Leonard Garcia defeats Nam Phan via controversial Split Decision
Posted on December 4, 2010, 08:57 PM by Joey SantosusIn the UFC's first ever live featherweight bout, Leonard Garcia defeated Ultimate Fighter semi-finalist Nam Phan by controversial split-decision. The victory marks Garcia's first ever victory with the UFC, bringing his mark to 1-2 with promotion overall.
The bout started off as expected, with both fighters exchanging back and forth, with neither man gaining a clear advantage. However, as the match-up progressed Garcia became noticeably tired in the second round, as his technique began to suffer Phan would gain a clear advantage in the stand-up. As the second round came to a close, Pham rocked Garcia with a big punch followed by a kick that grounded the former WEC stand-out. Pham's attempts to sink in a late choke were interrupted by the sound of the bell however, and Garcia would survive to see a third round. In the closing round we saw more of the same. Garcia was noticeably gassed and had nothing to offer aside from a sloppy takedown attempt, and though successful Nam would regain his footing immediately and continue to dominate his opponent in the stand-up.
In an ongoing trend, the judges handed down a surprising decision 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 in favor of Garcia.
Comments
Where do I go to become a judge. They really need some guys who know what they are seeing.
i know i was thinking the same exact thing.
No wonder Dana says "don't leave it to the judges" these guys cant see beyond the score cards.
replace those fools and let a fighter do the judging.
we are slaves to a judeing criteria that was meant for a different sport. -_-
Even if it was boxing type judges Garcia was messed up on the feet.... The 2 stupid judges must have thought Nam Phan was Leonard Garcia somehow but still the fight should have been scored 30-27........I demand to see the 2 judges tarred and feathered for their stupidity.
He gone done it again!
Count up the score... Garcia: 85, Phan: 86. Shouldn't Nam win by split decision???
They don't add different judges scores together.
i think the judges are looking to arianny's boobs during the fight and not judging
hahahahaha.... you've floored me!!!
biggest robbery i have seen to date
"an asian brotha cant get no love!" ahah nam ftw
leonard "i rob asian guys of split decisions" garcia
lol nice one
Nam can't get no break. I hope we get to see him again, his body shots are pretty deadly.
Those judges need to start wearing some real thick glasses.
These guys need to go to Herb Deans school of Referees and Judges
shady!!
This is highway robbery!!!!!!!!
I think the UFC should sign Nam even after this BS decision and i think they will, not taken away from Garcia.
It isnt Garcia's fault that the judges picked him to win, even he was SHOCKED about the decision. He sat there and let Nam Phan get time in his post fight interview with Rogan. The only topic Garcia was addressing was they could rematch ASAP. I think that was the most honorable gesture he could of done... (Garcia)
I dont care for a rematch, its hard to take out Garcia. Theres just too much of a solid chance for it to go to decision and with Garcia's striking technique he will forever pretty much lose by getting outstruck but will win the judge's eyes for some reason....... Its a win for Phan, credible sites should just purposely add that as a win and we all should just call it a win and hopefully this will all be a repressed memory the MMA community can share.
I would love to see a rematch. That was fight of the night IMO, and their styles make for a great battle.
I agree Pham won and your idea of ignoring judges decisions and sites implementing the real winner could go a long way into making mma sort out good judges.
i dont see why every one gets so pissy when theres controversial decisions like that dana white says dont leave it in the hands of the judges and alot of ppl still do
@ThaSpider420 wat do you think they choose to do that on purpose?? its a sport with rules and regulations and not a 1 round fight where a winner is decided by submission or KO
umm...I suppose you base your sayings on your long time experience at knocking-out opponents and you find it such an easy thing to do right?
lol see ur mad jus like they where... its not like it matters to you if they win or lose its not affecting you at all
Yes, cuz us people who choose to use our brains know of the injustice. Dude you should just go play in traffic or be a questionable fan of some other sport that nobody cares about, like bowling. Nobody likes your stupid comments
hahha u guys are funny .. ur mad lol its a comment chill..
your makin stoners look bad stop talking or delete the 420 from your name please
Edie Bravo makes up for him X10
lol how is talking about mma making stoners look bad retard mma has nothing to do with weed so i jus laugh at your comment
Garcia is a terrible striker.. Not that good of an MMA fighter.. Yet won round one, and round three tonight... If you people can't see that, then you're all blind, or love to choke the chicken like Nam Pham.. He had Garcia all gassed out on the third, and yet didn't do sh!t... Garcia was pushing forward all the time, and throwing id!ot shots, yet landing some. While Pham just never released anything... One thing is to for you all to like the guy for the show, and another is to think he won, when he didn't... You all were probably brain watched by Rogan.. The no good fighter of Garcia won.. So what make Nam Pham... Probably TUF Gatekeeper...
is that you ThaSpider420?If not, read the above comment i made for him and then apply it double for you
I suppose then that you know better than the majority of that audience, Rogan, who has provided commentary on UFC fights as an occupation for 13 or so years(on and off since '97, apparently), and more than likely a large portion of fans who watched from home, who are all blind/brainwaSHed. How does the guy who got wailed on for 2 rounds, plus an admittedly close first, win? Even if he threw/landed more hits(which I'm not convinced he did, necessarily),
who was staggering around flailing wildly looking exhausted and in pain for the last half of the fight? Then he has the nads to claim in his backstage interview (http://www.ufc.com/media/tuf-12-garcia-post-interview)that he was "leaning" side to side to "let" Phan get some light hits in so he can get in close and let loose? That is not what I saw. And he says he hurt him more than he got hurt? Phan never looked like he was particularly phased by anything from his opponent, as I recall. Round 1 was close, but in my non-expert opinion it was Phan's. Round 2 was Phan's, which I believe you aknowledge. How exactly do you think he won round 3 though? Because that is not at all how me and the guys I was watching with saw it.
um, if you are a guy and dont "choke the chicken from time to time, then i dont want to know what kind if sick self appointed better than thow, in the closet ****(not gay, but the kind of fag that a monk would even kick in the face) you are. second, you are a ****ing idiot that knows nothing about this sport. you think that cause you watch the UFC that you are the go to guy? there are so many doooooooosh bags out there just like you. go hang yourself with your mothers size 100 1/2" thong. if that dosent do the job, try swallowing some razor blades.
Garcia threw more shots. Nam LANDED more shots.
Go watch the fight again d!ck faces.. I know what I saw, and the bad fighter beat chicken man... So they both suck...Yet Garcia won...Live with it sh!t faces.
According to the fight metric breakdown, Nam Phan landed 116 successful strikes, vs Garcia's 70. That's the tally from all three rounds. When I say landed, I mean they connected. Garcia threw many more shots that did not land. A staggering 288 (218 of which completely missed) strikes thrown vs Nam Phan's 241 (125 missed). So overall, Nam landed 60% more strikes over 3 rounds. Clearly, he outstruck him. But we can break this down more.
Round 1: Phan landed 33 successful strikes to Garcia's 30. Garcia threw 111 total strikes, missing 81 of them. Phan threw 71, missing 38. Neither one shot or secured any takedowns.
Round 2: Phan landed 45 strikes to Garcia's 18. Garcia missed 33 of 51.. Phan missed 29 of 74. Phan also landed a takedown (via knockdown), and attempted to secure a Rear Naked Choke.
Round 3: Phan landed 38 strikes to Garcia's 22. Garcia missed 104 of 126 strikes. Phan missed 58 of 96 strikes. Garcia landed a takedown, attempting two total that round.
So let's look at the round breakdown. Round 1 was the closest, decided purely on strikes with no takedown attempts from either fighter. It could be argued that Garcia gained extra points from being agressive, as he was the one who constantly moved forward and pushed the pace. But logically, he missed most of his strikes, and Phan backed up, throwing slightly more accurate strikes. On strikes alone, Nam Phan edged out a win. On aggressiveness, it's possible Garcia could be argued to have won that first round.
Round 2, however, was not even close. Garcia landed less than half as many strikes as Phan, and was even taken down and had to fight out of a rear-naked choke.
Round3, Garcia landed 57% of the strikes that Nam Phan did and secured only one takedown. Even with the takedown counting for a rediculous amount of points, it still can't make up for Nam Phan landing nearly double the strikes. Even with aggressiveness factored in. Nam Phan was just far more accurate.
Want to look over these stats yourself? http://blog.fightmetric.com/2010/12/garcia-vs-phan-fightmetric-report.html#more
Basically, what I'm saying here is that even with aggressiveness factored in, Nam Phan won that fight. Easily.
You should apply for a judge, they could use a guy who actually uses his brain to score a fight ;-)
Although they will propably fire you after judging a fight fairly, because you ruin their image :-p
They'd fire me for enjoying it too much. Getting PAID to watch those fights live? Dream job.
He didn't mount an all out assault to secure the win, but he absolutely did not lose to a few sloppy punches and 1 successful takedown which was also done sloppily, and did no appreciable damage with or after said takedown.
I had Nam: 30 - 27.
@GoldenBibi
Garcia even knew she should've lost.
There has been a lot of bad decisions in the UFC of late but this is the worst by far for me. Garcia was destroyed by Nam and still won, only the first round was even remotely close but in my eyes Nam still won that quite clearly.
Phan won that fight 29-28 easy.
yeah so theres been some judging mishaps in the past, but in my opinion this one takes the cake. was almost ready to vomit when they said garcia won the fight. absolutely ridiculous. i hope phan gets another chance in the ufc after this, he won all ****ing 3 rounds without a doubt. this fight hurt me as an mma fan. so ridiculous. i myself feel robbed as a fan.
whats next? like really. this poor judging is gunna ruin the sport. fix this shit now! anyone that gave garcia the fight should quit watching mma. this shit frustrates me.
smh
The judges are selected by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Are they all just washed up, out of work boxing judges, or are they the Commissioner's cousins and illigitimate children?