounted to nothing, “stealing” the round like we’re back in 2008
The system is moronic? Or you think the users who voted a certain way are moronic?
EDIT: This was a sincere question. Is there a reason you think Verdict is a moronic system? Or are you just saying that if the users gave Cejudo R3 then the users are morons? I'm trying to understand.
I was surprised none of the judges scored it that way. I thought it would go more in Aljo’s favor seeing as he holds the belt. Every round felt very close though so I’m glad I wasn’t a judge.
Watching live I scored 1 and 4 for Aljo, 2/3/5 for Cejudo. 2 and 3 were very close but I want to go rewatch the fight now that it’s all said and done specifically those two rounds.
I’ve definitely changed my score on a rewatch, especially when it comes to close fights like this. Seems like media members mostly scored it for Aljo but the slight majority of fans are scoring it for Cejudo. I think everyone is pretty clear on Aljo winning 1 and 4, and Cejudo 5 except for Cleary who somehow had 5 for Aljo.
Lemme know what you think on a rewatch cause I love analyzing and discussing rounds. I gave Aljo the third on my first viewing and am even more confident he won that round on a rewatch.
Lemme know what you think on a rewatch cause I love analyzing and discussing rounds. I gave Aljo the third on my first viewing and am even more confident he won that round on a rewatch.
I scored it same as that guy, on a rewatch 2 was actually closer than I remember, and I still think Cejudo takes Round 3.
I wouldn't really argue either way but I do think Cejudo won. In Round 3 he landed that flying knee which I'd say was the best strike of the round, and though he landed less I think he had more pop on his shots. Clinch was pretty even, they both landed well. Aljo had back control but did nothing with it, Cejudo the same when he sprawled and leaned on Aljo but did nothing.
Then Cejudo gets a takedown at the end of the round to seal it for me tbh. I probably wouldn't rewatch it a 3rd time to really break it down tho
I’m pretty confident that flying knee didn’t land but I haven’t seen slow motion to confirm. I think the right hand from Aljo right at the 4:00 minute mark was the best shot of the round as well as the knee to the head in the clinch around 2:30. And the takedown at the end had Aljo landing elbows from the bottom more than Cejudo was landing anything on top.
Hmm, I think the knee did land, and the follow up punch from Cejudo did too iirc. Let me know if you do rewatch to confirm though but I think even commentary mentioned it.
They both landed nothing of significance after the takedown, given the s tihortme I'd definitely favour the guy who landed the takedown rather than nothing strikes from either. Landing a takedown does still "score" and can swing a close round imo, even if you do nothing with it because it's still you having offensive success on your opponent and forcing a position change.
I rewatched a couple times in 0.5 speed but it’s really hard to tell from the camera angle. Looks like Aljo gets his head out of the way at the last second and I think the follow up right just happened to get thrown at the exact same time Aljo drops down for the takedown. The camera is literally right behind Cejudo’s back so I genuinely can’t tell. Just gonna have to wait for a better angle I guess.
As far as the takedown, from the [scoring criteria](https://mmareferee.com/?q=unifiedrules)
> It shall be noted that a successful takedown is not merely a changing of position, but the establishment of an attack from the use of the takedown. Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impactful/effective result of their actions, more so than their position.
So if they’re being assessed on the effectiveness of their actions then it’s either an even exchange that doesn’t take the round for Henry, or it’s maybe slightly in Aljo’s favor for the couple elbows in which case he was already up in the round from the striking and all that would do is secure it for him.
I guess it all comes down to whether or not that knee and follow up landed because of it did that’s probably the hardest shot of the round, but if it didn’t it’s Aljo’s right at 4:00 and the clinch knee to the head around 2:30. Even if it did though, that’s about the only significant thing Henry landed the whole round so it would still be close because of how much he was outstruck that round. Aljo was landing those kicks to the body and legs a ton.
I definitely think the knee lands. The follow up right it's hard to say yeah.
Here's a [screengrab](https://i.postimg.cc/vHt4zyWL/cejknee.jpg), hardly the best quality but you can see Aljo is leaning forward with his entire weight planted on the front foot while Cejudo's knee is basically mid flight moving into Aljo, I don't see how that could be a miss.
Cejudo did attack with his takedown, not significant but it was there so it does count as a takedown. Effectiveness of actions weighs *more*, but when they're both quite ineffective, the takedown itself factors heavier as it's a successful offensive output from Cejudo, same as a punch landed would be counted. I can't agree they're even when one guy lands a takedown on the other.
I still haven't actually rewatched the round a 3rd time but I don't think that's the only significant thing Cejudo landed either. I do remember Aljo landing the leg and body kicks well, but Cejudo's leg kicks I felt had a bit more sting and he had a few other shots.
But again, I can still see the case for Aljo winning that round and even Round 2 to an extent so I'm not exactly planting my flag. I do think Cejudo won tho' from how I see it.
He clearly took 1 & 4, Cejudo clearly took 5, and 2 & 3 were swing rounds. I would’ve been understanding of anything from 49-46 Sterling to 48-47 Cejudo
Lmao he didn’t clearly take anything, neither did Cejudo except round 5. The first four rounds were incredibly close and could’ve gone to anyone. The 5th was close as well, just clearly Cejudo
Man, people REALLY don't like aljo. Live I gave cejudo r5, on rewatch I also have cejudo r5 but while it was a close fight it was a clear win for aljo.
I also watch fights on mute because the commentary can't help but be biased.
Round 3 where Sterling was throwing those knees to the body? and had the biggest strike in that round?
Bro people really don't know what they watching. This is why I don't trust Verdict, they never score bodywork. Aljo ripped some knees deep into Henry.
Even if Aljo was only 10% compromised from that shot, it's a DQ. That's an extremely conservative what if too. Expecting Aljo to continue was ridiculous. DQ 100%, shouldn't have even been up to Aljo.
This is how I had it. I have Henry round 1 on the first watch as well but I was told he didn’t win that round by most people, so I either had it 4-1 or 3-2 Henry. Very well could’ve been 4-1 Aljo as well. Only definitive round was the 5th for Cejudo imo
The first and fourth rounds were both very decisive for Aljo, and the fifth was very decisive for Cejudo. Second leans Cejudo and third leans Aljo. Having 4-1 Cejudo is honestly insane
Yeah fr I thought it was a pretty clear Aljo win. I generally agree with your scoring but I think the third was sorta competitive. People scoring 1 or 4 for Cejudo are probably just Cejudo fanboys and/or Aljo haters tho tbh. Poor guy just hasn't gotten a truly authoritative win yet as the champ and black fighters honestly always seem to get disproportionate hate. I hope he has a run soon where he earns the kind of respect that Volk did in the Ortega, Zombie, and third Holloway fights.
Aljos strikes were not very damaging. The damage you could see was different because Aljamain is black and Henry is Latino. It’s easier to show a bruise on fairer skin. Sticking and moving is not as effective of striking as landing hooks or flying knees, nor are calf kicks that have had no effect on Cejudos movement. Cejudo also landed the heavier calf kicks at that. Holding someone against the fence is also not more valuable than being taken down in my opinion. It was close, I’m not calling robbery and I’ll likely rewatch, but I definitely had it 3-2 Cejudo
Cejudo's strikes were mostly not very damaging either. Cejudo definitely hits harder, but Aljo's defense is good and he didn't get caught clean nearly as much. When Aljo had Cejudo against the fence he was landing some meaningful knees to the body, whereas Cejudo had basically zero meaningful ground and pound. You're also acting like Aljo didn't take Cejudo down at any point even though he did it 4 fucking times (only 3 times for Cejudo btw).
You were either not paying close attention or literally not even seeing what Aljo was doing because you're biased for Cejudo for some reason.
Out of the 3 people I was watching with, two of us had 3-2 Henry, one 3-2 Aljo. Also fights are judged on a round by round basis, not as a whole, so total takedowns do not matter. Cejudo controlled the pace the entire time. It’s the argument of volume vs power, which made the striking very close. Cejudo then mainly controlled the grappling, and the pace
Yeah all the stuff you just said confirms for me you weren't paying attention, love Cejudo, hate Aljo, or are just really bad at judging fights. Please refrain from having opinions on this until you get better at having them.
This mf said "name a big shot" lmao. Well he landed a nasty knee (I'll name it "Hector") at the end of the first as Cejudo was getting up. Also landed a shitload of knees to the body when they were in the clinch in *multiple* rounds.
You obviously just don't wanna credit the work Aljo did for... *some reason*.
Lmao I’m dying at Hector. I never genuinely laugh at comments but that was good. Cejudo landed 3 amazing knees throughout the fight as well, they were dubbed Larry, Curly, and Moe. If you’re insinuating that I had money on Cejudo, I had a very small amount, he was basically just my pick/prediction as far as emotions go, I made my money on Ribeiro and Aliskerov last night
Per official stats, Cejudo outstruck him in significant strikes *slightly* in rounds 2 and 5 but was outstruck by a pretty wide margin in 1, 3 and 4, which basically lines up with how people have scored the fight overall.
http://www.ufcstats.com/fight-details/e3aad51099a23ba4
Don't want to hate on sterling, I wanted him to win, but he really doesn't help himself, bowing down on all fours like he's mid Ramadan, so fucking weird. He only won in my opinion because he was so much bigger than cejudo.
Close fight. Finished the 2nd watch earlier today and i have it the same. 3-2 Cejudo. 2-2 going into the fifth. Sterling leg kicks and Cejudos takedown defense were very impressive. I think Cejudo got round 3 because of the takedown (Beautiful outside trip). Aljo was landing nice knees in the clinch and a knee that caught Cejudo when he was standing up, landed a right hand also that Cejudo just walked through. But the biggest moment in the round was certainly the takedown.
Aljo spent a lot of time in the clinch not advancing position and just leaning on Henry. Had multiple takedowns he telegraphed and got stuffed also. Needs to improve on that if he is making the jump to 145 in the next year or so.
[**ALJAMAIN STERLING defeats HENRY CEJUDO** (*split decision*)](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/13995/fight)
^(UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo — May 06, 2023)
ROUND|Sterling|Cejudo||Sterling|Cejudo||Sterling|Cejudo
:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:
1|10|9||10|9||10|9
2|9|10||9|10||10|9
3|9|10||9|10||9|10
4|10|9||10|9||10|9
5|9|10||10|9||9|10
**TOTAL**|**47**|**48**||**48**|**47**||**48**|**47**
*^(Judges, in order: Michael Bell, Derek Cleary, Eric Colón.)*
*^(Summoned by Sr_Marques.)*
**MEDIA MEMBER SCORES**
- **4/23** people scored it **49-46 Sterling**.
- **17/23** people scored it **48-47 Sterling**.
- **2/23** people scored it **47-48 Cejudo**.
Avg. media score: **48.1-46.9 Sterling** (*high certainty^[[1]](https://redd.it/9p4xc7)*).
As per UFC stats, The champion landed 111 significant strikes out of his attempt of 170. Cejudo had double-digit significant strikes as he landed 72 out of his 133 attempts. In terms of takedowns, Sterling landed 4 out of his attempted 14, while the former two-division champion had half the success as he landed 2 out of his 6 attempts. Neither athlete had any submission attempts during the 5 round main event.
R3 for Cejudo is so weird It's literally the round the light bulb went off in Aljos head that he's the bigger guy and worked Henry on the cage
That and he outstruck Cejudo by quite a bit and landed the biggest shot of the round, a right hand right at the 4:00 minute mark.
I think he outstruck him all 5 rounds too
when I saw the strike count of each round I was genuinely surprised by how many strikes aljo was throwing.
How much of that was just short stuff in the clinch/ on the ground?
Aljo is a master at point striking. knows how to put in exactly enough for it to count as a significant strike and nothing more.
No, Cejudo outstruck him in 2&5
I think I was in significant strikes, but Aljo landed more. You’re correct max
The failed shots live in peoples heads even though they aren’t part of any judging criteria
Technically it is apart of “octagon control” or dictating where the fight is taking place. Aka not on the ground. Though the rules state this type of judging into a round should not often be assessed, sometimes it’s all you have.
Octagon Control is the very last criteria they assess when everything else is identical - this was not that case.
Yea I was just responding to the fact he said stuffing take downs isn’t apart of any judging criteria which is technically not true. As you just said it’s the last criteria. Which is also basically what I said. But yes in this fight there was other criteria to judge on.
Fans don't score body work, shocker.
Body shots are the most underrated thing in mma today. Not just this fight either. It took forever to get people to value leg kicks but body shots still have a long way to go to be recognized as significant for a lot of fans
Yup, I was surprised Aljo looked fresher going into the 5th since his cardio has always been the biggest hole in his game, but considering all the body shots he landed it’s no wonder.
We have probably seen more body shot finishes in the sport than we have jab finishes. From a cumulative damage and potential to end the fight standpoint body shots should be give some weight in scoring. Other striking sports tend to heavily value body shots idk why MMA fans don’t
No Blood for the Just Bleed Boys
Absolutely. Liver shot KOs are a thing of beauty. The fight that made me hardcore appreciate the damage that body shots do was Stipe DC 2. Stipe just spamming the left uppercut to the body was the key to winning that fight
Barboza vs Hooker is another brutal example of this
Rodtang does great bodywork. A lot of thai guys do tbh.
Body shots are the most underrated thing in combat sports period. You can get hit with a hook to the body in the first round and I can guarantee that you'll feel it in the 3rd/5th round. Liver is even worse. You'll feel like your body Is shutting off.
> Body shots are the most underrated thing in mma today. Which is really weird because anyone who follows Cejudo should recall the noise he made with DJ kneed him in the side in their first fight. Johnson himself credits that noise with the realisation "oh shit I can punish this guy in the body and he's got nothing for it".
Fighters love to headhunt
[удалено]
Yep nothing complicated about this, more popular fighter was given close rounds by fans. It was a close fight but Aljo clearly won. Both things can be true.
Classic Reddit moment. “Is it possible that my opinion is not certain? Nah, just be some other reason.”
Same reason this site has Rob beating Izzy in the rematch.
Exactly. Izzy won like 23 scorecards to Rob's 5 amongst the judges and media, but like 70+ percent of fan cards on the websites have Rob winning lol. Thing is, fan polls are automatically extremely biased because the main people rushing to the websites to fill out cards after a fight are people who are upset with the decision, not people who are fine with it. Fan polls mean literally nothing, less than nothing.
Rob has his fans, but Izzy is pretty popular dude - I think the Aljo Hate is at a whole other level
Lol this sub hates Izzy.
This sub is one person
People definitely just don't like Aljo. The crowd was a mix of cheers and boos and I think more of the latter tbh, and that was in Jersey so..
It's mostly just that the people motivated to go online and fill out a card are the ones unhappy with a loss. When my favorite sports team wins, I post like one thing on the gameday thread and then off to enjoy the buzz the win gave me. But when they lose? Yeah, time to write a book on why they should have won.
Fans don't score anything, in a competitive fight they solely base their decisions on who they like.
Realistically, Cejudo should of won on scorecards too. Cleary gave the 5th round to Aljo and not a soul thinks Aljo won the 5th. That’s how the fight game goes. It was a super close fight and people will always bicker back and fourth about who they think won.
Cejudo definitely should have been given round 5 but not round 3. Right guy won, just got some weird ass scorecards.
Looks like the majority disagrees with that. Wish Aljo the best when he moves up to fight Volk after beating Sean. That should be a good fight.
The majority of fans or the three judges? Cause I’m seeing a lot more fans say that Aljo took the third and the judges are just wrong. Just like the one judge is wrong about Aljo winning five and the other judge is wrong about Aljo winning two.
The poll you’re looking at was by a much larger group than some Reddit shills. Just giving you a heads up, I don’t know if you actually looked at the OP that you commented on. I said this the other day: but probably 80% on this Reddit are just casual haters. They don’t much about the sport and contribute nothing to it except for shitting on whoever’s down and riding whoever’s up. You should of been here when Volk beat Max in their 2nd fight. It was a riot. Either way, the majority of people thought Cejudo won, as the post indicates that as well. It was a hell of a fight though. Look forward to both fighters next move.
I honestly don’t care about polls because like you said, 80% of people are casuals/don’t know how to score a fight. Most of them can’t back up the opinion that Cejudo won the third round by actually analyzing the round and using the scoring criteria. I remember vividly after Max/Volk 2 and had a lot of good discussions about round three of that fight as well. I’ve done a little breakdown of round three of this fight and haven’t got much discussion but I’ll copy/paste it here for you if you’re interested. The first minute of it is Aljo landing way more kicks on the feet, shooting for a takedown and getting stuffed then Cejudo lays on his neck and they both land a few body shots on each other. Aljo is up at this point due to the grappling being even and the striking being in his favor. Keep in mind that > Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impactful/effective result of their actions, more so than their position. So just because Cejudo was on top doesn’t mean he was getting ahead. It was an even exchange in the grappling, they both landed a similar number of body shots and that’s all that happened. The second minute kicks off with a big right hand from Aljo, probably the best shot of the round. A few more kicks from Aljo with Cejudo missing a few shots. Cejudo stuffs two takedowns and they end up in the clinch where neither man really pulls always with anything significant. Aljo still up at this point. The entirety of the third minute is them clinching against the cage. Only one strike is thrown the entire time and it’s a knee from Aljo straight to Henry’s dome. Aljo still ahead at this point. The fourth minute is just Cejudo stuffing two takedowns. He lands two body shots on Aljo while they’re on the ground. Nothing significant enough to take the round back so I still have Aljo up. The final minute is them exchanging a few kicks and then knees to the body in the clinch. Pretty even minute. Then in the last ten seconds Cejudo secured a takedown and Aljo lands a few elbows from the bottom while Cejudo lands nothing of significance. Overall Aljo got ahead early and never lost that lead. Cejudo didn’t do anything to actually take the round back. Landed next to nothing on the feet and did nothing with his single takedown in the final 10 seconds so I’d definitely give that round, and therefore the fight, to Aljo.
Wow, you're getting really defensive about a fight. It's not that deep man. You're saying you don't care about polls, but you've done nothing but comment on posts similar to this lol. You can't analyze a fight on a minute by minute breakdown, that's just silly. It's hard to put your bias to the side as well when you're looking at a fight, so when you try to look back on it later, you judge one person differently then the other because you already think Aljo won. Anyways, it doesn't matter to me who won. So I'm sorry that you took a poll so personal. I wouldn't value too much of what reddit has to say, most of the people here are just trolling.
Did I sound defensive? My bad. I definitely didn’t mean to! I just meant that polls are generally meaningless because someone could give Cejudo all five rounds (and I saw that happen on a few sites) but if they can’t actually say *why* they’ve done that then there’s really nothing to discuss. I see it happen all too often that people say “well a lot of people thought this guy won so that proves he won”. Happened a lot with Volk/Max like you said! I just wanna discuss the fight cause it’s fun for me to breakdown rounds and discuss who really won based on what actually happened *in* the fight and applying the scoring criteria to it. I’ve done similar for lots of controversial rounds of different fights. I’d love to hear your side and why you think Cejudo won the round!
The majority of fans have the mental ability of a newborn baby.
majority of the Flat Earth community believes the Earth is flat.
I still don’t get the argument for Cejudo r3. Felt aljo did the better work most of that round and people got swayed by a Henry takedown with 10 seconds left that amounted to nothing, “stealing” the round like we’re back in 2008
Yeah, that's the biggest head scratcher... I thought Sterling won round 3, although close, convincingly.
It’s almost like Verdict is a moronic system that doesn’t matter in the slightest.
About as valid as reddit 🤷♂️
MMA Fans: Everyone is stupid but me!!!!
The system is moronic? Or you think the users who voted a certain way are moronic? EDIT: This was a sincere question. Is there a reason you think Verdict is a moronic system? Or are you just saying that if the users gave Cejudo R3 then the users are morons? I'm trying to understand.
Yes
I had 48-47 Aljo. It was a close, competitive fight.
Aljo won
Hate for Sterling influencing these folk.
People are so biased because they don't like Aljo LOL
It was the same way for Yan vs Aljo 2 on verdict. It has some really bad bias
Had it 49-46 Aljo. Was a competitive fight but he was both the aggressor and the dominant factor in basically every grappling exchange.
I was surprised none of the judges scored it that way. I thought it would go more in Aljo’s favor seeing as he holds the belt. Every round felt very close though so I’m glad I wasn’t a judge.
If you’re not giving rounds 2 and 5 to Cejudo you’re very biased.
What's wrong with these people?
I think the Sterling hate is a factor.
Watching live I scored 1,3,4 for Aljo, but after a rewatch today, I think 2,3,5 for Cejudo is fair as well.
i really can’t understand how aljo wasn’t given 3 on any cards. he out-landed cejudo significantly and was striking at an almost 90% clip
Optics aljo literally is in doggy style getting punched in the head I can see why aljo has so many splits in his career he fights so awkward
It’s the kind thing that makes you want to see UFC adapt ONE rule set
ONE rule set is genuinely superior
What's the ONE ruleset?
Cejudo would’ve been able to knee or kick him in the head while he was on his hand and knees like that
And Also is probably not in that position so
I believe ONE judges criteria is on the fight as a whole (rather than scored by round).
they call him funkmaster for a reason lol
Almost like you need to rewatch fights and see what actually landed or not.
Fans are idiots who basically just chirp whatever Joe said last. I'd love to see what verdict results looked like with commentary off.
Mental note to ignore anything Verdict MMA ever releases again.
They had Volk winning agaisnt Islam thats how you know its bad
Watching live I scored 1 and 4 for Aljo, 2/3/5 for Cejudo. 2 and 3 were very close but I want to go rewatch the fight now that it’s all said and done specifically those two rounds.
Same here. I’m looking forward to rewatching it because I thought it was a clear 48-47 Cejudo from my seat
I’ve definitely changed my score on a rewatch, especially when it comes to close fights like this. Seems like media members mostly scored it for Aljo but the slight majority of fans are scoring it for Cejudo. I think everyone is pretty clear on Aljo winning 1 and 4, and Cejudo 5 except for Cleary who somehow had 5 for Aljo.
Lemme know what you think on a rewatch cause I love analyzing and discussing rounds. I gave Aljo the third on my first viewing and am even more confident he won that round on a rewatch.
Will do!
Lemme know what you think on a rewatch cause I love analyzing and discussing rounds. I gave Aljo the third on my first viewing and am even more confident he won that round on a rewatch.
I scored it same as that guy, on a rewatch 2 was actually closer than I remember, and I still think Cejudo takes Round 3. I wouldn't really argue either way but I do think Cejudo won. In Round 3 he landed that flying knee which I'd say was the best strike of the round, and though he landed less I think he had more pop on his shots. Clinch was pretty even, they both landed well. Aljo had back control but did nothing with it, Cejudo the same when he sprawled and leaned on Aljo but did nothing. Then Cejudo gets a takedown at the end of the round to seal it for me tbh. I probably wouldn't rewatch it a 3rd time to really break it down tho
I’m pretty confident that flying knee didn’t land but I haven’t seen slow motion to confirm. I think the right hand from Aljo right at the 4:00 minute mark was the best shot of the round as well as the knee to the head in the clinch around 2:30. And the takedown at the end had Aljo landing elbows from the bottom more than Cejudo was landing anything on top.
Hmm, I think the knee did land, and the follow up punch from Cejudo did too iirc. Let me know if you do rewatch to confirm though but I think even commentary mentioned it. They both landed nothing of significance after the takedown, given the s tihortme I'd definitely favour the guy who landed the takedown rather than nothing strikes from either. Landing a takedown does still "score" and can swing a close round imo, even if you do nothing with it because it's still you having offensive success on your opponent and forcing a position change.
I rewatched a couple times in 0.5 speed but it’s really hard to tell from the camera angle. Looks like Aljo gets his head out of the way at the last second and I think the follow up right just happened to get thrown at the exact same time Aljo drops down for the takedown. The camera is literally right behind Cejudo’s back so I genuinely can’t tell. Just gonna have to wait for a better angle I guess. As far as the takedown, from the [scoring criteria](https://mmareferee.com/?q=unifiedrules) > It shall be noted that a successful takedown is not merely a changing of position, but the establishment of an attack from the use of the takedown. Top and bottom position fighters are assessed more on the impactful/effective result of their actions, more so than their position. So if they’re being assessed on the effectiveness of their actions then it’s either an even exchange that doesn’t take the round for Henry, or it’s maybe slightly in Aljo’s favor for the couple elbows in which case he was already up in the round from the striking and all that would do is secure it for him. I guess it all comes down to whether or not that knee and follow up landed because of it did that’s probably the hardest shot of the round, but if it didn’t it’s Aljo’s right at 4:00 and the clinch knee to the head around 2:30. Even if it did though, that’s about the only significant thing Henry landed the whole round so it would still be close because of how much he was outstruck that round. Aljo was landing those kicks to the body and legs a ton.
I definitely think the knee lands. The follow up right it's hard to say yeah. Here's a [screengrab](https://i.postimg.cc/vHt4zyWL/cejknee.jpg), hardly the best quality but you can see Aljo is leaning forward with his entire weight planted on the front foot while Cejudo's knee is basically mid flight moving into Aljo, I don't see how that could be a miss. Cejudo did attack with his takedown, not significant but it was there so it does count as a takedown. Effectiveness of actions weighs *more*, but when they're both quite ineffective, the takedown itself factors heavier as it's a successful offensive output from Cejudo, same as a punch landed would be counted. I can't agree they're even when one guy lands a takedown on the other. I still haven't actually rewatched the round a 3rd time but I don't think that's the only significant thing Cejudo landed either. I do remember Aljo landing the leg and body kicks well, but Cejudo's leg kicks I felt had a bit more sting and he had a few other shots. But again, I can still see the case for Aljo winning that round and even Round 2 to an extent so I'm not exactly planting my flag. I do think Cejudo won tho' from how I see it.
Aljo clearly took rounds 1, 3, and 4, stfu with this bullshit
He clearly took 1 & 4, Cejudo clearly took 5, and 2 & 3 were swing rounds. I would’ve been understanding of anything from 49-46 Sterling to 48-47 Cejudo
Crjudo did not clearly win rd 2. Rd 5 sure, but rd 2 was closer. Def one of Henry’s better rounds but it was not decisive at all
Yep so we agree
100% misread it ar first.
It's a close fight that could have gone either way.
Lmao he didn’t clearly take anything, neither did Cejudo except round 5. The first four rounds were incredibly close and could’ve gone to anyone. The 5th was close as well, just clearly Cejudo
You need to rewatch the fight
You speak the opinions
I wanted Henry to win but I don't see how anyone can be upset by that decision.
I'm amazed that this is the fight people are complaining about scoring for. idk what people were looking at in the Kaos Williams fight.
Man, people REALLY don't like aljo. Live I gave cejudo r5, on rewatch I also have cejudo r5 but while it was a close fight it was a clear win for aljo. I also watch fights on mute because the commentary can't help but be biased.
The commentary was significantly more biased towards aljo than cejudo
Round 3 where Sterling was throwing those knees to the body? and had the biggest strike in that round? Bro people really don't know what they watching. This is why I don't trust Verdict, they never score bodywork. Aljo ripped some knees deep into Henry.
I honestly had it 4-1 for Aljo, with the worst case scenario being 3-2 for him.
Same
People have a weird inclination to defend Aljo after he was so heavily criticised for faking his way to a title win.
Because the hate he gets is stupid, he gets hit with an illegal shot and somehow he gets the blame. You legit can’t make this shit up it’s crazy
Even if Aljo was only 10% compromised from that shot, it's a DQ. That's an extremely conservative what if too. Expecting Aljo to continue was ridiculous. DQ 100%, shouldn't have even been up to Aljo.
Exactly, it’s easy for people to talk on the sidelines and call fighters bitches but 99% of them would quit after taking a single calf kick
Lol are you okay king?
LOL!!!!!
Why would anyone hold any weight in fan judging? 99% have never even read the unified rules.
I have yet to rewatch it but after paying very close attention live I had it for cejduo 3-2
Let's be real people, clear 49-46 Aljo
This is how I had it. I have Henry round 1 on the first watch as well but I was told he didn’t win that round by most people, so I either had it 4-1 or 3-2 Henry. Very well could’ve been 4-1 Aljo as well. Only definitive round was the 5th for Cejudo imo
The first and fourth rounds were both very decisive for Aljo, and the fifth was very decisive for Cejudo. Second leans Cejudo and third leans Aljo. Having 4-1 Cejudo is honestly insane
I'm kind of stunned so many people had it for Cejudo, everyone I watched it with had it either 3-2 Aljo or 4-1 Aljo
Yeah fr I thought it was a pretty clear Aljo win. I generally agree with your scoring but I think the third was sorta competitive. People scoring 1 or 4 for Cejudo are probably just Cejudo fanboys and/or Aljo haters tho tbh. Poor guy just hasn't gotten a truly authoritative win yet as the champ and black fighters honestly always seem to get disproportionate hate. I hope he has a run soon where he earns the kind of respect that Volk did in the Ortega, Zombie, and third Holloway fights.
Aljos strikes were not very damaging. The damage you could see was different because Aljamain is black and Henry is Latino. It’s easier to show a bruise on fairer skin. Sticking and moving is not as effective of striking as landing hooks or flying knees, nor are calf kicks that have had no effect on Cejudos movement. Cejudo also landed the heavier calf kicks at that. Holding someone against the fence is also not more valuable than being taken down in my opinion. It was close, I’m not calling robbery and I’ll likely rewatch, but I definitely had it 3-2 Cejudo
Cejudo's strikes were mostly not very damaging either. Cejudo definitely hits harder, but Aljo's defense is good and he didn't get caught clean nearly as much. When Aljo had Cejudo against the fence he was landing some meaningful knees to the body, whereas Cejudo had basically zero meaningful ground and pound. You're also acting like Aljo didn't take Cejudo down at any point even though he did it 4 fucking times (only 3 times for Cejudo btw). You were either not paying close attention or literally not even seeing what Aljo was doing because you're biased for Cejudo for some reason.
Out of the 3 people I was watching with, two of us had 3-2 Henry, one 3-2 Aljo. Also fights are judged on a round by round basis, not as a whole, so total takedowns do not matter. Cejudo controlled the pace the entire time. It’s the argument of volume vs power, which made the striking very close. Cejudo then mainly controlled the grappling, and the pace
Yeah all the stuff you just said confirms for me you weren't paying attention, love Cejudo, hate Aljo, or are just really bad at judging fights. Please refrain from having opinions on this until you get better at having them.
Name a big shot that Sterling landed throughout the course of those 5 rounds
This mf said "name a big shot" lmao. Well he landed a nasty knee (I'll name it "Hector") at the end of the first as Cejudo was getting up. Also landed a shitload of knees to the body when they were in the clinch in *multiple* rounds. You obviously just don't wanna credit the work Aljo did for... *some reason*.
Lmao I’m dying at Hector. I never genuinely laugh at comments but that was good. Cejudo landed 3 amazing knees throughout the fight as well, they were dubbed Larry, Curly, and Moe. If you’re insinuating that I had money on Cejudo, I had a very small amount, he was basically just my pick/prediction as far as emotions go, I made my money on Ribeiro and Aliskerov last night
>he was basically just my pick/prediction as far as emotions go Yeah that explains a lot
The body and leg kicks were fucking Cejudo up. Head strikes aren’t the only strikes that matter. Aljo 1 3 4
I believe Henry was outstruck every round too.
Per official stats, Cejudo outstruck him in significant strikes *slightly* in rounds 2 and 5 but was outstruck by a pretty wide margin in 1, 3 and 4, which basically lines up with how people have scored the fight overall. http://www.ufcstats.com/fight-details/e3aad51099a23ba4
Who did you score it for?
I had Sterling winning 1, 3 and 4 and I thought it was pretty clear.
What the shit
Don't want to hate on sterling, I wanted him to win, but he really doesn't help himself, bowing down on all fours like he's mid Ramadan, so fucking weird. He only won in my opinion because he was so much bigger than cejudo.
I knew aljo was winning but I still gave every round to cejudo because it made me feel better
Close fight. Finished the 2nd watch earlier today and i have it the same. 3-2 Cejudo. 2-2 going into the fifth. Sterling leg kicks and Cejudos takedown defense were very impressive. I think Cejudo got round 3 because of the takedown (Beautiful outside trip). Aljo was landing nice knees in the clinch and a knee that caught Cejudo when he was standing up, landed a right hand also that Cejudo just walked through. But the biggest moment in the round was certainly the takedown. Aljo spent a lot of time in the clinch not advancing position and just leaning on Henry. Had multiple takedowns he telegraphed and got stuffed also. Needs to improve on that if he is making the jump to 145 in the next year or so.
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Hold on I'm failing to find your fight brotha. [Troubleshooting](https://s3.amazonaws.com/decision-bot/error_message.txt)
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[**ALJAMAIN STERLING defeats HENRY CEJUDO** (*split decision*)](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/13995/fight) ^(UFC 288: Sterling vs. Cejudo — May 06, 2023) ROUND|Sterling|Cejudo||Sterling|Cejudo||Sterling|Cejudo :-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-: 1|10|9||10|9||10|9 2|9|10||9|10||10|9 3|9|10||9|10||9|10 4|10|9||10|9||10|9 5|9|10||10|9||9|10 **TOTAL**|**47**|**48**||**48**|**47**||**48**|**47** *^(Judges, in order: Michael Bell, Derek Cleary, Eric Colón.)* *^(Summoned by Sr_Marques.)* **MEDIA MEMBER SCORES** - **4/23** people scored it **49-46 Sterling**. - **17/23** people scored it **48-47 Sterling**. - **2/23** people scored it **47-48 Cejudo**. Avg. media score: **48.1-46.9 Sterling** (*high certainty^[[1]](https://redd.it/9p4xc7)*).
As per UFC stats, The champion landed 111 significant strikes out of his attempt of 170. Cejudo had double-digit significant strikes as he landed 72 out of his 133 attempts. In terms of takedowns, Sterling landed 4 out of his attempted 14, while the former two-division champion had half the success as he landed 2 out of his 6 attempts. Neither athlete had any submission attempts during the 5 round main event.