Marion Reneau isn’t leaving it in the hands of the judges.
The women’s bantamweight, who lost a controversial split decision to Ashlee Evans-Smith Sunday at UFC Fight Night 83 in Pittsburgh, will appeal that decision to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.
That’s according to report published Tuesday by Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting.
Reneau was apparently so baffled by the decision that she believes the judges confused her with Evans-Smith.
“I just don’t think they had the right person,” Reneau said. “They’re not going to own up to that mistake. They’re just not. It’s just gonna be one of those things that I’m gonna have to swallow and it’s painful to swallow. …For obvious reasons, Ashlee did not win the first round and two judges gave her the first round. I don’t know.”
The first round was fairly lackluster for both fighters, until Reneau charged forward and tagged Evans-Smith with an extended barrage of punches, which visibly hurt Evans-Smith and forced her to backpedal and then circle away. Reneau then applied a guillotine choke that appeared tight and that Evans-Smith was unable to escape. Only the horn at the end of the round appeared to save Evans-Smith from submitting.
Even so, Gregory Sirb, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, said he did not believe there was any controversy associated with the decision.
“It was straight-up,” he said of the decision. “[The judges] said [Evans-Smith] won most of the [first] round, and Reneau came on strong. [Reneau] threw a flurry, but [Evans-Smith] blocked everything and then Reneau had her in some type of choke, probably 10 seconds left.”
Sirb: “There wasn’t any controversy…Reneau wins the first round.” [then completely ignores that two judges scored it for Evans-Smith]
— Robert Sargent (@MMARising) February 22, 2016
Judges Andrew Adkins and John Lapcevic called the bout for Evans-Smith. The other judge, Phil Rogers, scored the first round for Evans-Smith despite scoring the fight overall for Reneau. Evans-Smith received the split-decision nod by a score of 30-27, 28-29, 29-27.
To make matters even worse, Lapcevic incorrectly added up Reneau’s scores, awarding Reneau a total score of 27 even though he scored each round 10-9, with Reneau winning one round on his scorecard and Evans-Smith winning two.
Two judges gave Ashlee Evans Smith the first round… pic.twitter.com/AnLZGU4AWw
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) February 22, 2016
Although Reneau said the commission promised it would review the fight, there was no immediate indication of what, if any, action might be taken as a result of her appeal.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com