Judges Gonna Judge: Did Julianna Peña get away with title robbery at UFC 307 vs. Raquel Pennington?

Wells: I don’t like to throw the label of a “robbery” around lightly, especially in a fight swayed by one round. However, in this case, I believe it’s appropriate.

I don’t understand scoring the first round for Peña, even if she did land a higher striking total. The difference in power was clearly in Pennington’s favor. In fairness to the official judges, I must consider they only have one perspective from cageside. Perhaps the viewing angle of Sal D’Amato and Mike Bell made it appear Peña was landing the more effective strikes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

What made this result even tougher to swallow was the fact the incoming champion, Pennington, closed out the fight in such a decisive manner in the championship rounds. She scored the most significant moment of the fight with the Round 4 knockdown and then poured on the pressure in Round 5 to ensure she finished strong while Peña appeared fatigued.

Allow me to say the thing: “If we were using PRIDE’s scoring system …”

If you’ve been around the game long enough, you know how that sentence ends. Credit to Peña for toughing it out and securing a couple of solid rounds in the fight, but Pennington should still be the UFC women’s bantamweight champion today.

Wells’ overall score: 48-47 Pennington

Hannoun: It all comes down to Round 1, which was very close. Do you count Peña’s volume or the impact of Pennington’s strikes? Pennington’s strikes definitely had more impact, but after rewatching the fight, Peña was the busier fighter who landed more.

Rounds 2 and 3 were clearly Peña’s for her ground control, with Pennington taking Round 4 with ease after outstriking her and landing a big knockdown. Pennington also outlanded Peña in Round 5 and was able to hurt her again.

With Round 1 being so close, this fight definitely does not scream robbery. It all depends on whether you think Pennington’s shots warrant more weight than Peña’s volume, which would be totally understandable as Pennington had the much better moments on the feet. I just think Peña did better work in Round 1, which is why I gave her the fight. She outstruck Pennington overall in the fight, landed two takedowns to none, and had more control time. The visual of Pennington’s strong finish had me thinking she won the fight on the first watch, but in a round-by-round scoring system, Peña did just enough.

Hannoun’s score: 48-47 Peña

King: Upon second watch, this was a closer fight than I thought the first time around – but only ever so slightly.

It’s no secret the scoring really came down to how you viewed Round 1. Peña may have landed more, but Pennington clearly landed the two most impactful – and most importantly – the only damaging strikes of the round.

It was close and there is an inherent element of subjectiveness that comes with the exchange rate of more populous, less damaging strikes against less populous, more damaging strikes. But for me, Peña’s Round 1 strikes did not appear to do any damage at all.

It stinks for Pennington. I think it was the wrong decision. But ultimately, I’m not sure I’d call it a robbery.

King’s score: 48-47 Pennington