Sherdog.com’s 2015 Robbery of the Year

5. Francisco Trinaldo vs. Norman Parke
UFC Fight Night ‘Condit vs. Alves’
Saturday, May 30
Goiania Arena | Goiania, Brazil
At first glance, it is hard to understand how the lightweight bout between Francisco Trinaldo and Norman Parke on May 30 could be considered a robbery.

Going purely on striking metrics, Trinaldo outworked Parke by a wide margin, as the Brazilian landed more significant strikes across 15 minutes (66 to 25) and outstruck Parke in all three rounds. However, MMA is more than just striking, of course, and sometimes statistics do not tell the whole story.

Trinaldo did well on the feet through the first half of round one; even when he was not landing strikes off his back foot, “Massaranduba” was firing off shots to keep the oncoming Parke uncomfortable. The period became much closer when Parke began to have his way in the grappling department. Parke completed a pair of takedowns and put Trinaldo on the defensive by attempting a back-mount, controlling the second half of what would ultimately prove to be the fight’s swing round.

The only clear-cut round for Trinaldo came in the second, where he more than doubled up on Parke in significant strikes while denying six takedown attempts from the Northern Ireland native. All three judges gave Trinaldo a 10-9 score in round two, just as all three saw round three in favor of Parke, who once again put his opponent in danger on the ground.

When the scorecards were read, judges Felipe Frank and Rick Winter had declared Trinaldo the winner by scores of 29-28. The same score went the opposite way on the sheet of judge Chris Lee, the only scorer to award round one to Parke. Trinaldo appeared to motion toward Parke as the scores were being read and then seemed somewhat surprised to hear himself announced as the winner via split decision.

Later, Trinaldo would state that he did not expect to get the “W” at the end of the bout.

“I thought the judges would give him [the win],” Trinaldo said. “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.”

The fact that the decision was rendered in Goiania, Brazil, only a few hours from Trinaldo’s home in Brasilia, did not go unnoticed. Claims of home cooking were complicated, however, by the fact that only one judge, Frank, was actually Brazilian. Lee, a UFC regular, hails from Nevada, while Winter is from Wisconsin.

Parke, who previously felt wronged by Brazilian officials in a controversial 2014 draw with Leonardo Santos, summed up his opinion in a few strong words.

“Brazilian judges are a joke,” Parke said. “I won this fight. I won the first and third rounds, for sure. I’ll never fight in Brazil again.”