A few days after UFC , Jared Gordon still struggles to understand how he lost to Paddy Pimblett on his UFC record.
Despite what was widely regarded as a winning performance, the New York native heard the scorecards all read 29-28 in favor of his opponent. Gordon was understandably dejected as soon as the decision was announced, and truth be told, he’s still trying to process everything that happened.
“It is heartbreaking,” Gordon said to MMA Fighting. “I’m devastated. There’s not much I can do. We’ll see what comes with it.”
While he went into the fight as a decided underdog, Gordon controlled the majority of the exchanges with Pimblett as he constantly landed his combinations including a left hook that was finding a home nearly every time he threw it. Pimblett certainly fired back with his fair share of strikes but Gordon almost always got the better of the exchanges through the first two rounds.
The action slowed considerably in the third round as Gordon opted to press Pimblett against the cage and look for takedowns. Gordon does not offer any excuses, but Pimblett was slightly hampered by an earlier injury.
“I really hurt my ankle in the first round. Bad,” Gordon revealed. I was throwing kicks but it felt awful to push it off and be there by the end of the third round. It was obvious that I had a better record everywhere. I reversed his actions. Took him down. Better control time. You are more comfortable clinching against the fence. My punches landed cleaner and better. My leg kicks were very good. It could have gone three rounds. I wish I could have done a couple of things differently, especially in the third round but I thought I won every round.
“He claimed he won in round three, but in my head I thought I had won the previous two rounds. Let’s just say that I am winning the round. I will do the same on the cage and I want to take down him. I had his back for a little bit standing. It’s very different from when it happens outside, but I felt I was winning. But obviously there was different plans.”
According to Gordon, the ankle injury occurred from the leg kicks he threw early in the fight, which landed on Pimblett’s calf and shin bone. It turns out it’s the same ankle injury that Gordon suffered in a previous fight with Grant Dawson but it was never serious enough to require anything more than physical therapy.
“It was hard for me to bounce around on it,” Gordon said. “It’s my right ankle so it’s my back foot so that’s where my power’s coming from. It is what it is. It is not uncommon to get into fights.
“I thought I was winning there. He was my control. I was landing knees. He was trying to fall down. I was going up, I was going down, I was changing levels. It’s not like I was just holding him. I was trying to take him down.”
Despite his injury, Gordon felt confident in his victory. Rewatching the fight only reinforced his conviction.
” “When I saw the fight again, it was almost like I had won each round,” Gordon stated. “I believe 99. 9 percent of the world thinks I won, too. The outcome could not have been any other way. No, I clearly won. It’s impossible. Doug Crosby may be blind. I also know that the other men had the same outcome, but it is hard to imagine how anyone could give him the whole round. It’s impossible.”
The judges — Doug Crosby, Ron McCarthy and Chris Lee — only scored the second round unanimously for Pimblett with the first and third rounds split between the officials.
In Gordon’s mind, he should have taken all three rounds or at worst left the cage with a 29-28 unanimous decision in his favor. Instead, he left with a loss and he’s still struggling to understand why.
” It’s likely one of the most disastrous decisions in UFC history,” Gordon stated. It’s one of the top three most regrettable decisions in UFC history. I lost out on a lot of opportunity. Money: I missed out on two sponsors who were still in negotiations that I hadn’t heard of since the fight. A loss on my record. They now what do you do?
” It’s still very fresh so I have to wait and see what happens. I’ve got so much stuff going through my head. Sometimes I think this isn’t so bad. The next moment, I’m devastated. I’m like all right, I should be grateful, I fell all right. Then I think about everything and then I’m devastated again. It’s sad. It’s hard to know what I should say. I’m not sure what to say anymore. It was a loss. But regardless, most people know .”
was the true winner.
In the wake of the fight Pimblett reacted strongly to the notion that he had lost, while insisting that he felt confident about his win. Pimblett even went as far as saying that he probably should have earned a 30-27 scorecard with all three rounds going his way.
Reacting to those comments, Gordon wasn’t upset because he understands there’s no way the outspoken Liverpool native is going to just concede defeat but in reality there’s no way Pimblett actually believes he was victorious at UFC 282.
“He’s got to continue with the whole personality and his schtick,” Gordon said. “Before the fight, he said he was going to knock me out in the first round. I came closer to hurting him than he hurt me. You can see my scratches on my face. I’m not sure what they are, and I also have a little black eye. People are like damage! Damage is scratches? This is not a case of me being cut open.
” After the fight, he said he had won all three rounds but that he has to continue. I don’t find it annoying. That’s just the way he is. That’s him. He will continue doing that. He won’t ever say he lost. That’s ridiculous. Deep down, he knows what really happened. Every member of his team does, too. Fans are the same. He is not stupid, and so are his friends. He knows I won. He couldn’t watch the fight.
The sting of the decision is still burning right now but Gordon is doing his best to look forward to the future when addressing what comes next.
Ideally Gordon would love to have the opportunity to take it back with Pimblett — perhaps with less controversy. He’s also willing to go into hostile territory in order to make this happen.
” The only thing I see that makes sense to me is a fight again, and Gordon stated this. “I don’t care. It doesn’t really matter. I’m super bitter right now, obviously, it’s been three days and I can’t see the silver lining yet but there obviously is one but it’s going to take some time to become apparent.
“If he thinks he’s going to get into the top 15 or top 10, he’s going to need more experience before that. Everybody in the top 15 ranks is straight-savage. He might be ready if he wins two more fights against me. But he has lost his first fight. It only makes sense that he should be able to go back and see what he is capable of doing. It just seems logical, especially considering where he is in his career and how much experience he already has. I was the only one he could get by. It would be great for me, too, obviously and I want it back.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/14/23508704/jared-gordon-devastated-controversial-loss-paddy-pimblett-probably-one-of-the-worst-decisions-ever?rand=96749
