Guram Kutateladze loses controversial decision: ”That is not OK”

At Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night card, ”The Georgian Viking” Guram Kutateladze finally returned to action two years after winning his promotional debut.

The Swedish-Georgian lightweight, who trains at Allstars Traning Center in Stockholm, faced Kazakhstan’s Damir Ismagulov on the main card in Austin, Texas.

The bout ended up being an all-out war as well as a technical battle were both fighters had their moments. Kutateladze started strong, both rounds two and three were extremely close as neither of them backed off even for a second.

In the end Ismagulov got his hand raised by way of split decision. And while him getting the win wasn’t that controversial per se – in all reality, it could’ve gone either way – the fact that one judge had it 30-27 in favor of Ismagulov certainly raised some eyebrows since Kutateladze seemed to win round one quite clearly.

”This is what makes me sad in this sport. That is not OK,” Swedish UFC commentator Waldo Zapata said during Viaplay’s live broadcast. ”That is not an acceptable score by that judge.

”Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against giving Ismagulov the win – this was an extremely even fight. What I am against, however, is judges not doing their jobs and that score really isn’t okay. I can guarantee you that we will be reading and discussing this one afterwards.”

The decision was initially announced as a majority call, but it was actually a split decision according to the official scorecard. One scored it 29-28 Kutateladze while the other two had it 29-28 and 30-27 Ismagulov.

#UFCAustin Official Scorecard: Damir Ismagulov vs Guram Kutateladze

All Tonight's Scorecards: https://t.co/BSPcdaQrlC pic.twitter.com/6vfZf6trlc

— UFC News (@UFCNews) June 19, 2022

Kutateladze is now 1-1 in UFC and 12-3 as a pro. The narrow loss snapped a nine-fight win streak.

Ismagulov, however, has now won 19 fights in a row – five of them inside the octagon. He is now 5-0 in the UFC and 24-1 in MMA.

A tough one to call!

🇰🇿 Damir Ismagulov makes it NINETEEN(!) wins in a row after notching the majority decision! #UFCAustin pic.twitter.com/x7q26gRzOl

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) June 19, 2022

Read more: Guram Kutateladze on Khamzat Chimaev: ”We know what he is capable of”

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