i haven't competed in a while now, so i'm not 100% sure about the new rules, but i believe rounds that are tied can be decided a few different ways. (1) one of the ways takes into account sub-threshold hits to the body gear. so in the event of a tie, the person with more hits to the body gear that were detected but did not reach the threshold to become scored will win. (2) another way to win a tied round is to have more points earned through scoring instead of through penalties, so if the score is 8-8, the competitor with more of those points due to kicking/punching will win. (3) in the event that neither of these help decide the score, judges will decide (i.e. win by superiority).
