"When they read 30-27 for Rocha, I was like, 'What the (expletive)? Great, here we go again,'" Pierce said in an e-mail just after he was told by MMAjunkie.com that his split decision win actually was a unanimous decision sweep of the judges' scorecards.
Officials with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees the Florida Boxing Commission, on Tuesday confirmed to MMAjunkie.com that judge Ric Bays, whose score was read as 30-27 for Rocha, had scored the fight in error.
"After the fight, Ric Bays informed the Commission that he scored the wrong corner and asked for a correction," said Sandi Poreda, the director of communications for the FDBPR. "As the other fight was starting, the commission changed it on the official record."
Several key MMA databases still list Pierce's win as a split decision, and his official fighter bio page at UFC.com also has him down for a split. So word didn't travel very far very fast after the apparent correction was made to Bays' scorecard on Friday night.
"I was unaware that the judge scored it for the wrong corner, nor was I told," Pierce said. "My thoughts on the outcome still remain the same. Judges have had a bad rap for a while now, and it's instances like this that don't help their case any."
