Mixed martial arts

Trần Ngọc Lượng and Robson De Oliveira Soares (right) in their MMA Lion Championship 5 on April 22 in HCM City. Photo courtesy of VMMAF

HÀ NỘI — A rematch between champions Trần Ngọc Lượng and Robson De Oliveira Soares will be held after organisers of the MMA Lion Championship 5 (LC05) found judges' mistakes led to a wrong decision at their April 22 bout.

These two athletes competed in a men's 60kg match in B class of the championship at the Rạch Miễu Gymnasium in HCM City.

Despite his poorer performance, Vietnamese Lượng was declared the winner. The decision caused strong objections from experts, spectators and supporters.

Brazilian Soares and his team were so disappointed that they said they would not compete in Việt Nam anymore.

On April 26, the Việt Nam Mixed Martial Arts Federation (VMMAF) had a meeting in which they reviewed the matches and listened to reports and analyses from different sides.

They finally reached the conclusion that the match's final decision was a mistake. It was not match fixing but poor quality of judges.

Based on the real ability of two martial artists, both of them will be promoted to A class competition in the next round of the Lion Championship on June 3. The time of their rematch will be announced soon.

First and second judges Ngô Quốc Thắng and Trần Trung Nghĩa gave the wrong points in the second round of the match and will be sidelined until the end of the season while third judge Nguyễn Đăng Khoa will not be assigned to work in the three next rounds of LC06, LC07 and LC08.

VMMAF also asked officials of the Profession Board and staff to improve their managing, coordinating and assigning activities. The federation will organise training courses to improve judge quality.

VMMAF apologises to the competitors, their clubs and fans for the unfortunate professional incident. VNS