The scorecards from the three judges scoring Rory MacDonald vs Gleison Tibau last night have been released to the public.
PFL 5 is officially in the books and while we may know the four welterweight contenders who will progress through to the playoffs, the process of learning who would go through certainly didn’t come easily.
That’s because last night, MacDonald lost to Tibau via split decision in a moment that is being described as one of the biggest robberies in the recent history of mixed martial arts.
Now, the scorecards have been revealed – and there are plenty of opinions flying around about them.
Here are the scorecards for the Gleison Tibau split decision win over Rory MacDonald: #2021PFL5 pic.twitter.com/lDbA5Fb6Lo
— Michael Stets (@Michael_Stets) June 18, 2021
The first and second judges both scored the bout for Tibau with him taking the first and third rounds. The third judge also scored the third round for Tibau but awarded the first two to MacDonald.
It all feels a little bit suspect when you look online and see that most fans, especially on Verdict’s Global Scorecard, opted to give “The Red King” all three rounds. Many of us have never been in a position whereby we’re judging fights at this level but even with that being the case, this feels like an incident that is bound to be investigated in one way or the other.
Tibau hasn’t made it into the playoffs and MacDonald has so there’s going to be a chance for redemption, but that still won’t take away the bad taste left in the mouths of many. In order to get rid of that, some kind of inquiry will need to be launched sooner rather than later.
Do you think Gleison Tibau won any rounds against Rory MacDonald? What do you think PFL will do next with regards to this decision? Let us know your thoughts on this controversy down in the comments, BJPENN Nation!