Justin Gaethje Proposes Radical Fix for MMA Judging: 51 Judges
Justin Gaethje has come up with an interesting take on how fights should be scored in the UFC, the lightweight champion believes there should be around 51 judges scoring the fight instead of 3.
MMA judging has been an endless headache for fighters, fans, and promoters alike. Split decisions, bizarre 30-27 scorecards, and baffling round evaluations regularly steal the spotlight from incredible fights inside the Octagon. Now, UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje is offering a radical proposal to fix combat sports scoring once and for all: scrap the traditional three-judge panel and replace it with 51 judges.
Speaking out on the persistent flaws in combat sports judging, the fan-favorite with a 28-5 professional record in the UFC made it clear that human error is unavoidable when so few eyes hold all the power.
"Itā€™s impossible to take human bias out of the equation. They need more people," Gaethje said. "Right now it takes 2 people to f*ck everything up. Put half of them in the arena, half of them out of the arena."
Expanding the Panel to Eliminate Bad Scorecards
Under Gaethjeā€™s proposed system, half of the 51 judges would sit cageside to absorb the raw energy, live acoustics, and heavy impact of strikes in real time. The other half would be isolated outside the venue, watching high-definition, multi-angle broadcast feeds free from crowd influence and atmosphere bias.
By vastly expanding the judging pool, basic statistics take over. Outlier scorecards from a rogue or distracted judge would immediately get diluted by the overwhelming consensus, eliminating the chance for a single bad scorecard to ruin a fighter's career.
While state athletic commissions are notoriously slow to embrace reform, and logistics like payroll and seating for 51 judges per card would pose an obvious challenge, Gaethjeā€™s idea sounds pretty unrealistic. With controversial decisions consistently robbing fighters of win bonuses and ranking movement across major UFC events, "The Highlight" has hit the nail on the head, but his solution will only complicate things.
Whether athletic commissions ever take his advice remains unlikely, but Gaethje's point proves that fighters are fed up with leaving their life's work in the hands of just three people.
