UFC Star Gilbert Burns Suggests Poor Pay May Be The Reason Why MMA Judges Do Such A Terrible Job

During an interview this week ranked UFC welterweight star Gilbert Burns offered up some unique reasoning that might explain why MMA judges seem to consistently do a terrible job when scoring fights.

Over the last 30 years, MMA — with the help of the UFC — has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Not only has it become very popular in the United States, but nations like Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and now China are also hotbeds for the sport.

However, for all the success the UFC and the industry have had in that time, the one thing that continues to follow it around is poor scoring by judges at cageside. For the most part, MMA promotions have little control over judges and they are appointed and paid by local athletic commissions. It is a necessary separation that is meant to help keep legitimacy within the sport.

Unfortunately, there have always been questions about how athletic commissions are run and the training they put in place for fight officials like referees, who oversee bouts in the cage, and the men and women who score fights when they go the distance. With the sport getting more attention than ever, questionable or downright awful scoring has become even more noticeable.

Gilbert Burns claims MMA judges make $300 to $500 to work a UFC event