UFC Referee Jason Herzog Explains How He'd Fix Bad MMA Judging With 1 Small Tweak

UFC referee Jason Herzog has one suggestion to fix bad MMA scoring.

Inadequate judging has cast a shadow over MMA, with the UFC particularly grappling with some egregious decisions this year.

The UFC Vegas 78 event on August 12th was tainted by a truly puzzling set of scorecards. Cub Swanson had his hand raised even though he seemed to have lost two out of three rounds. This raised eyebrows among fans and observers alike.

VIDEO: UFC Legend Cub Swanson Handed Controversial Win Over Hakeem Dawodu

11 out of 13 media members scored the bout in favor of Dawodu, and even Swanson himself agreed in his post-fight interview that he didn't think he won the bout.

When the question was raised about how to fix the judging in MMA, the referee who officiated the Swanson vs. Dawodu fight, Jason Herzog, had something to say:

I think it's less about the competency of our judges and more about the limitations in the tools they have. They need half points. The range of fights that fit into a 10-9 is way too large. Close round. 10-9.5, decisive round, 10-9. Dominate round 10-8.5 or 8. https://t.co/27JWI7TKXA

— Jason Herzog (@JasonHerzogMMA) August 13, 2023

"I think it's less about the competency of our judges and more about the limitations in the tools they have. They need half points. The range of fights that fight into a 10-9 is way too large. Close round. 10-9.5, decisive round, 10-9. [Dominant] round 10-8.5 or 8."

Herzog is suggesting the decimalization of the current 10-point-must scoring system. The current scoring method was adopted from professional boxing to legitimize the UFC in its infancy, but the many nuances of MMA mean that it's harder to score than boxing, which denotes the need for a new scoring system.

MMAKnockout have reached out to Herzog to see how he'd score the Swanson vs. Dawodu fight under his scoring system. We'll update this space if we get a reply.

Under Herzog's system, we would score the fight either 29-28.5 Dawodu, or 29-29 as a draw if Swanson's big punch in round one stole him the round.

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