Apparently there are problems with judging MMA in Virginia

The sport suffered yet another embarrassment at the hands of the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (VDPOR), the body that sanctions fights in the state last weekend. After the judging fiasco during the Chase Beebe and Mike Easton fight at UCW 7 and the Jesse Lennox/Rick Story debate at UFC Fight Night, there’s yet another issue with the judging – at the third professional event in the state. During a recent fight between Jesse Riggleman and Bryan Goldsby at the Respect is Earned event that went to the judges scorecards, the VDPOR apparently scored the entire fight incorrectly and caused an uproar with both fighters, the crowd, and MMA fans along the East coast as the decision was announced.

As the fight ended, judges turned in their cards to be scored and announced. Bryan Goldsby was initally announced as the split-decision winner and the crowd, filled with pro-Riggleman fans, went crazy. Word spread that the judges messed something up and Riggleman decided to run back into the cage before the next fight began. And this is when the madness started.

Here’s what Paul Miles of Mid-Atlantic MMA Online had to say:

Now to clarify, its believed that Riggleman entered the cage under someone else’s suggestion and its assumed he believed he would be part of an announcement, because this is where the story turns into a gong show. Riggleman leaves the cage. But at some point, and this is a bit unclear to me, Virginia officials have RIE make an announcement that the decision of Goldsby/Riggleman has been overturned to a draw. Then, sometime before the end of the event a second announcement is made at the request of the commission that the Goldsby/Riggleman decision has been reversed to a Riggleman victory.

On the MMA UG forum, Goldsby’s teammate on the Rush MMA team, Bubby Mitchell, explains his side of the story to a few readers.

We fought at hard fought fight tonight only to have our hand raised..then 20 min later they claim problems on score card and show us..scribble marks all over it..then after the fight when time to get paid, we were awarded the loss..Ben Saunders cornered with me, police had to escort him out bc he was so furious..the athletic commisioner who was there looked at us and told us he could change it if he damn well wanted to but couldnt explain to us why the judges cards were “all mixed up”, he claims that the names on the card were mixed up..what do we do about this..he says if we want to file appeal or complaint we have to do it with him, so of course its gonna get ripped up..shonie carter, donald ceroni, junior and rafael assuscao were there and all agreed to vouch on how wrong it was..what should we do now? chase beebe was a victim of a bullshit call in VA his last fight as well..and “they are handling it” fuck these guys

Miles has a second article on the subject up at MAMMA-Online to update readers of the situation down in Virginia. And there’s news that a video of the fight will soon emerge for all to see. Maybe quickly pushing to sanction the sport of MMA in every state is not such a good idea right now. Perhaps we need a group oversee the state commissions to reduce the kind of problems that are showing up in Virginia – at each of their three professional events.

Stay tuned to MAMMA-Online for more updates.

And If you need to reach the VDPOR:

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
9960 Mayland Drive
Suite 400
Richmond, Virginia 23233-1463

Program Administrator: David Holland (804)367-0186
For further information, contact the Licensing Section:
Phone: (804)367-0186
Email: boxing@dpor.virginia.gov