Today, I saw a news report that Tibau/Trujillo will be changed from a win for Tibau, to a win for Trujillo due to Tibau’s failed drug test, I thought I’d address how we handle these types of situations.
As a general rule of thumb:
- If a bout results in an actual outcome and is later changed to a no contest due to referee mistake, missed rule infraction, or failed drug test, we will honor the change. This is not a complete list, but should allow for understanding of the general idea.
- If a bout resulted in a win for one fighter and is changed to a win for the other fighter, we will treat this as a “no contest” outside of two exceptions.
- If it is changed to a disqualification win for the losing fighter for an action that occurred in the fight, we will handle on a case-by-case basis.
- If it is changed to a win for the losing fighter for a missed weight at the weigh-in, we will not honor the change.
- We’ll never treat a bout outcome as a “win” or “draw” for one fighter and a “no contest” for the other. This was talked about in Hunt/Silva.
- A fight that never starts is not a win or loss for either fighter.
Given the above, Tibau/Trujillo will be treated as a “no contest” here.
Accurately recording performances is essential to the accuracy of the rating system.
If anyone thinks we’ve gone against the above at any point, please let me know. There may have been instances where fighters who missed weight were docked points and lost a decision that they would not have otherwise won. This is an interesting case and handling this may require additional analysis.