Judges Gonna Judge: Did Julianna Peña get away with title robbery at UFC 307 vs. Raquel Pennington?

Welcome to “Judges Gonna Judge,” where our MMA Junkie staff panel revisits the most controversial decision that occurred over the weekend.

In this installment, we take a closer look at the UFC 307 co-main bout in Salt Lake City, a women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Peña. The fight resulted in a split decision, crowning Peña champion for the second time in her UFC career.

The fight started with a close Round 1, but the following four rounds were decisive. After 25 minutes of action, the official judges submitted dueling 48-47 scores, with two seeing Peña as the winner. The opening frame created the dissension, while Rounds 2-5 were scored the same on all cards.

Twenty-five media members who submitted scores to MMA Decisions scored the fight 48-47 for Pennington, while one saw the fight as a 47-47 draw. Zero scores were submitted in Peña’s favor.

MMA Junkie’s Farah Hannoun, Nolan King and Matthew Wells put on their judging hats and break the fight down by each round.

If you need a refresher on the official scoring criteria before we dive in, you can check it out here.