Written by Modestas Bukauskas | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Modestas Bukauskas understands that the broadcast team calling fights have a job to do, and he’s not always going to agree with them. After watching his fight from UFC 315, he doesn’t understand how a razor-close decision was somehow considered “trash” by Daniel Cormier.
The veteran light heavyweight gutted out a split decision win over Ion Cutelaba this past weekend in Montreal, and he never doubted the legitimacy of his victory. After watching the fight back at home, Bukauskas recognized areas where he could definitely improve next time out, but he doesn’t see where there were cries about a robbery in what was ultimately a back-and-forth fight across three rounds.
“That’s trash,” Cormier said during the broadcast after the scorecards for the fight were revealed. “That’s actually a very bad decision. A 30-27 for Bukauskas?”
For his part, Bukauskas doesn’t begrudge Cormier for having an opinion. He also knows how much commentators can color the opinions of fans watching at home, which he believes played at least some part in the reaction to his fight.
“I feel like that seemed to influence a lot of people’s opinions as well, especially online,” Bukauskas told MMA Fighting. “Then everyone was just sort of [repeating] what was said on the commentary as opposed to taking an opinion for themselves. Obviously, I respect those fighters. They’re Hall of Famers. They’re some of the best in the sport. You can’t knock them for what they’ve done in the sport ,but I just didn’t understand where it was coming from. I didn’t understand why their viewpoint was swayed so much to one side. It literally made no sense to me.
“I guess everyone’s got their own opinion. They’re obviously entitled to it. A lot of people lost their parlays as well on the betting so obviously a lot of people weren’t happy about that and it was a close fight. You can’t please everyone in this sport. All I’ve got to do is keep winning. At the end of the day what goes down on paper is a win so all I’ve got to do is just keep continuing to do that.”
As part of his process to better understand what went right and what went wrong, Bukauskas revealed he actually watched the fight several times both with and without the UFC commentary provided during the broadcast.
While he concedes that there were some dicey moments in the fight that could have ended with the decision going Cutelaba’s way, Bukauskas doesn’t agree with the narrative that his opponent was robbed by the judges.
“A lot of my coaches and myself watched with volume, and without volume, and one of my coaches even said when you watch it without volume — he watched it from a neutral standpoint and it was very, very close, but he said it was a little bit more on my side without the commentary,” Bukauskas said. “Obviously, they’re doing their job. They’re there to analyze the fight and do their thing. What I’ve got to do is go out and put on a better performance so their viewpoint is more towards my side and that’s absolutely fine.
“The way they made it sound, they all thought it was going to be a 30-27 to Cutelaba, which again makes no sense. I would like to know where [Daniel Cormier’s] thought process was for that one. Again, on my side, I’ll just come out with an even cleaner performance so there is no question about anything. It’s good.”
The feedback after the fight has definitely been mixed, but Bukauskas admits even the negative comments are drawing attention, which is what every fighter wants when they compete.
He also doesn’t mind stirring the pot, although his opinion on the result has stayed much the same from the moment he left the octagon to the multiple rewatches he’s had since returning home.
“I put up a post on Instagram like ‘biggest robbery?’ but I came from a very neutral view just saying it wasn’t the best but ultimately I felt like I landed the better strikes,” Bukauskas said. “I got so much response from that, which is great. That’s what you want!”
No matter how it ended, Bukauskas walked away with the win, his third in a row, and now he’s eyeing top 15 competition with a name already in mind for his next opponent.
“Zhang Mingyang just got himself into the top 15,” Bukauskas said. “An absolutely amazing performance in his last fight [against Anthony Smith]. Always comes out to fight. Banger, great guy, so why not have a fight between me and him?
“That will be a way for me to get into the top 15 and a chance for him to solidify his spot. There’s other fights that’s already been booked so he just won, I just won, why not? That’s sort of my thought process.”