Modestas Bukauskas has issued a statement in response to the significant criticism surrounding his debated split decision victory at UFC 315.
While the UFC 315 event featured major title fights, the undercard included a light heavyweight bout that concluded with a split decision scoreline causing widespread confusion among viewers and analysts.
In this contested match, former Cage Warriors champion Modestas Bukauskas faced off against experienced UFC fighter Ion Cutelaba. The fight lasted the scheduled 15 minutes without either competitor securing a finish.
Although Cutelaba didn`t land a high volume of significant strikes, he was statistically more active throughout the fight, throwing nearly 100 more total strikes than Bukauskas. Bukauskas appeared hesitant to engage effectively until the final round.
Upon going to the judges` scorecards, Bukauskas was declared the winner via split decision. One judge controversially scored all three rounds for Bukauskas, while another saw rounds two and three in favor of `The Baltic Gladiator`.
From the commentary booth, UFC analyst Daniel Cormier labeled the official scorecards as `trash`. This sentiment was widely shared across the mixed martial arts community, with many branding the decision a `robbery` and arguing that Cutelaba had clearly won the initial two rounds.
Bukauskas Responds to `Robbery` Claims
Following the event, Bukauskas took to social media to address the wave of negative comments from commentators like Cormier and Dominick Cruz, as well as fans.
Writing on Instagram, Bukauskas stated:
“Robbery? It may not have been my best performance. But I still feel I WON that fight.
“We had some great exchanges, and I definitely landed more cleanly.
“Whatever the opinion, it was a good fight between 2 high level competitors. Onwards we go. Gonna learn, improve, get better and perform better next time.”
Another Controversial Scorecard from the Same Judge
Adding to the night`s judging controversies, another split decision on the UFC 315 card, Aiemann Zahabi`s win against veteran Jose Aldo, also received considerable criticism.
Jose Aldo started strong in the first round and had a competitive second round, where Zahabi outlanded him by just a single strike. However, in the third round, Aldo dropped Zahabi twice and came close to a knockout finish with strikes, before Zahabi managed to secure a near-finish attempt on the ground in the final two and a half minutes.
Notably, Judge Pasquale Procopio, who scored the Bukauskas-Cutelaba fight 30-27 for Bukauskas, also scored rounds two and three for Zahabi in the contentious bout against Aldo.
Online polls on MMA Decisions reflect the widespread disagreement, with over 75% of fan votes indicating they disagreed with the official results for both the Aldo vs. Zahabi and Cutelaba vs. Bukauskas fights.
