Who is Joel Ojeda UFC judge who scored Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen 48-47

Who is Joel Ojeda UFC judge who scored Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen 48-47

Aside from the striking performances and the roaring fans, UFC San Antonio was marred with controversy as fans were outraged at UFC judge Joel Ojeda for scoring the Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen fight a 48-47

UFC San Antonio concluded with an entertaining main event fight featuring Cory Sandhagen and rising star Marlon Vera.

Who is Joel Ojeda UFC judge who scored Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen fight 48-47

The Cory ‘Sandman’ Sandhagen ended the Ecuadorian fighter’s 4-fight winning streak in excellent fashion, dominating the fight.

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Marlon Vera vs Cory Sandhagen, Cory’s standout performance

Ahead of the fight, many fight fans and expected a stand-and-trade battle between two of the best strikers in the bantamweight division.

However, much to the surprise of everyone, Cory put on a performance of a lifetime throughout the entire bout. Cory showed everyone just how much he had improved on his striking ability. He also brought in a mix of superior combinations, which leaving no room for Vera to catch up.

The 30-year-old went further by showing off his wrestling prowess as well by initiating and securing takedowns.

Joel Ojeda scores 48-47 in favour of Marlon Vera

Chris Lee, Sal D’Amato, and Joel Odeja were the three judges in charge of scoring the highly anticipated bantamweight bout. And despite Cory Sandhagen putting on a crashing performance at the UFC San Antonio fight night, it apparently was not enough to convince first time judge Joel Ojeda to hand over Cory with the higher score.

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Following an intense main event battle where Cory clearly dominated, Joel Ojeda scored 48-47 in favour of Marlon Vera. All the fans were left in shock at the score unsurprisingly, after witnessing a one-sided beatdown.

Joel Ojeda UFC judge record

Despite Cory clearly dominating ‘Chito’ Vera throughout the entire bout, Joel Odeja scored him less than the Ecuadorian did. Interestingly, the fight between Cory and Vera was just Ojeda’s second fight in a judge’s seat.

Prior to the fight, Ojeda’s first seating as a UFC judge was when he scored the last fight on the preliminary card for the same event night. The match was a featherweight fight between Steven Peterson and Lucas Anderson, where Anderson won via unanimous decision. Before becoming a judge, Joel was a referee who mostly worked for Fury FC and Invicta FC.

UFC fans reactions

UFC fans were understandably, outraged in their reactions towards the atrocious scorecard, which suggested a Marlon Vera win. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that the UFC has seen a judge scoring a win for a visibly-losing fighter.

However, Joel Ojeda’s score for the Vera and Sandhagen fight will definitely go down as one of the worst fight review and score by a judge in recent UFC history. Fans and fighters alike have all gone out to express their bitter taste towards Ojeda. In fact, due to the rising numbers of controversial scorecards, the MMA community is strongly demanding a better judging model.

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