A head-scratching scorecard in the Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello fight at Bellator 289 is a cause for concern for the athletic commission overseeing the event. Stots won a split decision on Friday, but the dissenting judge, Doug Crosby, handed in a puzzling 50-45 scorecard in favor of the losing fighter.
Sabatello employed a wrestle-heavy game plan in pursuit of taking the interim bantamweight championship away from his opponent. Stots had mixed success stuffing the takedowns, but it was Sabatello's ineffectiveness towards finishing the fight that cost him the title. The modern scoring criteria rewards the fighter who has more impactful striking and grappling. While Sabatello could ground Stots, it was generally Stots who was landing the more impactful strikes once down there.
Mike Mazzulli, Mohegan athletic department director of athletics, was content with Stots winning the fight, but he expressed concern with the 50-45 scorecard.
"One judge had Sabatello winning all five rounds, which is controversial," Mazzulli said in a statement. "But ultimately Stots won the decision, which is the correct result. In an effort to make this a learning moment, I have informed all three judges we will be reviewing the fight together."
The commission stated that officials have been sanctioned in the past for not performing adequately. Such sanctions are not shared with the public.
"In the last Bellator event (Dec. 9, 2022) there was a controversy in the Sabatello vs. Stots fight," the statement read. "After reviewing the fight, three rounds of the five rounds were extremely close and the other two were marginally close rounds.
"This is a very serious situation; the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department always looks out for the best interests of all fighters. In the past, the Mohegan Tribe Athletic Department has sanctioned officials that are not performing to the level that is required. Such sanctions, when they occur, are not made public."
Crosby has the highest percentage of dissenting scorecards in 2022 for judges that completed at least 50 fights. Crosby scored for the losing fighter 12.5% of the time. Colon placed second with 12.3%.
