Manager: ‘We tried to file an appeal’ for Reneau’s controversial loss, but PSAC denied

In an interview with Bloody Elbow’s Nick Baldwin, Marion Reneau’s manager, Jason House, reveals their appeal for the controversial loss was denied by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.

UFC women’s bantamweights Marion Reneau and Ashlee Evans-Smith met in a UFC Fight Night 83 preliminary bout earlier this month. After 15 minutes of back-and-fourth action, Evans-Smith was rewarded the victory in her return fight, but the split decision was very, very controversial.

On MMADecisions.com, only one of 17 media outlets/members scored the fight for Evans-Smith. Two media members even gave Reneau a 10-8 round, including Bloody Elbow’s Dallas Winston.

Below is the official scorecard below, obtained by MMA Fighting (also, it features a calculation error):

Scorecard

After the fight, among the majority of people assuming Reneau would be rewarded the victory handily was her manager, Jason House.

“I was very shocked, I had felt she did more than enough to win that fight,” House, CEO of Iridium Sports Agency, told Bloody Elbow’s Nick Baldwin on MMAjr Radio. “It was a very hard loss to swallow. Marion trained really hard for that fight, she performed well, and it was more shocking to me that two of the three judges had her losing the first round. I don’t understand how you can even have Ashlee win that round. I think if anything, I thought it was more likely for that round to be a 10-8 for her, than her losing that round.

“Reneau was very confident that she had won that fight, her corner was confident that she had won that fight, and I was confident that she had won that fight.”

House and his team tried to appeal the decision loss with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission (PSAC) afterwards, but it didn’t work out for them.

“We tried to file an appeal, the commissioner called me saying we did not have ground for an appeal,” he said. “[He said] that no rule had been violated, that the judges had scored the bout as they had seen it. The commissioner said that he agreed the first round Marion won, and that he was concerned too as why two of three judges had Ashlee winning the first round. He said that Ashlee Evans-Smith clearly won the third round, which I disagree with, he said that it came down to the second round, and the judges had Ashlee winning, therefore Ashlee won the fight.”

The PSAC was surrounded by its own controversy during fight week. Prior to the event, UFC commentator Brian Stann expressed his thoughts about the commission in a series of tweets:

Pennsylvania Athletic Commission has beem absolutely terrible to these fighters today. Will hurt PA’s chances for future cards

— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) February 20, 2016

Made fighters do their physicals in the middle of their cut time, Dr’s were then late which gave them less time to cut.

— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) February 20, 2016

Last minute switches left & right to include specific tests for female fighters after they weighed in and are ready to go eat

— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) February 20, 2016

Also forgot, their Doctor overslept and then decided not to show. Making it way worse for the athletes. Luckily athletes were pros

— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) February 20, 2016

According to House, the above happenings were accurate.

“I just felt, in my opinion, the way they were handling the fighters during the week of the fight, they could’ve handled that situation a little bit better during fight week, regarding fight medicals, weigh-ins, things of that nature. I just felt that they weren’t keeping the fighters’ best interest in mind.

House also believes this was one of the worst decisions that included one of his clients. Until the Reneau fight, he had never attempted to appeal a decision before.

“I have never been in a situation before where I thought a fight was that blatantly misjudged, so it’s new territory for us. Like I said, I’m still shocked Marion didn’t win that fight.”

In an interview with Bloody Elbow’s Nick Baldwin, Marion Reneau’s manager, Jason House, reveals their appeal for the controversial loss was denied by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.

UFC women’s bantamweights Marion Reneau and Ashlee Evans-Smith met in a UFC Fight Night 83 preliminary bout earlier this month. After 15 minutes of back-and-fourth action, Evans-Smith was rewarded the victory in her return fight, but the split decision was very, very controversial.

On MMADecisions.com, only one of 17 media outlets/members scored the fight for Evans-Smith. Two media members even gave Reneau a 10-8 round, including Bloody Elbow’s Dallas Winston.

Below is the official scorecard below, obtained by MMA Fighting (also, it features a calculation error):

Scorecard

After the fight, among the majority of people assuming Reneau would be rewarded the victory handily was her manager, Jason House.

“I was very shocked, I had felt she did more than enough to win that fight,” House, CEO of Iridium Sports Agency, told Bloody Elbow’s Nick Baldwin on MMAjr Radio. “It was a very hard loss to swallow. Marion trained really hard for that fight, she performed well, and it was more shocking to me that two of the three judges had her losing the first round. I don’t understand how you can even have Ashlee win that round. I think if anything, I thought it was more likely for that round to be a 10-8 for her, than her losing that round.

“Reneau was very confident that she had won that fight, her corner was confident that she had won that fight, and I was confident that she had won that fight.”

House and his team tried to appeal the decision loss with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission (PSAC) afterwards, but it didn’t work out for them.

“We tried to file an appeal, the commissioner called me saying we did not have ground for an appeal,” he said. “[He said] that no rule had been violated, that the judges had scored the bout as they had seen it. The commissioner said that he agreed the first round Marion won, and that he was concerned too as why two of three judges had Ashlee winning the first round. He said that Ashlee Evans-Smith clearly won the third round, which I disagree with, he said that it came down to the second round, and the judges had Ashlee winning, therefore Ashlee won the fight.”

The PSAC was surrounded by its own controversy during fight week. Prior to the event, UFC commentator Brian Stann expressed his thoughts about the commission in a series of tweets:

According to House, the above happenings were accurate.

“I just felt, in my opinion, the way they were handling the fighters during the week of the fight, they could’ve handled that situation a little bit better during fight week, regarding fight medicals, weigh-ins, things of that nature. I just felt that they weren’t keeping the fighters’ best interest in mind.

House also believes this was one of the worst decisions that included one of his clients. Until the Reneau fight, he had never attempted to appeal a decision before.

“I have never been in a situation before where I thought a fight was that blatantly misjudged, so it’s new territory for us. Like I said, I’m still shocked Marion didn’t win that fight.”