Used to be a big supporter of kick counters but not now, and here's my reasons:

It really does not look good to see a trainer, who knows his fighter is down on counts with 40 seconds to go shouting himself hoarse, 'KICK, KICK, KICK' and (if he's started to panic) ' FOR F**K SAKE KICK!'.. No matter how much we want to see kicks, do we want that? it looks very very unprofessional.

8 kicks a round seems about right, but do want 8 kicks thrown madly in the first 30 seconds or is not 7 better spread through out the round? Do you get my point?

'muppety officials don't enforce that' - What's that about?? That's really unfair on the vast majority of officials who give their time for not a great deal of money so shows can go ahead. When I officiated last week I was away from my family for 13 hours! Lots of others do the same.

Penalise the non-kicker in the judges scorecards. Punches count but kicks score more and train the officials accordingly. Get the referees to speak to the fighters if they are not kicking enough. Not keen myself on taking points away but make the fighters aware that they're losing rounds by not kicking.