Valentina Shevchenko blasts Mike Bell for controversial scoring (Video)

On Saturday night the flyweight title fight between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko was declared a split draw after veteran MMA judge Mike Bell scored the fifth and final round a 10-8 for Grasso.

After the fight many fans, media and fighters criticized Bell for the decision, but no one was more disheartened by it than Shevchenko herself.

“Emotions. As I said on Saturday, it’s kind of double. For one part, I’m very proud of what I did inside of the octagon,” Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour. “I do know exactly three rounds, for certain, from the fight were my rounds. I won those rounds. From the other side, a few things in the side were completely unfair. Definitely the scorecard in the final round, 10-8. Mike Bell, he did some inexplicable things and I think the whole world would love to hear an explanation. But from the other side, it’s not me. He is going to live with that mistake forever.”

In Nevada, judges are not required to explain their scorecards. Its unlikely we'll ever know why Bell scored the round the way he did.

Valentina Shevchenko: Judge Mike Bell will have to live with the 'mistake forever'

After the fight, Shevchenko said she felt that the judges were swayed by the Mexican Independence Day event and the fact that Grasso is Mexican.

“There is nothing clear in that, the reason it was a 10-8,” Shevchenko said. “No one is speaking about it, and my guess is because there is no explanation for that. It’s kind of like he had me on his scorecard winning three rounds, and it looks like in the final round he was like, ‘Oh my God, I cannot let this happen! I’ll just switch my mind and give a 10-8.’

She continued, “In our sport, 10-8 is when a fighter cannot do anything. He just goes in the round, running around from the opponent and trying to survive. This is 10-8. But you could see in the fifth round, it’s not even close to a 10-8. In the standup, all the hits that I was hitting were hard hits, and I felt that a few of them, they landed very hard to her and she was kind of shook up. I felt it. It’s completely not a 10-8. Control doesn’t mean 10-8. Control, is nothing. Damage, there wasn’t any damage like that in the final round.”

Since the fight was a draw, Grasso retained her title and we'll likely need to see a third fight between the two women.