On August 5 the UFC Octagon traveled to Mexico City for Fight Night 114. It was a card that may have lacked big names but it certainly didn’t lack great fights and amazing KOs. However, the negative side of things was the judging. Only four fights went the distance but it seems like 2 fighters were robbed of a victory, Randa Markos and Andre Soukhamthath are convinced they did enough to win.
The first victim of the night was the American Andre Soukhamthat who faced local Alejandro Perez. It is important to note that the new MMA rules were adopted in Mexico City. Under that criteria, one could easily argue that the first round of the bout should have been 10-8 for Soukhamthat. Two solid jabs with the left hand sent Perez to the canvas and the damage on his face was evident. In the second round, ‘The Asian Sensation’ scored another knockdown through the same jab. However, the Mexican reacted and was able to take Andre down and control the position while scoring some light punches to the body. The round was close but should have been 10-9 for Soukhamthath. Finally in the third, Andre seemed to relax and slow down which opened the door for the judges to take the victory out of his pocket. 10-9 for Perez who was in control of the round and pushing the pace, perhaps due to Andre being tired or confident he had the first 2 rounds in the bag. Adding up the scores, the result should have been a unanimous 29-27 for ‘The Asian Sensation’, or at the very least 29-28 if the first round was only 10-9.
In the co-main event #9 Randa Markos agreed to fight Alexa Grasso despite the fact that the Mexican missed weight. In an exciting battle that could have won the bonus for Fight of the Night, the Canadian overcame a closed first round that looked to be in favor of the local fighter. The second round was completely hers, taking Grasso to the ground a couple of times and punishing her with ground and pound. In the third it looked to be more of the same, Markos controlled the exchanges and landed the more accurate strikes. She took Grasso to the canvas once more and stayed active landing shots that should have earned her enough points to win the round. The decision should have been a unanimous 29-28 for Randa Markos, or at least a split decision victory.
