When a fight goes to the scorecards and the subsequent result is deemed dubious, it’s usually the judges who find themselves in the line of fire.

However, after his most recent win, UFC welterweight Cathal Pendred filled that role.

The 27-year-old Dubliner found himself the subject of significant vitriol from fans and media alike when he was awarded a controversial unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) over Sean Spencer on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 59 in January.

Although aware he had not given a particularly compelling account of himself, and cognizant of being floored by Spencer in the first round, Pendred (16-2-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), a former Cage Warriors welterweight champion, was satisfied he had done enough to get the judges’ nod, which is why he was left so incredulous by the online furore that followed.

Shocked and surprised

“It was only after I left the arena and I was talking to people and looking on social media,” Pendred told MMAjunkie. “That was only really when I noticed there was a lot of argument with the decision. But, before that, I was just really disappointed in myself because I just didn’t show up on the night.

“I was quite shocked and surprised because in my head I wasn’t nervous in any way when the decision was being called out. I thought it was a close fight, but I definitely didn’t think there was any question about it.”

Pendred is adamant that, after being grounded by Spencer, he was subjected to a number of illegal knees and attempted to signal referee Yves Lavigne. He now regrets switching focus from his foe and was duly chastised by his SBG Ireland coach, John Kavanagh, for doing so.

“In the first round, yes I know, he dropped me,” he said. “But it wasn’t a flash knockout; he hit me with a shot, and my balance went for a second. I immediately came up to my feet. Plus when I went down and lost my balance, I immediately went to my knees, and he hit me with an illegal knee when I was on all fours, which nobody pointed out.

“As that happened – and it’s something my coach, John Kavanagh, gave me a lot of sh-t for – I started waving to the ref to try to get his attention because he didn’t see it, and as I was doing that, I ate another five or six shots, which were shots I shouldn’t have taken because I should have just got up and kept fighting.”

Rogan’s riffs

Unbeknownst to him, while Pendred was battling Spencer, UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were giving what could be perceived as a slanted account of the proceedings, which may not have helped his case with the viewers.

It was only after he returned to Ireland a fortnight later that Pendred re-watched the bout and was once more rendered aghast by what he heard.

“That was something I was quite shocked at as well,” Pendred said. “I stayed on in America for a further 10 days after the fight, and it wasn’t until I went home that I actually got to watch the fight and the commentary. I felt hard done by because for the 15 minutes of the fight, my technique and style was critiqued while my opponent was spoken highly of.

“The thing that was most insulting was by the last minute of the last round, Joe Rogan was talking about how bad my cardio was and how exhausted I was, as I was taking down my opponent. I was taking down my opponent who was doing nothing, and (Rogan) was talking about how tired I was.”

He thinks it played a part in the criticism that soon followed him.

“That annoyed me a little bit, and I definitely think it had a subconscious effect on people that were watching,” he said. “Particularly when there’s someone talking about every bad thing I do and every good thing my opponent does, it’s going change people’s perception. To make it even worse, Rogan came on and said (the decision) was a complete robbery.”

It’s all in the stats

What is not up for debate, however, is that statistics tallied by FightMetric.com clearly illustrate that, over the three rounds, Pendred landed more strikes and significant strikes than Spencer, while also registering four takedowns. Interestingly, the website did not include the scissors submission Pendred attempted in the dying embers of the first stanza.

Pendred found vindication in the numbers, though he still recognizes that it was a taut encounter and that Spencer certainly had a more aesthetically pleasing technique.

“If you look at the stats, I landed more strikes than him, I took him down four times and had a submission attempt,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong: His striking looked better. He’s a Golden Gloves boxing champion, and his striking looked a lot more fluid and crisp than mine.

“But I outworked him, and that’s what I do. I’m not spectacular in any facet of this game. I just outwork my opponents. It doesn’t matter if they’re better than me.”

Lessons learned with ‘CM Punk’

Having had time to reflect, Pendred now realizes the opprobrium he received from a considerable number of fans in the immediate aftermath of the bout is simply a harsh reality for those in his rarefied profession. Consequently, he’s acquired a more philosophical outlook.

“I learnt a lot of lessons about sport in general after that, about what it means to be a professional athlete,” he said. “For people to be fans of a sport, they have to be able to have an opinion on it. That’s just a part of the game, and it’s something I have to deal with. I think I’ve grown from that whole experience in Boston. In some ways I’m nearly glad it happened because I don’t think I’ll ever get a worse backlash than that, and I was able to deal with it and get through it.”

Yet there was one heckler who Pendred decided to take exception to: former pro wrestler and now UFC welterweight, Phil “CM Punk” Brooks.

In late 2014, Pendred had offered, via Twitter, to give the then newly recruited Punk his first taste of top-flight MMA, which led to some jousting between the pair. Then, after Pendred’s victory over Spencer, Punk took to the same medium to express his contempt for the decision, so the former responded in kind.

“I gladly retaliated to him; as I’ve said in interviews before, I would put my competitive side aside because I always want to beat guys who are ranked ahead of me, but I would have loved that opportunity mainly for financial and business reasons,” he said. “It was laughable that he would come out with an opinion like that because he’s not only never competed in mixed martial arts in his life, but in martial arts in general.”

Mexican stand-off

Pendred is now at the tail-end of preparations for his forthcoming bout against dangerous striker Augusto Montano (15-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at UFC 188, which takes place Saturday in Mexico City.

The match-up closes out the UFC Fight Pass-streamed preliminary card and, having moved his training camp to Mexico five weeks ago to acclimatize to the city’s high altitude, Pendred said he’s more than ready to extinguish any lingering doubts regarding his pedigree.

“When I go out there and put on the performance I know I can, people will take note,” he said. “They’ll see I went into enemy territory at high altitude, fought a local guy and put him away impressively, and be 4-0 in the UFC after less than a year in the company.

“I think that will speak for itself.”

For complete coverage of UFC 188, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.