I think one thing that keeps people from scoring a fight partially the first time through is the 'surprise' and 'excitement' generated by someone having more success against top fighters / big favorites than you would expect.
Especially early in the fight, when Bones tags Gus, or when GSP tags Hendricks, most fans expect to see that. However, when Gus tags Jones or takes him down, there's a bit of unexpectedness to it that makes it seem 'bigger' and makes more of an impact as you are watching the fight and thinking back to past rounds.
I would bet that more often than not, when there's a close fight between a long time champ and what seemed to be an over-matched challenger, most fans remember the underdog's big moments more and lean towards the underdog as having won more close rounds.. and because of the impact and excitement of their big moments compared to the moments they expected to see.
Of course, there's plenty of other factors that go into scoring but I think this one pops up over and over when a 'rep' type fighter has a tougher fight than expected.
Especially early in the fight, when Bones tags Gus, or when GSP tags Hendricks, most fans expect to see that. However, when Gus tags Jones or takes him down, there's a bit of unexpectedness to it that makes it seem 'bigger' and makes more of an impact as you are watching the fight and thinking back to past rounds.
I would bet that more often than not, when there's a close fight between a long time champ and what seemed to be an over-matched challenger, most fans remember the underdog's big moments more and lean towards the underdog as having won more close rounds.. and because of the impact and excitement of their big moments compared to the moments they expected to see.
Of course, there's plenty of other factors that go into scoring but I think this one pops up over and over when a 'rep' type fighter has a tougher fight than expected.