"This is how you incentivize rigging" - Pathetically low pay reveal for MMA judges and referees divides Twitter

MMA judges, particularly in the UFC, have been at the receiving end of public criticism owing to several controversial decisions in recent times. UFC stars, such as Israel Adesanya, have been vocal in demanding accountability from the judges and calling for an evaluation of their performance following fights.

Most recently at UFC Vegas 74, Adesanya's teammate Kai Kara-France was the victim of poor judging. Even though several UFC fans and fighters believed that Kara-France won the fight, Amir Albazi emerged victorious via split decision. Judge Chris Lee's scorecards, in particular, became a major bone of contention considering that he scored the fourth round in favor of Albazi, a round which Kara-France dominated.

Furthermore, MMA fans have been pondering why retired MMA fighters do not take on the role of MMA judges considering that they would be able to do a fair job at assessing fights. However, MMA reporter Aaron Bronsteter has now brought to light the measly compensation combat sports officials receive for an event. He wrote on Twitter:

"This is how much judges and referees make in California for non-UFC/Bellator MMA events if you are ever wondering why former UFC fighters don't venture into MMA officiating once they retire."

Netizens took to Twitter to react to the report. Take a look at some of their reactions below:

"This is how u incentivize rigging."

"No wonder they take that corruption money."

"Right now, I can't complain with those prices. I'm paying double (2100) for rent now that my landlord repossessed his basement. Based on pay, this is more of a side gig. You can't live off being a referee or judge which explains why sometimes we see bad judging"

Check out some of the tweets below:

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MMA judge Sal D'Amato's controversial scorecard in the recently concluded fight between Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier

MMA judge Sal D'Amato's scorecards at the recently concluded main event bout between Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier landed him in trouble yet again.

In the main event of UFC Vegas 75, Vettori and Cannonier squared off in a back-and-forth contest. Vettori came out strong in the first round, but Cannonier picked up the pace in the second and subsequent rounds. 'The Killa Gorilla' ended up setting a new UFC record in the middleweight division, landing 249 significant strikes against Vettori across five rounds.

All three judges awarded the first round to Vettori and scored the second round 10-8 in favor of Cannonier. However, to the shock of everyone, MMA judge Sal D'Amato scored the fourth round in favor of Vettori, which proved to be the only outlier on the card.