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It’s been a rough few weeks for UFC judge Doug Crosby.
First, Crosby came under fire for his score in an interim bantamweight title fight at Bellator 289. The longtime stuntman and veteran MMA judge scored the bout 50-45 in favor of Danny Sabatello, while the other two judges awarded the victory to reigning champ Raufeon Stots with matching 48-47 scorecards.
Michael Mazzulli, the executive director of the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department and chairman of the Association of Boxing Commissions, asked Crosby and the other two judges to review the fight and their scoring.
Just one night later at UFC 282, Crosby was one of the judges responsible for Paddy Pimblett’s highly controversial 29-28 unanimous decision victory over Jared Gordon in a lightweight contest. That ruling was so hotly debated that it came under review from a judging commission.
Crosby, who is outspoken about his judging, has tried to explain his thought process to fighters in the past.
The longtime judge went to Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas to discuss his process with current fighters. But it doesn’t appear that they liked what he had to say.
UFC Fighter Chris Curtis Slams Judge Doug Crosby Over Explanation Of His Judging
Steven Marrocco of MMAFighting.com reports that not all of the fighters appreciated Crosby’s explanation. One such fighter is UFC middleweight Chris Curtis. Curtis was on the undercard of the Pimblett-Gordon fight and says he hoped to learn from what Crosby had to say.
Instead, he says that the controversial judge just made things more complicated.
“I’m trying to get an answer, not have this philosophical Mr. Miyagi f****** debate,” Curtis told MMA Fighting.
At a certain point, he couldn’t listen any more.
“My family’s Southern,” said the UFC vet, who knocked out Buckley this past Saturday. “I’m super respectful, right, especially when an elder is speaking. I literally walked the f*** out of his conversation, like, ‘This is ridiculous.’”
Curtis later explained to MMAFighting.com that he doesn’t believe Crosby understands fighting beyond the “key words.”
“He explained that you go to damage, if not enough of that, go to the second criteria, control time, but what is control time?” the UFC middleweight said later. “Just from hearing him speak, he doesn’t understand the sport. This man has never competed. [He kept saying], ‘I’m not a fighter. I’m a stuntman. I own a stunt company. I’ve worked with so-and-so guys.’ Essentially, he’s not a fighter. He’s a f****** stuntman. … He knows the key words, but he doesn’t understand what these words mean.”
UFC president Dana White has spoken about Crosby in the past, but seemed to back his scoring of the Pimblett-Gordon fight.
Notably, White had been a guest on Pimblett’s podcast just days prior to the fight.