By Tadhg Peavoy
Irish UFC star Cathal Pendred has agreed to a rematch with Sean Spencer following the former’s controversial victory over the American last Sunday night in Boston.
Pendred got a unanimous decision over Spencer in their welterweight clash at TD Garden; however, the reaction to the win in the press and the public alike has been extremely divided.
The groundswell of opinion was that Pendred had lost the fight, in which Spencer had stalked the canvas using a superb stand-up game to dominate the octagon.
Even UFC president Dana White and commentator Joe Rogan expressed their surprise at the decision and most media outlets felt that Spencer had been wrongly denied the victory.
All of this has prompted Spencer to call out Pendred for a rematch in his home town of Dallas, believing the fact the Sunday’s fight took place in the city Pendred was born, swung the decision.
The Whitehall fighter has agreed to a rematch on Twitter and called on Spencer to get the contract organised.
However, there is also an argument that the Irishman did deserve the win, based on the post-fight statistics. They reveal that Pendred landed 66 of 153 strikes, while Spencer only landed 63 of 159.
In addition, Pendred managed four takedowns to Spencer’s zero. But by contrast, Spencer did land 63 of 157 what are deemed significant strikes to 58 from 141 by Pendred.
That stat card reveals that Pendred may well have been entitled to the victory, even though it may have been of the narrowest of margins.
