Mike Pierce punches Carlos Eduardo Rocha in a Welterweight bout during the UFC on FX 3 event at Bank Atlantic Center on June 8, 2012 in Sunrise, Florida – Photo by Josh Hedges via UFC.com
Last Friday night, you were probably left scratching your head when the judges awarded UFC welterweight Mike Pierce a split decision win over Carlos Eduardo Rocha by scores of 30-27, 27-30 and 30-27 as part of the main card for UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall.
I myself, admittedly wasn’t paying that close attention to the fight, so I thought maybe one judge was really into Jiu-Jitsu and scored it for Rocha for his submission attempts. Or maybe that one judge had just screwed it up.
It should have been obvious that it would have been the latter after all the refereeing and judging gaffs at the Sunrise, Florida event.
Pierce had in fact won the match by scores of 30-27 across the board with judge Ric Bays, of the Florida Boxing Commission, scoring the fight incorrectly for Rocha.
On Wednesday, Pierce sent an email to MMAjunkie.com about the scoring mistake.
“When they read 30-27 for Rocha, I was like, ‘What the (expletive)? Great, here we go again.’”
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“So he scored it for the wrong corner – is that supposed to make me feel better?” Pierce said. “Look, these guys are supposed to be professionals like me. Maybe I hold myself to a higher standard, but if all I had to do was keep track of who’s winning a round every five minutes, it would be an easy day at the office. I don’t know what’s worse: Scoring it for Rocha 30-27, or saying he accidentally put the scores down wrong on the card. Come on, pal – you only have two options: red or blue. Bruce Buffer even starts out by introducing us from the red or blue corners. I’m pretty sure my girlfriend’s 12-year-old couldn’t even (expletive) that up. It seriously makes you wonder where the hell they get these people.”
If the split decision had stood versus Rocha, it would have marked the fourth straight result for Pierce who has gone 2-2 in those matches. The win over Rocha allowed Pierce to bounce back from a loss to Josh Koscheck last February at UFC 143.