Just how bad was the Warlley Alves vs. Alan Jouban decision at UFC Fight Night 56?

Just how bad was the judges’ decision in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 56 fight between welterweights Warlley Alves and Alan Jouban?

Pretty bad, according to nearly everyone but the officials who were cageside and judging the bout.

In the night’s FOX Sports 1-televised co-headliner at Ginasio Municipal Tancredo Neves in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Alves (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) earned a unanimous-decision victory over Jouban (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Judges Fernando Moura, Marco Aurelio Borges and Roy Silbert all scored the fight 29-28 for the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3? after picking up the first and second rounds:

However, 12 of 13 media outlets tracked by MMADecisions.com awarded the fight to Jouban (with 11 of the 12 issuing 29-28 scores). MMAjunkie also scored it 29-28 for Jouban (check out the Warlley Alves vs. Alan Jouban video highlights).

Alves got off to a quick start with a dominant first round, but Jouban felt he successfully rebounded and took over in the second half of the fight.

“I felt like he won the first round,” Jouban said. “He got the takedown in the second round, but I got up and finished strong. The third round was pretty obvious (a winning for me). I’ve got to go back and look at it, but my first thoughts after the fight? I was kind of upset with the decision.”

The scores prompted a swarm of criticism on social media, though the local Brazilian crowd didn’t seem to think it was so controversial. Neither did Alves, though he admitted he wants to cut the judges out of the equation next time.

“I believe the first round was mine, and the second round was closer, but I managed to take him down and hold him there,” he said. “The third was clearly his.

“The judges are prepared to judge under the UFC rules. I trust their decision. I won’t leave it to the judges next time.”

Did the judges get it right? Was it a close decision that could have gone either way? Or was Jouban robbed of the win? Cast your vote below.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 56, check out the UFC Events section of the site.