June 04, (THEWILL) – UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, expressed his dissatisfaction with the judges’ decision in the UFC on ESPN 45 main event, as his teammate, Kai Kara-France, engaged in a closely contested five-round battle against Amir Albazi at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Despite widespread belief among MMA enthusiasts that Kara-France would emerge victorious, it was Albazi, who secured the split decision from the judges of the Saturday bout. Chris Lee and Sal D’Amato, the official judges, scored the fight 48-47 in favour of Albazi, while Mike Bell favoured Kara-France with the same score.
Adesanya, closely monitoring the fight, took to Twitter to vent his frustration towards the judges who failed to recognise the efforts of his City Kickboxing teammate. In a series of tweets, Adesanya exclaimed, “Nah bro…Fck yous!!! Fire Chris Lee & Sal Deez nuts”, suggesting his disdain for their scoring. He further added, “How many times will they rob athletes of their moments of glory, of [sic] their money, their livelihood for their family? Fck them c*nts, they need to expire quickly and go.”
In a more composed tweet later, Adesanya proposed a solution that has long been discussed within the MMA community following controversial judging outcomes. He suggested: “Start interviewing the judges after fights. Hold them accountable for their work.”
The UFC on ESPN 45 main event marked Kara-France’s second split decision result in his UFC career, following a similar outcome at UFC 234 in 2019. Having experienced consecutive losses, including his failed interim title bid against Brandon Moreno, Kara-France aims to rebound after a promising three-fight winning streak that featured impressive first-round stoppages.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
