Bushmills native Norman Parke knows the bitter taste of being caught on the wrong side of a controversial decision all too well.
Stormin’ Norman left it in the hands of the judges for his bout against Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Goiania. Despite appearing to win rounds one and three, the judges gave the home town fighter the split decision victory (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
However, after the fight, Trinaldo even admitted he thought Parke’s performance was enough to have him ahead on the scorecards.
“I thought the judges would give him (the win)”
“I thought it could go either way, but I was blessed and the judges gave it to me. It could have gone his way or mine, and they gave it to me.”
This is the second time Parke has felt the full wrath of the Brazilian judges in the lion’s den.
He scored a controversial draw with Leonardo Santos in Natal in 2014, after having a point deducted without warning for grabbing his opponent’s shorts. Meanwhile, the ref failed to call up Santos on illegally grabbing hold of the cage multiple times during the bout.
With this fresh controversy, the Northern Irish man vowed to never fight in Brazil again.
“Brazilians judges are a joke. I won this fight. I won the first and the third round for sure. I’ll never fight in Brazil again.”
Hat-tip to MMA Fighting
