06 — Officials
Judges & Referees Ladder
Officials climb their own ladder, in parallel with the fighters. The entry level is deliberately easy to join so rookie fights always get third-party validation; the top level is a certified referee trusted with sanctioned fights.
Every level is gated by two things at once: certification passed and officiated fights completed with a clean record. Neither alone promotes anyone.
The three levels
| Level | Who it is | Can officiate | Gate to reach it |
|---|---|---|---|
| O1 — Open Judge | Anyone with an account, no fee. Scores from a private link using the predefined rule buttons. | Tier 1–2 rookie fights, as one of 1–3 scorers. | Short in-app rules primer plus an identity check. Free. |
| O2 — Certified Judge | A judge who passed the Academy judging exam and has a scoring history that matches the panel. | Tier 3–4 official fights, and can lead a panel of open judges. | 20 scored rookie fights, agreement rate above the federation threshold, Judge Certification passed, certification fee paid. |
| O3 — Official Referee | The neutral authority in the ring: starts, stops and controls the fight, and confirms the result. | Any fight up to Tier 6 sanctioned PFC events. | 50 fights judged as O2, Referee Certification passed, live assessment by a PFC admin, no upheld disputes in the last season. |
Path from sign-up to referee
Sign upRules primerJudge rookie fightsJudge certificationJudge official fightsReferee certificationLive assessmentOfficial referee
Responsibilities by level
O1 — Open Judge
Free entry- Receives a private scoring link for a fight; no account setup beyond sign-up needed to score.
- Scores with predefined rule buttons — no free-form scoring, so results stay comparable.
- Cannot judge a fight involving their own gym, family or a fighter they follow closely.
- Every score is stored and compared against the rest of the panel to build a reliability history.
O2 — Certified Judge
Paid certification- Scores official fights where results affect rankings and promotions.
- Leads a mixed panel and breaks ties when the panel is split.
- Can be paid a per-fight fee by the federation or the event organiser.
- Certification is renewed each season with a refresher exam.
O3 — Official Referee
Federation-trusted- Sole authority over fight control: start, pause, stop, disqualify.
- Confirms the final result in the app; the result cannot be published without it.
- Files a report for any dispute, injury or rule breach.
- Assigned by PFC admins, never chosen by the fighters.
Reliability and removal
- 01Each official carries a public reliability score built from agreement with the rest of the panel and from upheld disputes.
- 02Falling below the federation threshold pauses assignments until a refresher exam is passed.
- 03Fighters can dispute a result; a PFC admin reviews the scores and the referee report.
- 04PFC admins can revoke any certification at any time — assignments stop immediately.
- 05Conflicts of interest are blocked automatically by the assignment system where the data allows it, and declared manually otherwise.