Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling offered a unique scorecard for the trilogy bout between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili.
In the UFC 333 co-main event, Yan defeated Dvalishvili via unanimous decision with three identical 48-47 scorecards.
All three judges had Dvalishvili winning the first two rounds, with Yan taking the last three, to earn a close-but-clear unanimous decision win.
Sterling, though, believes the fight should have been scored a draw, as he believes Round 3 should have been scored 10-10.
Aljamain Sterling Scored UFC 333 Co-Main Event a Draw
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sterling said that he would have scored Yan vs. Dvalishvili 3 a draw by going 10-10 in the third round, resulting in a 48-48 scorecard.
“Damage should score. But what happened to all the other damage? It was a great fight, a coin flip of a round for round three. I would have liked to see it go 10–10, but that’s never going to happen. And then the fight ends in a draw. Of course, Petr Yan ended the fight strong. Kudos to him. You could say the fight was trending in Petr Yan’s way. I agree. But that’s the way the decision went, and unfortunately we came up short,” Sterling said.
“Damage should score. But what happened to all the other damage? It was a great fight, a coin flip of a round for round
10-10 Rounds are an MMA Rarity
While 10-10 rounds are in the Unified Rules of MMA, they are exceptionally rare, as judges are told by the athletic commissions not to score a round 10-10 and to figure out a round winner using the scoring criteria in place.
The only real time a 10-10 round should be used is if a round just begins and then someone gets injured for a foul, as in that case nothing happened but the round would still need to be scored. Otherwise, the athletic commissions don’t want judges scoring rounds 10-10.
Of course, Round 3 between Yan and Dvalishvili was a very close, competitive round, no doubt about it, and it’s fair that Sterling thought it could have gone either way.
But the judges are supposed to do their job of finding a winner, and in the eyes of the three judges, Round 3 was a 10-9 Yan round, and he won the fight 48-47 overall.
Aljamain Sterling Offers Unique Scorecard for Yan vs. Dvalishvili 3