Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive
Shortly after winning a controversial split decision victory over Nam Phan at the TUF 12 Finale, Leonard Garcia sat down with Phan to watch the fight at the 24/7 Café inside the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. It was an amicable, if unlikely little viewing party, but afterward Garcia said he arrived at a firm conclusion about the scoring in the fight.
He’s watched the bout approximately 15 times since then, he told MMA Fighting, and his thoughts on it are the same each time.
“I think I outscored him in the first and third rounds,” said Garcia. “I think that in the third round, I was dead tired, but I kept firing and kept pressing the action, and I was able to get a takedown as well.”
Though judges Adelaide Byrd and Tony Weeks agreed, giving Garcia the first and third rounds even as judge Junichiro Kamijo gave every round to Phan, the fans in attendance at the Pearl at the Palms voiced their displeasure loudly and thoroughly. Even UFC color commentator Joe Rogan went to great lengths to express his disapproval, which bothered Garcia more than he initially let on.