Cecil Peoples is sick and tired off all the hate and mockery that’s been thrown his way over the years. He has a reputation as a judge who often scores the fight for the loser, and it seems all the public outcry over his most recent decision has pushed him to the breaking point. As far as he’s concerned, if you don’t like how he judges fights, “you can go to hell.” Yeah, he said that.
“So you in a bar with 200 people that are sloppy drunk, and you’re gonna argue with me about the decision?” he asked. “How does that work? Only in America. I give the fight to Machida in a very, very close fight. Now you’re pissed off because it’s my fault that you lost your money. No, it’s not. It’s Machida’s fault.”
For those who think he should find another profession, he has one thing to say.
“If you don’t like it, you can go to hell.”
Nice, Cecil. We love you too.
Despite the overwhelming sentiment that Shogun Rua defeated Lyoto Machida last Saturday night, Peoples is not backing down from his decision. He still believes he scored the fight correctly, especially in the first round.
“I don’t back down because it’s not popular.”
“My thing is, Rua did hit him more,” said Peoples. “But Machida hit him harder, especially in the early rounds.”
“I’m really perplexed about how you give (Rua) [the first] round, because Shogun was kicking (Machida) a lot in the legs, but every time he kicked him in the legs, he got hit in the face,” he said. “Shogun would put his hand up, and Machida would go right through, sweat’s flying off (Rua’s) face. Shogun kicked (Machida) in the belly – that’s how he got the red mark.
“But you gotta remember, Machida is stepping back, so when he gets kicked, he’s getting brushed. But he counters Shogun with a hard kick to the belly. Which one counts more for the exchange? I give it to the (second one), because it was harder. It wasn’t brushed.”
“Machida was controlling that round because he was dominant in not getting beat up in that round,” he said. “He was the general in that first round.”
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here and rehash everything, but I will say this, Machida did not hit Shogun in the face every time he got kicked in the leg. In fact, according to the numbers, Shogun connected with 15 leg kicks in the first round while Machida only landed one strike to the head. I’ll concede the first round was close, but for reasons other than Peoples describes above.
Bottom line is the judging in MMA needs a major overhaul from the judges to arguably the way it’s scored. We need competent individuals who understand what they’re watching along with guidelines that clearly define how the fight should be scored. Everyone likes to say don’t leave it to the judges. Given how things are now that’s the only way to ensure a fair outcome, but that doesn’t mean the fighters, fans, promoters etc. shouldn’t demand an effort be made to fix the problems. Not every fight is going to end in a knockout or submission, sometimes two fighters go at it for 3-5 rounds and they’re both still standing at the end. The true winners of such fights deserve the “W” just as much as the guys who finished it.
Update: In an interview with Gazeta Do Pova, Shogun was asked to respond to Cecil Peoples’ comments.
“You just have to look at my face and his (Lyoto). I didn’t suffer one kick, only some knees but he has a rib broken neither get to walk and his mouth is stitched. They made some fighting analysis and I landed the double of hits. Will the judges say they didn’t see that? They will speak anything to justify the result. I feel pissed for my score (18-4), I prize a lot for it and I don’t consider this loss. I didn’t meet Lyoto after the fight but he’s a man I respect so much. He’s blameless, it’s judges’ culprit. Only them say the fight that way. I don’t blame Machida at all.”
Translation via MMA Mania
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Totally true.
Cecil Peoples, take your bribe and go back to boxing for good.
I can’t believe this guy is favouring defensive strategies “…he was dominant in not getting beat up”!!!!!, giving the fight to the loser (in a close fight I admitt) because it’s a title fight and is eventually insulting the fans (that finance indirectly his bribes)!!!
You know what, Rampage is fkn right. We should name people like this everytime this happens (why not make a ranking) and make them notorious. that’s the only way to get rid of corruption.
not everyone watching the fight was drunk in a bar cecil!
Totally agree with the comment about machida NOT punching every time he got kicked too.
Cecil Peoples isn’t from boxing. In fact, there’s no record he’s ever judged or reffed a boxing match in his life. He has, however, been involved with MMA for about a decade now. Maybe longer. The only guys I can think of in the US that have been around as long in either capacity are Larry Landless (blackballed from UFC), Big John (blackballed from UFC), and maybe Andy Anderson (don’t know if he reffs still).
Obviously your not a boxing fan because if you ever watched any big fight Cecil Peoples is usually a judge . So how about you start Doin’ Dat Research before you say someone is wrong on a comment they have .
I would love to know how People’s can prove that Machida hit Rua ‘harder’.
I know how to prove he didn’t. Look at Machida after the fight.
Thanks for the info “Doin dat Research”.
In fact, I don’t really care where he’s from. I’m just astonished by that level of blindness – stupidity – corruption, whatever you may call it.
I would really like to have the feelings of Big John about this match. If I’m correct, he’s the best ref concerning MMA and was rarely?-never? involved in doubtful judgments (unless guys like Lavigne or Mazzagatti). If Big John judges that Machida won the fight and supports Cecil Peoples judgment, I’m ready to apologize to what I said about C. Peoples. Otherwise, this fat prick can just go to hell as well…
To anticipate comments, nobody gives a shit about my point of view but I guarantee it’s representative of the thoughts of many MMA fans around.
I also know that Ref and judges don’t do the same jobs but I’m sure that Big John would do a great judge…
This statement really makes him look stupid. I hope he gets shit canned.
is Peoples The only judge out there?
has anyone that has commented on this fight watched it more than once ?
I’ve watched the Machida / Shogun fight four times now. I’ve gone as far as going through portions in slow motion. Here are a few things I picked out:
1. Machida was outstruck in the first round – but he landed 2 of the hardest hits in that round…..the only hard shots in the round.
2. Machida landed a punch on Shogun 9 times while being kicked.
3. During the big flurry in the third round – Shogun only landed 2 strikes to Machida’s 8+ strikes – and the two uppercuts from Machida were everybit as hard-or-harder than the right hook that Shogun landed. Four or five of Shoguns strikes during that flurry missed the target all together.
All in all — it was a VERY close fight — the only two rounds that had a clear victor were the 2nd and 3rd and those went to Machida. Shogun didn’t clearly win any round except MAYBE the 4th. I would give the 1st round to Machida even though he was landed less strikes because Machida’s strikes were harder and more diverse (which matters as well). I would call he 5th round a draw.
Bottom line……the fight was Machida’s after the first three rounds and Shogun needed to at least knock Machida down to win a 10-8 round and tip the scales in his favor.
Not to mention — MANY share the opinion that you need to clearly beat a champ to take the belt. After all Machida knocked Evans OUT to become the champ.
I think a better question to ask is:
Can you truly call Shogun a champ for winning by a split-decision ?
P.S. as it’s been said again and again and again……don’t leave it in the hands of the judges.
forget to mention a key point:
Shogun himself, in the post-fight conference, said “In my point of view I think I won the last three rounds of the fight, that’s my opinion”. (ufc.com)
Hence giving the first two round to Machida.
Watch it again and tell me how the third round goes to Shogun…
that’s my two cents…
NEITHER OF THE FIGHTERS KNOW AUTHENTIC MUAY THAI ..
YOU CANT EXTRACT A MOVE FROM A SYSTEM AND THEN SAY YOU ARE A THAI FIGHTER..
ALL THOSE FLAP JAWS GOING ON ABOUT MUAY THAI ..
WHERE WAS THE NECK CONTROL??
WHAT ABOUT GRECO ROMAN MOVES DIDNT SEE A THING ..
NO REMATCH NEEDED BAN BOTH OF THESE LOOSERS FROM MMA.. IT WAS A WORKED FIGHT..