There's 1 huge reason to fix it. Money e.g rousey and holm again not saying these were fixed but if rousey had destroyed holm in seconds no one would care about a rematch but now if rousey comes back a rematch will be huge, same thing with Diaz and mcgregor and of course dana white can make big bets on who wins if he already knows who'll win. There's also been some very questionable decisions in the sport. Biggest one i can think sonnen vs bisping. A fight I think and a lot of people think bisping won (sonnen included) but sonnen won and we get silva and sonnen 2 which makes a lot more money than bisping vs silva would
As for the bad decisions, it really has nothing to do with business or the UFC. The decisioning process, unfortunately, is made by State appointed judges in each state. Usually by the States Athletic Commission. Where the UFC goes, they are forced to only use State judges from the state they are in. And they do not get to pick which ones are used. (My wife and I were both judges in Massachusetts for many years.)
Any fight decision, in any sport, is based on personal opinion (again, unfortunately) and far too often the judges in question have little training in the actual task they are getting paid for - judging fights. It's a woeful situation further complicated by the Athletic Commissions themselves. Far too many of the higher ups in Athletic Commissions across the country are politically appointed, they were given the positions as favors, favors that don't really cost anything, most only involve stipends.
Initially complicating things, back at the beginning popularity of MMA, was the question "Who are we going to use as fight judges?" Why, boxing judges of course, they have experience. That's where a lot of the judges initially came from. We used to put on training clinics for them in Massachusetts. You can only imagine how difficult it is to explain the intricacies of guard to a boxing judge, or how anyone could possibly be controlling things from a bottom position. I'm sure things are better now, with how popular the sport has become, but actual "judge training" is probably still way behind the curve.
As for the Rousey/Holm fight, Rousey fights were already generating tons of cash. The momentum of Rousey's streak was unparalleled in MMA, at lest from a business standpoint, probably will be for decades to come. Think about it for a second, think back to where you saw her in media coverage, she was everywhere. Every TV show in the country wanted her to come on, to co-host, to throw somebody on the show over her hip, to beam with her big, goofy smile. She was money in the bank. Dana White and the Fertitta brothers must have been having financial orgasms flipping through the stations at home. Like her or not, Ronda was a big part of the reason why the UFC sold for 4 Billion dollars.
Her loss, getting her butt kicked as bad as she did, only hurt business. And hurt it fast. If Holly had stayed champ the rematch would have been huge, sure, but we all know how that worked out. Which is related to this discussion in another way. The women's 135 division is a perfect example. There's just so many ways to lose compared to any other fight sport. There's no need to "fix" anything, it's a revolving door as far as the Belt is concerned. I think it's why it's so damn exciting to watch.
Her losing actually hurt the UFC financially......but I'm quite sure they'll get over it.
