The fast wearing, puncture prone reputation of the Mudlite and Mudlite XL was cured by approximately 2012. This is the point when ITP started using the same extended wear rubber compound used in the famed ITP 589 tire (a tire known to last forever and take serious abuse).
This rubber compound fixed the issues of reliability with the Mudlite. Unfortunately, this could not fix the performance aspect of the Mudlite. Simply put, the Mudlite just does not perform well. The XL version looks more aggressive than it actually is. And once the small tread dimple wears off, and the lugs get slightly rounded, the performance and grip drops drastically even more.
To put it simply, there are much better tires out there for the money.