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Fans of the sport have had enough of MMA judge Doug Crosby, and one filed a complaint in Nevada against him following UFC 282 weekend.

Commission judges are usually insulated from any criticism or consequences for the terrible scorecards they deliver in combat sports events, but the heat is starting to turn up for Doug Crosby, who was involved in several questionable decision over the past weekend.

Crosby kicked things off on Friday night by scoring the Sabatello vs. Stots Bellator interim title fight 50-45 for Sabatello, with the other two judges awarding it to Stots with 48-47 scores. Then he flew from Connecticut to Nevada to judge UFC 282, awarding Paddy Pimblett a 29-28 win over Jared Gordon.

The Mohegan Athletic Department which oversaw the Bellator event issued a statement regarding the Sabatello vs. Stots, saying they had ‘informed all three judges we will be reviewing the fight together’ and that sanctions have been levied in the past against officials ‘not performing to the level that is required.’

Now Crosby is also on the radar with the Nevada Athletic Commission. During the latest commission meeting, the floor was opened to public comments and a caller lodged a ‘formal complaint’ against him.

“I’m calling in, not pertaining to any agenda item, but rather to lodge a formal complaint about the judging on UFC 282 that was hosted last weekend in Vegas,” the caller said (via Bloody Elbow). “I want to know, if possible, why Douglas Crosby, in particular, was allowed to judge an event Friday night in the Northeast and then fly across the country Saturday morning, all the way to Vegas, to then judge fights Saturday night and he was deemed mentally fit to do so. It seems a bit ridiculous, in my mind.”

“I think it’s very telling that for the entire tenure, as far as I can tell, of Bob Bennett, when he reigned as NSAC executive director from 2014 to 2021, Crosby was not allowed to judge a UFC event, as far as I can tell, scanning MMA Decisions, and when [current NSAC executive director] Jeff Mullen took his place, that Crosby was suddenly back judging those events. It seems a bit ridiculous.”

“He [Crosby] demonstrated criminal incompetence, in my opinion, judging that event over the weekend and I don’t understand why it was allowed to happen.”

Crosby is not new to controversy. Chuck Mindenahall wrote an extensive feature on Doug’s long and sometimes sordid history back in 2015, and the judge hasn’t slowed down since then. But with the expanding blast zone of the current UFC betting scandal only growing, is it crazy to imagine there may finally be some accountability for notoriously bad judges who continue to show up week after week to judge major MMA events?

City Kickboxing’s Eugene Bareman shared his thoughts on a fourth fight against Alex Pereira, and the timeline it could happen on.

In the UFC, sometimes immediate rematches don’t end up being as immediate as they should be. Look at Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira. Or the immediate rematch between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman is in jeopardy because Usman is having surgery on his hand. Will the immediate rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya also fail to materialize?

Adesanya did sound like he wanted to take time off to take care of some nagging health injuries and just relax. And Khamzat Chimaev has been chomping at the bit to step in and face Alex Pereira should there be any delay with “The Last Stylebender.” But according to Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman, they’re ready and willing to do a fourth “Poatan” fight sometime in Q1 of 2023.

“For sure, for sure,” Bareman told Submission Radio in a new interview. “That would work for us. I mean, like I said, we don’t have to extensively reinvent the wheel. In my opinion, we have to just tweak a few things and we can turn that fight around. So yeah, that’s what it more comes down to, is how much time do we need to train to kind of make the changes and the tweaks that we need to turn this fight around. And I just don’t anticipate we need to do a hell of a lot.”

Bareman is the kind of coach who has kept Adesanya out of competition a year following past losses, but he clearly doesn’t think anything that drastic is needed after the Pereira TKO.

“We just have to change a couple of tactics,” he said. “Yeah. Like I said, change a couple of tactics, a couple things and we’ll be sweet. And we can do that within that given timeframe, yeah.”

With Pereira now 2-0 over Adesanya in kickboxing and 1-0 in UFC, Bareman knows they’ve only got one more shot at this opponent.

“We’re quietly confident,” he said. “You gotta understand, we were winning that fight relatively comfortably. We felt we were taking the rounds. But not comfortable enough – when you’re fighting somebody like that, who’s gameplan appears to be, it’s not a guy who builds his gameplan around accumulation of damage.”

“He’s a guy that builds his gameplan around mentally wearing down and trying to land one big shot. And he’s comfortable giving rounds and then not panicking, because he gives away rounds and it’s part of a bigger picture for him. Setting up what he ultimately is looking for. And with a few adjustments we can make some changes there and build on a lot of positive things that happened in that fight for us.”

One thing Eugene Bareman doesn’t want to see is Khamzat Chimaev jumping the line somehow. Chimaev took to social media shortly after Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya and called for a title shot, despite spending the past year as a welterweight.

“Khamzat’s a rising star, but he’s done literally done nothing at middleweight,” Bareman claimed. “So, he hasn’t established himself. You’re talking about two guys at the top of the food chain in terms of their status in combat sports. Khamzat’s a rising star. Like, he’s a massive rising star. But he’s not in the position of these two guys. This is the biggest fight. Khamzat still has to beat people at middleweight and work his way up to even fighting one of these guys.”

“So, unless the politics take over and the business of the sport take over – and that’s essentially how we arrived at this fight that we’re talking about, right? So, it’s still the biggest fight to make. And at the end of the day, it’s not Alex’s choice. It will be Alex’s choice when he makes ‘x’ amount of title defenses and does well for the company and all that. Then it becomes Alex’s choice. But at the moment we’ve got a champion who’s done so much for this company, who’s defended his title so many times. He kind of gets to… if he wants a rematch, I believe that that’s what he should get.”

So long as Adesanya is ready to sign on the dotted line when the UFC needs that middleweight title back in the top slot of a pay-per-view, we can’t see them jumping to Pereira vs. Chimaev.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight talents Arman Tsarukyan and Damir Ismagulov will collide this weekend (Sat., Dec. 17, 2022) at UFC Vegas 66 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tsarukyan’s career trajectory would be a whole lot different had the judges awarded him the decision opposite Mateusz Gamrot last time out. It was pretty clear that the Armenian standout did quite a bit more damage, but some late takedowns swayed the decision. Instead of getting propelled into the title mix, Tsarukyan finds himself facing one of the division’s most unassuming, most dangerous contenders. Ismagulov has won five straight to start his UFC career, extending his win streak to an absurd 19 in a row. He has yet to score a really high-profile win, instead going about his UFC rise the hard way: taking on all the lesser-known (but still pretty darn-skilled) contenders just outside the Top 10.

Let’s take a closer look at the keys to victory for each man:

Arman Tsarukyan

Record: 18-3
Key Wins: Joel Alvarez (UFC Vegas 49), Christos Giagos (UFC Vegas 37), Olivier Aubin-Mercier (UFC 240), Matt Frevola (UFC 257)
Key Losses: Mateusz Gamrot (UFC Vegas 57), Islam Makhachev (UFC Fight Night 149)
Keys To Victory: Tsarukyan is such a wild physical talent. His general strength, explosiveness, and gas tank are all absolutely top-notch for 155 pounds, and Tsarukyan combines these attributes with an excellent wrestling base and really powerful kicking game.

In just about all of his fights, that physicality is such a huge factor, and that remains true against Ismagulov. The Russian is a quality technician in all areas, able to kickbox at a very high level and chain wrestle like nobody’s business. However, he cannot hope to match Tsarukyan in pure speed or power, and that makes such a massive difference in MMA.

The other big difference here is ability to do damage. Ismagulov outplays opponents, but at the UFC level, he’s been restrained to decisions and isn’t usually coming close to finishing. Tsarukyan, meanwhile, very clearly has the ability to batter opponents and hurt them on the feet or the canvas.

Between physicality and offensive potency, Tsarukyan should be able to push the pace and keep Ismagulov reacting, which goes a long, long way in securing victory.

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Damir Ismagulov

Record: 24-1
Key Wins: Guram Kutateladze (UFC Austin), Joel Alvarez (UFC Fight Night 145), Thiago Moises (UFC Fight Night 157), Rafael Alves (UFC Vegas 27)
Key Losses: None
Keys To Victory: A Master of Sports in hand-to-hand combat, Ismagulov is a really tricky distance striker who maintains a great output. He can really shut opponents down with his counter striking, to the point that it’s easy to forget just how excellent his wrestling can be.

There are two potential paths to victory here for Ismagulov. On one hand, he could try to recreate Gamrot’s success by really committing to the chain wrestling. If he can force Tsarukyan to defensively wrestle endlessly, it does limit his athleticism and can help wear him down.

Alternatively, Ismagulov could attempt more of a sprawl-and-brawl approach. He doesn’t hit as hard as Tsarukyan, sure, but he does appear to have the technical edge. If he can stop Tsarukyan’s takedowns and make his foe hesitate to throw with a few sharp counter connections, that would also be significant in making up for the aforementioned disadvantages here.

I believe Ismagulov’s best shot is the latter. Unlike Gamrot, he doesn’t have 25 minutes for a chain wrestling strategy to take effect. Instead, he’s going to have to fully commit to his pocket work and counter punching, which could prove an antidote to Tsarukyan’s heavy kick attack … provided he can also stop the shot.

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Bottom Line

I would pick either of these men over several Lightweights higher up in the rankings.

In Tsarukyan’s case, I’d expect the 26-year-old blue chip to be favored over almost everyone. He gave Islam Makhachev his toughest test to date, and he did it at 23 years of age on short-notice. He has all the marks of a future champion. Victory here restates that idea, proving that a close decision loss to “Gamer” hasn’t derailed his rise to the top.

Conversely, Ismagulov is 31 years of age and riding an outrageous win streak. He’s not the most exciting fighter and doesn’t speak English, which means there will be no short path to the title. The Russian is in the prime of his career and being given an opportunity to break into the Top 10 — he absolutely has to capitalize here. Otherwise, the next chance to fight up the ladder may not come around for some time.

At UFC Vegas 66, Arman Tsarukyan and Damir Ismagulov will throw down in the co-main event. Which man has his hand raised?

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 66 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 66: “Cannonier vs. Strickland” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.