Former UFC referee John McCarthy’s son, Ron McCarthy, was one of the judges who scored Paddy Pimblett’s controversial unanimous decision win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282.
Like the majority of the MMA community, McCarthy senior also disagreed with his son’s scoring. However, ‘Big John’ also pointed out that crowd reactions could be a possible reason for the decision to sway towards Pimblett.
Arguably one of the biggest stars in the sport today, ‘The Baddy’ expectedly drew more reactions from the crowd than his opponent when he landed. According to McCarthy, judges’ scores can sometimes be influenced by crowd reactions, particularly when their view of the fight isn’t perfect.
The Bellator commentator believes the crowd at UFC 282 possibly played a vital role in Paddy Pimblett’s victory over Jared Gordon. The 60-year-old said on the Weighing In podcast:
“My son was one of the judges. He asked me and I said, ‘You got that wrong.’ I thought Jared Gordon won 29-28…This can happen when you’re a judge sitting there. You’re getting the crowd responding everytime Paddy does something…There’s times when you’re not seeing that angle but you’re hearing the reaction of the crowd and it’s an influencer. And I think they got influenced by what the crowd was into.”
Watch McCarthy’s comments below (15:50):
Paddy Pimblett defends his decision win against Jared Gordon
Paddy Pimblett has been widely criticized for showing an utter lack of class in the aftermath of his controversial decision win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282. ‘The Baddy’ initially countered Joe Rogan during the post-fight octagon when the UFC color commentator said that the fight was “close.” According to Pimblett, he was confident of having won the first two rounds and chose to play it safe in the final frame.
The Liverpudlian further went on to defend his decision win in rather strong words in the post-fight media scrum. Pimblett told reporters:
“Everyone’s got an opinion, lad. Opinions are like a**holes: Everyone’s got one. I know I won that fight. Simple as. I deal in facts, and I won a unanimous decision. It’s not like it was a split decision. Look at his face and look at mine. Fights get scored on damage now. I landed a lot more damage. End of… It’s about damage.’ Look at my face. Look at his. I’ve got the little green marker next to my name, so everyone else can suck me a**hole.”
Watch Paddy Pimblett’s comments below (0:42):