Regardless of how things played out though, Crosby's involvement in the fight is baffling in retrospect, considering his long-standing and relatively acrimonious history with the Serra-Longo Fight Team. Iaquinta's head coach, Ray Longo, told Ariel Helwani on Monday that Crosby has had "inappropriate relationships" with several fighters connected to the gym, including an incident with an unnamed woman which led to her securing a "court order of protection" against Crosby which she held for almost three years and was enforced by two judges.
A part-time official who moonlights as a stunt coordinator in the film industry, Crosby was also recently rebuffed by Iaquinta after seeking the fighter's services for a project. That obvious conflict of interest alone prompted Iaquinta to call it a "travesty" that Crosby was nonetheless assigned to judge his fight.
"It's been documented, Doug Crosby has a long-going feud with -- well, not a feud, but whatever, he hates on us, most particularly Ray Longo," Iaquinta said. "He's got a problem, and this is where it gets serious. The whole thing, MMA, this whole thing is kind of like a joke. Everyone thinks, oh, boo, I cursed them, it's funny. But this is where it gets serious.
"I turned down an offer from this guy, whatever the reason being, and then he's judging my fight. So right there, I don't know, it's just not right. I don't know how that happened. After the fight, I was looking around the cage and I then I saw him sitting down and I said to Ray, Why is this guy judging my fight?' I knew right away, I'm down one judge. I'm down. Three judges are supposed to be objective, see the fight how it is. I knew right off the bat, this guy wasn't giving me nothing."