Sean Strickland nearly fell victim to the judges once again.
Despite outclassing Paulo Costa for the majority of their five-round bout at UFC 302’s co-main event, Strickland nearly found himself sporting his second straight loss once a 49-46 scorecard in Costa’s favor turned up, courtesy of judge Dave Tirelli. Fortunately for the former UFC middleweight champion, the other two judges (Sal D’Amato and Chris Lee) knew what they were looking at, awarding scores of 50–45 and 49–46 for Strickland and giving him the split decision win. But things certainly looked dicey, if only for a second.
Check out how the MMA world reacted to Strickland’s performance and one particularly egregious scorecard below.
Costa is slowing down now too. Strickland in the corner is so much fun
— Sam Alvey (@smilensam) June 2, 2024
Costa is doing a good job with the low kicks and bodywork. The fight is very close.#ufc302
— Herbert Burns (@HerbertBurnsMMA) June 2, 2024
Strickland’s gas tank is beautiful to watch. #ufc302
— Will Brooks (@ILLxWillBrooks) June 2, 2024
Did Costa’s corner just say it’s 2-1 us??!!
I have it 3-0 Strickland #ufc302— Miles Chapo Johns (@milesxjohns) June 2, 2024
Sean fighting like he’s marching towards independence back in 1776. Super effective
— Adrian Yañez (@yanezmma) June 2, 2024
3-0 Strickland .. Strickland don’t even looked tired in this 4th round #ufc302
— Tracy Cortez’s ERA (@TracyCortezmma) June 2, 2024
300 push kicks lol
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) June 2, 2024
You know how when there’s no activity on the ground the ref stands them up… they should do the opposite for this fight let’s make them start on the ground
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) June 2, 2024
Solid smart fighting from Sean so far, Costa can’t figure anything out so far. #ufc302
— Jason Mayhem Miller (@mayhemmiller) June 2, 2024
They’re gonna act like Strickland is crazy because that last 3 seconds
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) June 2, 2024
Fire whoever said split. They’ve got blind people judging fights now
— Sam Alvey (@smilensam) June 2, 2024
Split decision!?
— Jalin Turner (@JalinTurner) June 2, 2024
