Sherdog’s Top 10: Worst Decisions

6. Darrel Gholar vs. Johil de Oliveira
International Vale Tudo Championship 5 “The Warriors”
April 28, 1998 | Sao Paulo, Brazil
Gholar picked a rough place to make his professional mixed martial arts debut. Fighting a Brazilian on his home soil is never an easy task, as evidenced by the record of foreigners competing against athletes from the South American nation since the UFC began holding cards there on a regular basis. However, the situation was likely far worse for Gholar, who hoped to garner a road win under the International Vale Tudo Championship banner in 1998, years before MMA went mainstream.

Gholar learned all of this at IVC 5, where he squared off with de Oliveira, a veteran of the Brazilian scene who had only been defeated twice in 13 appearances. The 30-minute bout was not especially eventful, but many of its key moments belonged to Gholar. The American landed multiple takedowns and stayed busy with moderate ground-and-pound from top position; and if it was visible damage you wanted, Gholar also bloodied Oliveira by opening a cut over his opponent’s right eye.

By landing the occasional jab and leg kick, Oliveira probably got the better of the standup encounters, but he landed nothing that truly resonated. Gholar put his stamp on the bout in the final five minutes, landing his last takedown and spending the remainder of the encounter on top. When Oliveira sought refuge in the netting under the bottom rope of the IVC ring, Gholar was undeterred, as he continued to land strikes until time expired.

A bleeding Oliveira looked unconvincing as he raised his hands in triumph at the bout’s conclusion, but perhaps he had an inkling of the heaping helping of Brazilian home cooking that was to come. All three ringside judges revealed scores in favor of Oliveira, a ruling that to this day has a cult of supporters on forums and message boards who view it as one of the sport’s most overlooked bad decisions.

Those who believe in karma can take solace in this: Oliveira lost nine fights in a row after his fortuitous verdict over Gholar.

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