Given it’s a sport of beating your opponent by whatever means (within the rules), why is it mixed martial arts, not mixed martial science?

The absolute best part of Y!A shutting down is no longer listening to anyone dismiss a martial art as “sport and nothing more.” The gatekeepers of martial arts won’t have much of a platform left. TKD being called just a sport? Come on...

LOL It definitely NOT martial science. I do not even respectfully call it a martial art. It is a combat sport. It is categorized like TKD, boxing wrestling...are martial SPORTS nothing more..

BTW do you know what "Martial Science" is?

Obviously NOT!

In the context of your question, and I'll 1-up you by asking why isn't it more prevalently called "martial sport"?

But to the basics of your question, at its origin, it is a combination of several components of traditional martial arts, which is an art form at its core, and not an exact science. Science is defined as: "the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence." Now, certain aspects can be universally accepted as truth through observation, however, the method or means to arrive at that truth is a matter of preference. That is, what works best for one individual might not necessarily work best for another, which is why there are differences in martial arts.