Sherdog.com’s 2015 Robbery of the Year

4. Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Johnson
UFC Fight Night “Teixeira vs. St. Preux”
Saturday, Aug. 8
Bridgestone Arena | Nashville, Tennessee
Michael Johnson controlled large sections of his Aug. 8 bout with Beneil Dariush, particularly controlling the pace, controlling the distance and controlling the center of the cage. In the end, the result came down to one thing over which no fighter has control: the judges’ scorecards.

Johnson handily outstruck Dariush on the feet in the first two rounds of their lightweight tilt, winning the striking exchanges by a total of 59 to 42 through 10 minutes. “The Menace” also did well to keep the fight where he wanted it, turning away six takedown attempts. Most significantly, he kept Dariush backpedaling for nearly the entire time, allowing the Kings MMA representative little space to get any offense going.

Combinations were the special of the day from Johnson, whose hand speed and head movement posed problems from the onset for his larger, slower opponent. Johnson also did well to mix up his strikes, landing 58 percent of his blows to the body and 38 percent to the head, according to FightMetric . By contrast, 69 percent of Dariush’s significant strikes were to the head, and judges in MMA have always seemed to favor head shots over body work.

All three judges scored the final round for Dariush, who out-landed Johnson for the first time in the fight by a margin of 33 to 25. Judges Richard Bertrand and Douglas Crosby also awarded Dariush the second stanza, giving him two 29-28 cards to override judge Sal D’Amato’s score of 29-28 for Johnson. As the scorecards were being read, Johnson seemed to know what was coming. Later, he related to MMAJunkie.com that the faces of referee Herb Dean and announcer Bruce Buffer told him all he needed to know.

“I’m pretty aware of everything when I’m in the cage,” Johnson said. “I was looking at Bruce Buffer’s face, and I was looking at Herb Dean, and they were reading the cards and their facial expressions just said it all to me because obviously everybody thought I won the fight; and I could see it in their face. I think Bruce Buffer was a little confused at what he was reading on the card. I think that he double-checked with the judges. ... I don’t know if people could hear me, but I was like, ‘Wow. They gave it to him. They gave him a split decision.’”

Johnson was not the only one stunned by the cards. Fans took to forums and social media to declare the fight an early “Robbery of the Year” candidate, a position supported by MMA media members, who were virtually unanimous in scoring the fight for Johnson. Meanwhile, UFC President Dana White got on Twitter to express his own outrage while regurgitating his standard line when it comes to bad decisions: “That [sic] why u can’t leave it to these judges!!!!!!!”

Finish Reading » Trinaldo vs. Parke