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NGANNOU VS FERREIRA

Sherdog’s Top 10: Burglars

Patrick WymanFeb 05, 2015
Puzzling decisions were part of an 11-fight winning streak for Francis Carmont. | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com


7. Francis Carmont


While France’s Carmont has reached neither the career peaks nor the notoriety of the other contestants on this list, the former top-10 middleweight does hold the unfortunate distinction of owing his entire rise to prominence to judging decisions that ranged from puzzling to downright awful. His first three outings in the UFC were all convincing, as he took two by submission and dominated Chris Camozzi in the other, but after that, it was all downhill.

The trouble began with Tom Lawlor, whom Carmont faced at UFC 154. While it was a brutally slow-paced fight that featured a great deal of ineffective clinching against the cage, nearly every observer -- including eight of nine media members -- thought the American had done enough to snag the win.

In his next outing against Lorenz Larkin, Carmont somehow managed to take a unanimous decision despite being stuffed on the vast majority of his takedown attempts and landing a grand total of 12 significant strikes in the full 15 minutes of action. This time, nine of 11 media members saw the fight for Larkin, but the judges were not swayed by common sense or their own criteria.

That is the legacy of Carmont’s brief tenure as a viable middleweight in the UFC: consecutive terrible decisions against better fighters and then a quick fall back to earth once the streak ended.

Number 6 » For all of his vicious knockout power and ridiculously potent slams, he owes a portion of the success he has achieved over his long and illustrious career to poor judging decisions. This tendency began all the way back in Pride Fighting Championships.