Yesterday we remarked about the fact that Yushin Okami ranks amongst the best in the ‘ain’t no picnic’ to fight factor, and after watching his decision win over Mark Munoz last night, it would seem that the Japanese fighter has only furthered this rep. Yes, the bout wasn’t riddled with highlight reel moments, but you can’t really fault Okami for that. Not only was Okami looking to keep the bout standing, but the takedown defense clinic he put on (and it was a masterpiece no?), nullified the vast majority of Munoz’s offense.
Now certainly it wasn’t like Okami punished Munoz mercilessly throughout the bout or anything, but aside from the second round where Okami got into a little trouble, it was relatively obvious that Okami was going to cruise to the UD win right? Well, cue Cecil Peoples. Yes, if you’ve followed the sport intently over the last few years, then you know that Judge Peoples doesn’t always see fights the same way that other people do, meaning the majority. He scored it 29-28 for Munoz while the other two scored it 29-28 for Okami. Speaking after the win Okami had this to say about the ruling (thanks to MMA Junkie):
“I’ll have to live with [the decision],” Okami said. “I wasn’t wild about it. I thought it looked a little better to me than a two-to-one split, although the [judges] know what they’re doing…”The second round wasn’t necessarily my best fighting ever. But I won, so I’ll live with it, though I can’t say I’m wild about the decision.”
Yes, we weren’t ‘wild’ about the scoring either dude.
