Chris Padilla shocked by UFC 327 draw: 'I can't even explain it'

Chris Padilla experienced one of the most bizarre situations in MMA this year. And it was a positive experience.

Earlier this month, as the oddsmakers predicted, Padilla (17-6-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC) got his hand raised after winning a majority decision against Marquel Mederos (11-1-1 MMA, 3-1-1 UFC) at UFC 327 in Miami. However, minutes later, the UFC commentators announced that there had been an error by announcer Bruce Buffer, and the fight was actually a majority draw.

The news shocked most in the MMA community, but not more than Padilla and his team.

"It's so hard to just feel right, man," Padilla told MMA Junkie. "I'm so happy I put on an entertaining performance. I'm so happy I got to go in there, and I got to fight. I got to elbow, I got to knee, I got to just do it all, man. Just experience the 15 minutes, man. Fans were asking me the entire time, 'Oh, do you want to finish them?' To be honest, bro, I literally kept saying, 'I want to go three rounds because I've finished so many fights.' And it's like, I don't get to fight so often. So I'm like, 'Bro, I just want to fight three.' And then, I'm like, in my head, I know I fought to the very end, and I still kept pushing. I was like, 'OK, this is my win.' They raised my hand. I was like, 'Yes.'

"I walked out of the cage – adrenaline dump, body is crumbling, everything's falling apart now. Everything that didn't hurt is killing me. I get to lay on my back. I'm listening to my coaches as they're stitching my face up, and then all I hear is, 'What? What do you mean it's a draw?' And then my coaches just started flipping out, bro. And I was just like, I just sat there, and as much as I wanted to flip out, I had a needle in my face, so I couldn't. I still just can't even. I can't even explain it, man. I can't explain how the fight could be seen the other way or a draw with or without the point being taken away. Now it almost feels like it cheapens my argument because I'm like, 'So wait, if I didn't get the point taken away, I would have lost?' How? Look at the stats. Look at everything."

The judges for that fight – Derek Cleary, Solimar Miranda, and Eliseo Rodriguez – scored the fight 28–28, 29–27 and 28-28. Many observers had the fight 30-27 or 29-28 Padilla, and given Mederos' point deduction due to repeated eye pokes, it was expected to be a sure win for Padilla.

"I don't see where he could have beat me," Padilla said. "The closest round we had, as far as numbers, was the third round. That was like the closest. The second, I pulled way ahead of him. First, I was ahead. Second, I took way ahead. And third, I think the last time they showed the strike count, I was like five strikes ahead, and it was still like two minutes left in the fight. If you watch that, it's like you could see me still just going further and further ahead in the fight. I thought he put up a great fight. I thought he did a lot of good things. He showed a lot of different skills, but it was my fight. If you watch Markel fight, that was not the fight he wanted."