Tim Means: UFC Belem judges ‘owe me $50,000’

MMA judging seems to have a problem. Make that a ‘new’ problem, since score-keeping has long been decried as one of the outstanding weaknesses in the sport of mixed martial arts.

The latest wrinkle in the fabric of 10-9 mediocrity seems to be an inability to properly judge volume kickboxing. In recent years, as strikers have become better wrestlers – thus learning to stay upright longer – and wrestlers & grapplers have become better strikers, striking output has increased. It’s still not always pretty, but MMA has gradually shifted to a sport largely contested upright.

Scoring, however, seems to have lagged behind. The results of which can be seen in several recent fights that were almost…