What Better Scoring Would Actually Fix
MMA judging is not primarily a competence problem dressed up as a rules problem. The mechanics are consistent, the criteria are ordered sensibly, and most controversial decisions are defensible readings of an ambiguous round rather than errors. What the system lacks is resolution and information: a card that can express degrees of victory, and officials who can see what they are being asked to score. Reforms that add either would reduce the frequency of decisions that feel wrong. Reforms that only add explanation would not, because the disagreement is not about what the rules say. It is about how much a hard punch is worth against a busy minute, and no wording has yet settled that.
