30-27 Score

Last updated: June 30, 2026

What is a 30-27 score in MMA?

A 30-27 is one of the most common scorecards in mixed martial arts. It appears whenever a judge believes one fighter won every round of a standard three-round bout.

MMA uses the 10-point must system, the same scoring method boxing has used since the World Boxing Council introduced it in 1968. Under this system, a judge gives 10 points to the fighter who wins a round and 9 or fewer to the other. A clear but competitive round win is scored 10-9. Win three of those in a row and the math is simple: 10 plus 10 plus 10 against 9 plus 9 plus 9, which comes to 30-27.

Every fight has three judges, and each one fills out a separate card. So a 30-27 is just how one judge saw it. The winner of the bout is settled by how many of the three judges favored each fighter, not by adding up the point totals.

How a 30-27 score is reached

Reaching a 30-27 starts at the round level. After each five-minute round, the three judges independently decide who did more, then assign points.

The Unified Rules of MMA tell judges what to weigh. Effective striking and grappling come first. If those are even, judges look at effective aggressiveness, and control of the cage is the final tiebreaker. A 2025 revision pushed damage toward the front of that list, so strikes and grappling that visibly hurt or weaken an opponent carry more weight than before. Whoever comes out ahead takes the round 10-9.

A 30-27 means the same fighter cleared that bar in all three rounds on one judge’s card. It does not require domination. A fighter can win every round by a slim margin and still earn a 30-27, because the system rewards winning the round rather than the size of the win. That quirk drives a lot of fan complaints, since a narrow sweep and a one-sided beating can produce the identical 30-27 line.

30-27 vs 29-28

The gap between a 30-27 and a 29-28 comes down to a single round.

A 30-27 means a judge gave every round to one fighter. A 29-28 means that judge handed one round to the other fighter, so the loser of the card still banked 10 points in the round they won. Both cards are wins for the same fighter. The 30-27 says the win was a clean sweep, while the 29-28 says it was one round closer.

Scorecard	Rounds to winner	Rounds to opponent	What it tells you
30-27	3	0	Winner swept all three rounds on that card
29-28	2	1	Winner took two rounds; opponent won one

Neither number reveals how dominant the rounds were. A 29-28 can describe a far more competitive fight than a 30-27, but it can also describe a near-shutout where the loser won one close round.

Does a 30-27 mean a unanimous decision?

No. This is the most common misunderstanding around the score. A 30-27 is one judge’s card, while the decision type describes whether the three judges agreed.

A fight can be scored 30-27 by all three judges, which is a unanimous decision. It can also be scored 30-27 by one judge while the other two score it for the opponent, which makes it a split decision loss for the fighter who got the 30-27. The number on a single card says nothing about how the other two judges voted.

Picture each judge casting one vote for a winner, with the scorecard as the reasoning behind that vote. Three votes for the same fighter is unanimous. A two-to-one split is a split decision, whatever the individual point totals read.

Other common MMA scorecards

Decisions get read out in a handful of recurring scorelines, and the 30-27 is only one of them. Here is what the most frequent ones represent.

Scorecard	Fight length	What it means
30-27	3 rounds	One fighter won all three rounds
29-28	3 rounds	One fighter won two rounds, the other won one
28-28	3 rounds	A drawn card, which can follow a point deduction or a 10-10 round
30-26	3 rounds	A sweep that included one dominant 10-8 round
50-45	5 rounds	One fighter won all five rounds of a title or main-event bout
49-46	5 rounds	One fighter won four of the five rounds

Five-round cards show up in title fights and main events. There, a 50-45 plays the same role a 30-27 does in a three-round fight: a clean sweep of every round.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a 30-27 a good win?

It means a clear, round-by-round win on that judge’s card. It says nothing about how close or one-sided the rounds were, since a slim sweep and a lopsided one produce the same 30-27.

Can a fighter lose with a 30-27 on their card?

Yes. If one judge scores it 30-27 for a fighter but the other two favor the opponent, that fighter loses by split decision. The result is decided by judge count, not points.

What is the five-round version of a 30-27?

A 50-45. In championship and main-event bouts scheduled for five rounds, winning every round 10-9 totals 50 against 45.

Why do some 30-27 decisions get criticized?

Because the score cannot separate a narrow round win from a dominant one. Fans often feel a clearly lopsided fight deserved 10-8 rounds and a wider final margin than 30-27 shows.

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Sources

1. Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. “Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts (2019).” Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.abcboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/unified-rules-mma-2019.pdf
2. Sherdog. “ABC Issues Clarification Regarding Judging, Further Emphasizes Importance of Damage (2025).” Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/ABC-Issues-Clarification-Regarding-Judging-Further-Emphasizes-Importance-of-Damage-197952
3. Association of Boxing Commissions. “Committee Report on Unified Rules for MMA.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://www.abcboxing.com/committee-report-on-unified-rules-for-mma/
4. Combat Museum. “How Does UFC Scoring Work?” Accessed June 2026.
   https://combatmuseum.com/how-does-ufc-scoring-work/
5. Sportsnaut. “How UFC scoring works.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://sportsnaut.com/ufc/how-ufc-scoring-works-the-10-point-system-and-more
6. Wikipedia. “Mixed martial arts rules.” Accessed June 2026.
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts_rules

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