Kai Kamaka’s manager is filling an appeal over Kai’s decision loss to TJ Brown. I personally hadn’t seen the fight so I watched it and here is how I scored it. I would like to hear how you guys scored it and why you scored it that way.
You can read this article on MMAFighting for more info on what Kai’s manager had to say Kai Kamaka’s manager filing appeal over ‘blatantly horrible decision’ in his loss to T.J. Brown at UFC Vegas 25 - MMA Fighting
ROUND 1
Kai - Total Strikes 23 - Control Time 0:45
TJ - Total Strikes 35 - Control Time 0:00
ROUND 2
Kai - Total Strikes 40 - Control Time 1:44 - Sub Att 0 - Knockdown 1 - Takedown 0
TJ - Total Strikes 40 - Control Time 0:25 - Sub Att 1 - Knockdown 0 - Takedown 0
ROUND 3
Kai - Total Strikes 22 - Control Time 3:09 - Sub Att 0 - Takedown 1
TJ - Total Strikes 35 - Control Time 0:11 - Sub Att 3* - Takedown 1
*on the website UFCstats.com they do not have a record of the submissions attempted by TJ in round 3 but if you watch round 3 TJ throws up an Omoplata, a Straight Ankle Lock and a Kimura
I personally score the fight:
Round1: TJ Brown. I count strikes using my own system and I had Brown winning the striking battle by 5 strikes by my count. Looking at the official numbers Brown won the round by 12 strikes. 10-9 TJ Brown
Round 2: Kai Kamaka. This was a very close round, you can see that by looking at the total strikes being even at 40 strikes each. Kai wins this round because of the clear knockdown. 10-9 Kai Kamaka
Round 3: TJ Brown. Great back and forth battle. Kai Kamaka using his wrestling to try to hold TJ Brown down to secure the win. You can see that by looking at the Control Time 3:09 and the Total Strikes 22, you can see here that Kai was in control for most of the round but was not actually doing damage or being “effective” with his grappling. TJ Brown on the other hand threw up 3 submission attempts, threw 35 total strikes which is 13 more than Kai. And TJ was able to knock Kai down with a leg trip punch combo. This round will be the hardest round to score and will I assume cause the most debate. But to me TJ Brown wins this round pretty clearly by out striking his opponent and using his grappling in an effective manner by trying to submit his opponent. 10-9 TJ Brown.
With all that being said, I can fully understand the argument that Kai Kamaka won rounds 1 and 3. Round 1 was very close, only 5 strikes in it by my live count, it depends where the judge is sitting. Round 3 was very close, Kai controlled TJ for most of the round, he landed a number of strikes, landed a takedown, I can see the argument for it.
What is fascinating to me about this fight and Kai Kamaka’s managers reaction to the scores, as if this were a robbery? As if this is an easy fight to score. Every single round of this fight is hard to score. Round 2 is the easiest round to score because of the knockdown and even that was close!