Manager to appeal Kai Kamaka’s controversial loss to TJ Brown at UFC on ESPN 23

Kai Kamaka’s manager will file an appeal following his client’s controversial loss at UFC on ESPN 23.

[autotag]Kai Kamaka[/autotag]’s manager will file an appeal following his client’s controversial loss at UFC on ESPN 23.

Kamaka (8-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) dropped a split decision to TJ Brown (15-8 MMA, 1-2 UFC) this past Saturday. Judge Adalaide Byrd awarded him all three rounds, but judges Sal D’Amato and Mike Bell scored it 2-1 in favor of Brown, giving him the first and third rounds.

All 12 media members scoring the night’s contests as tracked by MMADecisions.com awarded the fight to Kamaka, but the official result read otherwise. According to MMA Fighting, Kamaka’s manager, Brian Butler, will file an appeal with the Nevada Athletic Commission on Monday with hopes of getting the result overturned.

“Tomorrow we will be filing an appeal for the blatantly horrible decision against Kai Kamaka,” Butler told MMA Fighting. “I don’t believe I have seen one media outlet that gave that fight to TJ, and from what I understand, even TJ and his team say they didn’t win. There is little to no recourse on these judges not being able to do their jobs properly, and for a fighter like Kai who moved his entire household from Hawaii to pursue this career, it’s simply not right.

“I’m not suggesting that the fight wasn’t competitive, but that doesn’t mean it was hard to see that Kai won every round of that fight. Our hope is that if they won’t overturn the decision, the commission will at least review the fight with us and explain to us where Kai lost.”

It’s historically rare for a decision to get overturned, and Kamaka’s team is aware of that. His head coach Eric Nicksick explained he just wants the judges to give an explanation for their decision.

“The chances this gets overturned is slim to none. So why bother you ask? Well, if this means that these judges have to go before a review board and justify what they saw and why they made this decision, and it’s an inconvenience to their day, then good.”

Kamaka, who’s now dropped two straight, also gave his thoughts on his controversial loss to Brown.

“Last night 2 judges didn’t see it my way. It was a very competitive fight with both winning and losing moments. With that being said, I do feel that I won based on the criteria of our sport. Thank you to TJ Brown for a great scrap!!!”

While the judging of the contest has been hotly debated, according to UFC Stats (which judges do not have access to when assessing the bout), Brown did land 82 significant strikes over the course of the three-round contest, compared to 61 for Kamaka. Brown was also credited with two takedowns in the bout, while Kamaka was awarded just one.

In the rounds that were given to Brown, he was also credited with a striking advantage, including 34 strikes in Round 1 to Kamaka’s 22, as well as a 24-to-13 edge in Round 3.

UFC on ESPN 23 took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The entire card aired on ESPN2.

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