Robbery Review: Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov at UFC 310

Few things infuriate MMA fans more than a fight being scored incorrectly, though the term “robbery” tends to be thrown around carelessly and is often steeped in bias. With Robbery Review, we’ll take a look back at controversial fights and determine whether the judges were rightly criticized for their decision or if pundits need to examine their own knee-jerk reactions.

When it comes to judging controversies, 2024 hasn’t been that bad, all things considered.

Yes, there have been numerous head-scratching scorecards, and if we were to make a list of some of the most befuddling cards handed in this year, you could probably come up with at least 20 (Howie Booth, I am looking directly at you). That’s how bad some of the scoring has been, but fortunately, more often than not the right fighter ended up on the right side of the decision anyway.

So we’ve been quiet here at Robbery Review headquarters, confident that the majority of judges are doing their best given the imperfect fit that is the current scoring criteria.

BUT.

If anyone has a case for a Robbery Review this year, it might be Alexander Volkov.

Volkov just dropped a split decision in his rematch with Ciryl Gane at UFC 310 this past Saturday, and social media wasn’t too pleased about it, including a handful of fighters who questioned the verdict.

UFC CEO Dana White could be heard afterwards telling Volkov, “You got f*cked,” and Volkov later expressed his frustration with the judging when speaking to the media later that evening. Even Gane said in his post-fight interview he wasn’t happy with the fight and that he was hindered by a foot injury.

The people have spoken. Let’s go to the lab.

What was the official result?

Ciryl Gane def. Alexander Volkov via split decision.

How did the fight go?

Volkov looked determined to avoid the problems from their first fight, which saw Gane’s athleticism dictate much of where the action went. He went right at Gane, eventually putting on enough pressure to score a takedown. Volkov did exactly what you’d expect, staying heavy on Gane, but Gane impressed with solid ground defense before exploding back onto the feet.

Gane looked comfortable working against the fence with Volkov, though neither man initiated much offense from there. Moments later, Gane ducked a punch and scored a takedown of his own, which no one saw coming. Neither guy is Jailton Almeida on the ground, so that pretty much resulted in a stalemate with Gane landing the occasional ground-and-pound boop before attempting a heel hook that went nowhere.

Back on the feet, Volkov stung Gane with a body kick and a straight punch. Gane hit Volkov with a knee to the body, but Volkov turned that into a takedown. Gane attacked with a guillotine, but Volkov just ran out the clock with less than 30 seconds to go.

In Round 2, Gane kicked things off with range striking, though neither fighter committed to anything on the feet. Volkov had a nice flurry, only to eat a counter punch from Gane. Big spinning backfist by Volkov caught Gane clean on the chin and that was the biggest shot of the fight. Volkov definitely ahead in the standup early in the round. Head kick and a straight punch connected for Volkov as he started to pull away. Gane answered with a jab and a stiff right hand, that woke Volkov up. Volkov continued to fight effectively from range, though there were several close exchanges where both fighters scored. Big 1-2 from Gane caught Volkov and then Gane took Volkov down. For a moment it looked like Gane was going for a Von Flue choke. That would have been fun.

The third round was just weird. After some inconclusive boxing, Volkov went for a leg and gradually put Gane on his back. Gane countered with a kimura attempt from bottom. And that’s it, that’s the round. For almost four minutes, Gane hung onto Volkov’s arm, even after Volkov was well out of danger. There wasn’t much Volkov could do from his position besides throw light hammerfists to Gane’s body and punches to Gane’s butt.

Not a Fight of the Year candidate, is what I’m saying.

What did the judges say?

Adalaide Byrd scored it 29-28 Gane.

Eric Colon scored it 29-28 Volkov.

Junichiro Kamijo scored it 29-28 Gane.

Round 2 proved to be the difference, with all three judges giving Round 1 to Gane and Round 3 to Volkov. Byrd and Kumijo scored the second for Gane, while Colon had Volkov winning that frame and the fight.

What did the numbers say?

(Statistics per UFC Stats)

Overall, there wasn’t really a lot to separate Gane and Volkov just going by stats. Gane landed more total significant strikes, 43-39 and every round was as close as that suggests:

Significant strike stats

Round 1: Gane 12-10

Round 2: Gane 27-25

Round 3: Tied 4-4

Volkov had the slight edge in takedowns (3-2) and control time (4:32), none of which means much considering neither fighter did damage on the ground.

For those wondering, Volkov had a huge advantage in total strikes (105-48), most of which stemmed from the 68 pitter-patter strikes from top position in Round 3. However, he also beat Gane in significant head (19-14) and body (18-10) strikes.

What did the media say?

Media scores on MMA Decisions were firmly in Volkov’s favor, with 19 out of 20 scoring it for him. Zane Simon of MMA Vivisection had it 30-27 for Volkov and was highly critical of Gane’s performance:

“A bafflingly bad fight from beginning to end,” Simon tweeted. “Forgot his jab, got out-kicked, and made devastating grappling errors in every round to ensure he lost those rounds.”

What did the people say?

(Data derived from MMA Decisions and Verdict MMA)

Much like with the media scores, fans scoring on MMA Decisions were heavily on the 29-28 Volkov side. That score received 74 percent of the vote, with another 15.6 percent having it 30-27 Volkov. Big yikes for the judges if you want to take those votes as law.

It was just as bad on Verdict MMA, where voters had Volkov winning by a comfortable margin.

Volkov received massive support for his Round 2 and Round 3 efforts, resulting in a margin of 104 points in his favor. For those of you unfamiliar with Verdict, I consider any margin close to 100 being indicative of a clear winner and this went over that. However, it’s worth noting the huge disparity in Round 3 doesn’t necessarily mean Volkov came anywhere close to finishing the fight, only that it was the easiest of the rounds to score.

How did I score it?

I was on live blog duty Saturday, so I actually had to score this one in real time. Initially, I had all three rounds for Volkov, though Round 1 was close and Round 2 was more competitive than people seemed to think. Round 3 had to be a Volkov round and I would have been disgusted if any of the judges gave it to Gane for his never-there kimura attempt.

On a rewatch, I’m even less confident about Round 2 for Volkov. That backfist must have left a big impression on people, and it was great, but you have to credit Gane for some of the clean punches he landed late in the round. Feels to me like a lot of his work was ignored and I would implore people to rewatch that round closely.

On the flipside, I still think there’s a strong case for Volkov in Round 1, so it’s understandable that so many were befuddled by the official call because it’s easy to find two rounds for him.

Was it a robbery?

*cracks knuckles*

Haven’t done one of these in a while, so let me get ready to intellectually throw hands because I’m sure a lot of you aren’t going to like this.

I don’t think the outrage was warranted here.

In Round 1, there was so little relevant damage to score, you can call that one a toss-up. At no point did either fighter assert themselves in a meaningful way. As for Round 2, I ask again, was the Volkov backfist that definitive? It hurt Gane, no question, but Gane quickly recovered and, again, if you go back and watch the round he landed several hard punches of his own.

You can talk me into Round 2 Gane, I’m not mad at it.

The final verdict

Not a robbery. Aren’t you glad Robbery Review is back?