Serious upset opens UFC 308 as Fakhretdinov wins unanimous decision over Carlos Leal

The opening fight of UFC 308 does not bode well for the assessment of the rest of the card, as the scorecards submitted by all three judges were even labeled incorrect by the commentary live on ESPN.

Jon Anik even went so far as to say he might have to do something about Vemo against Carlos Leal tonight because he’s feeling bad.

Rinat took Leal down a few times early, but never for long, and Leal was firmly in control of the attack in the second half of the first round and throughout the second round. Carlos’ punches had significant power, landing clean collar-tie knees to counter takedowns, and even on the official stats (https://ufcstats.com/fight-details/6114076c689e8457) he defeated Fakhretdinov in both rounds.

The fight should have been decided when he won those two rounds. However, one judge gave Rinat the first, one judge gave him the second, and one somehow gave the Russian both rounds in which he took much more damage.

All three judges gave Fakhretdinov the third round, during which Leal tired and slowed down, but the round was still close, and many of the media members gave him the third round anyway.

The website MMA decisions dot com – which collects fan scorecards, collects media scores and displays the official scorecards – showed that no media member scored the fight for Rinat Fakhretdinov.

The disparity is too great to ignore and is clear evidence that something is going on with home cooking in Abu Dhabi.