Few things infuriate MMA fans more than a fight being scored incorrectly, though the term “robbery” tends to be thrown around carelessly and is often steeped in bias. With Robbery Review, we’ll take a look back at controversial fights and determine whether the judges were rightly criticized for their decision or if pundits need to examine their own knee-jerk reactions.

Who would have thought that PFL (and Bellator, kind of? RIP) would bring us our first scoring controversy of the year?

The PFL Dubai main event between lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and Paul Hughes was well-promoted, though based on the odds, Nurmagomedov was the favorite and still expected to make easy work of his upstart challenger. It didn’t play out that way as Hughes proved to be more than a match for Nurmagomedov, expertly clashing with him in all phases of the game and doing more than enough to win over the crowd if not the fight itself.

Nurmagomedov walked out with the majority decision win, a verdict not everyone agreed with. Notably, Conor McGregor believed it was an “easy win” for his fellow Irishman (a sentiment that predictably gave way to spite later on), and longtime Nurmagomedov family nemesis Dillon Danis tweeted, “Paul Hughes was robbed!” Completely unbiased takes, obviously.

But where there’s smoke, there’s also hundreds of faceless social media users crying “robbery!” along with Danis, so we figured why not take this one to the lab for a rare non-UFC Robbery Review?

What was the official result?

Usman Nurmagomedov def. Paul Hughes via majority decision.

How did the fight go?

The first thing that jumps out watching the first two rounds is the diversity of the striking diet of both competitors. Sure, they were trying to knock each other’s blocks off, but they mixed in plenty of body and leg strikes to great effect. Nurmagomedov was shredding Hughes’ lead leg early and also found success spamming side kicks to the body. On the other side, Hughes punished Nurmagomedov with body punches inside during clinch sequences and he landed leg kicks of his own that looked like they were bothering the champion at the end of Round 2.

As far as power shots go, Nurmagomedov had a sharp counter right working and also scored with a big elbow on a separation, while Hughes’ left hook was money and he also landed a switch kick that wowed the crowd when it pushed an off-balance Nurmagomedov to the mat.

In Round 3, we had a pivotal moment as Nurmagomedov caught Hughes with a brutal inside kick to the groin. It wasn’t the first, and it was one too many for referee Mike Beltran, who had little choice but to deduct Nurmagomedov a point. That gave Nurmagomedov some ground to make up. Luckily for him this was where his wrestling started to shine. He couldn’t hold Hughes down, but he had success holding on to Hughes, winning scrambles, and stifling the Irishman’s offense.

The championship rounds were close, with Round 4 highlighted by an awesome visual of Hughes with blood trickling down his face after an accidental clash of heads. As Nurmagomedov was being checked out by a ringside physician, Hughes stood with a smirk on his face before working the crowd up into a frenzy. It wasn’t just showmanship either, as he landed some great shots in the round with an uppercut on a ducking Nurmagomedov and a hard right hand from range.

The final round saw Nurmagomedov put renewed emphasis on his wrestling, perhaps feeling he needed to secure one more round to take the fight. Hughes refused to go down easily, even with Nurmagomedov clinging onto him with that trademark Dagestani grip until Hughes hit a gorgeous switch to nearly take Nurmagomedov’s back. They returned to the striking and Nurmagomedov landed the best sequence of the round, blasting Hughes with a 1-2 followed by a knee up the middle. Nurmagomedov tried to end the round with a takedown, but Hughes hit another switch, and the fight wrapped up with them swinging instead.

Brilliant contest.

What did the judges say?

Sal D’Amato scored it 48-46 Nurmagomedov.

Eric Colon scored it 48-46 Nurmagomedov.

Hadi Ali scored it 47-47.

Scorecards were all over the place here, with rounds 2, 4, and 5 all disputed. D’Amato and Colon gave Round 2 to Nurmagomedov, D’Amato and Ali gave Round 4 to Hughes, and D’Amato and Ali gave Round 5 to Nurmagomedov.

What did the media say?

Eight media scores were logged by MMA Decisions, with none having it for Hughes. However, three did score it a 47-47 draw, including MMA Fighting’s own Jed Meshew, who gave rounds 1 and 5 to Nurmagomedov, and rounds 2 and 4 to Hughes, with the middle round being a draw due to Nurmagomedov having the advantage but losing a point for the low blow.

What did the people say?

On MMA Decisions, 25.4 percent of voters actually gave all five rounds to the champion (resulting in a 49-45 score with the deduction). However, there were plenty of Hughes backers, too, with 20.4 percent having it 48-46 for the challenger. Draw took 19.9 percent of the vote.

This was a close fight!

How did I score it?

I had it 47-47 by the end, but damn, almost all of these rounds felt like toss-ups.

I give Nurmagomedov the edge in Round 1 and Hughes Round 2, but it’s not like either ran away with either of those frames. It was the precision of Nurmagomedov’s kicks and his sturdy defense that earned him the first 10-9, with Hughes taking the second 10-9 on the strength of his pace and that step kick that caught Nurmagomedov slipping.

Round 3 is less controversial than it seems at a glance. Nurmagomedov clearly won it on my card, kicking it up a notch in the wrestling department and finding ways to do damage on those separations. He deservedly lost a point for repeated low blows, though, making this fight truly up for grabs going into the championship rounds.

And you know what? I can hardly separate them. Round 4 was 10-9 Hughes for me thanks to a beautiful uppercut and consistent pressure, plus Nurmagomedov didn’t do much significant damage in the round. And then I lean towards the champ in Round 5 for landing arguably the best strikes of the fight when he popped Hughes with a 1-2 followed by a knee to the head.

So yes, 47-47. Draw!

Was it a robbery?

Hardly.

I don’t see at all how one can convince themselves that either fighter did enough to greatly distance themselves from their opponent. That’s not a slam on them either, because this fight ruled, it just goes to show how on-point the matchmaking was and how high-level Nurmagomedov and Hughes are. I’m convinced either would be a legitimate contender on the UFC roster if they ever made that jump.

I agree, it sucks to see Hughes take a loss on his record when he did seemingly everything in his power to avoid that outcome, but even he said afterwards he felt he left something in the tank.

No matter what, we need to see these two run it back, preferably right away.

The final verdict

Not a robbery. No matter what McGregor and Danis have to say about it.