Majority Draw

Last updated: July 7, 2026

What is a majority draw?

Professional MMA bouts that go the distance are decided by three judges. Under the Unified Rules of MMA, each judge scores every round using the 10-point must system, then adds those round scores into a final total for each fighter. A fighter needs to win on at least two of the three scorecards to get the victory.

In a majority draw, that majority never forms. Two judges turn in tied scorecards, and the third has one fighter ahead. The single winning card gets outvoted, so the bout goes into the record books as a draw for both fighters.

The word “majority” refers to the two judges who scored the fight even, not to a majority for either fighter. The result exists in boxing as well as MMA, and any promotion that follows the Unified Rules can produce one, from the UFC down to regional shows.

How a majority draw happens

Tied scorecards are hard to produce in MMA. Judges score almost every round 10-9 for whichever fighter edged it, and fights last three or five rounds, so an odd number of 10-9 rounds always adds up to a winner on each card.

Something unusual has to disrupt that math. The most common culprit is a referee point deduction for a foul such as an eye poke or a fence grab. A dominant round scored 10-8 can also level a card, and the rare 10-10 round does the same.

Here is the typical pattern in a three-round fight: one fighter wins two rounds 10-9 but loses a point for a foul, turning a 29-28 card into 28-28. If two judges have it that way and the third still sees a 29-28 winner, the result is a majority draw.

That is close to what happened at UFC 256 in December 2020. Deiveson Figueiredo lost a point in the third round of his flyweight title defense against Brandon Moreno, and the final cards read 48-46 for Figueiredo alongside two 47-47 scores, according to the official scorecards reported by Wikipedia and UFC.com.

Majority draw vs. other fight results

Draws come in three varieties, and they sit alongside two decision types with confusingly similar names. The table below shows how the three scorecards produce each result.

Result	Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3	Outcome
Majority draw	Draw	Draw	Fighter A	Draw
Split draw	Fighter A	Fighter B	Draw	Draw
Unanimous draw	Draw	Draw	Draw	Draw
Majority decision	Fighter A	Fighter A	Draw	Fighter A wins
Split decision	Fighter A	Fighter A	Fighter B	Fighter A wins

The pairing that trips people up most is majority draw versus majority decision. In a majority decision, two judges agree on a winner, and the third scores it even, so the fight has a winner. Flip it around, with two judges scoring it even and one picking a winner, and nobody wins.

A split draw is different again. All three judges disagree: one card for each fighter and one tie, with no majority in any direction.

What a majority draw means for fighters

Neither fighter gets a win or a loss. The bout appears as a draw on both professional records, which is why a fighter’s record might read 22-3-1, with the final number counting draws.

Championship fights follow a long-standing convention: the champion keeps the belt when a title fight ends in any kind of draw. Tyron Woodley retained the UFC welterweight title this way at UFC 205 in November 2016, when two judges scored his fight with Stephen Thompson 47-47, and the third had Woodley ahead 48-47, per ESPN. FanSided MMA notes it was the first majority draw in a UFC title fight, and lists Figueiredo vs. Moreno as the only other UFC title fight to end this way.

Rematches tend to follow. Woodley and Thompson met again four months later at UFC 209, and Figueiredo and Moreno went on to fight three more times. Draws of any kind stay rare, though: GroundedMMA counted 46 UFC draws between 2001 and 2022, and 27 of those were majority draws.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a majority draw count as a win or a loss?

No. A majority draw is recorded as a draw for both fighters, so neither record picks up a win or a loss from the bout.

Is a majority draw the same as a majority decision?

No. A majority decision has a winner, because two judges scored the fight for the same fighter. A majority draw has no winner, because two judges scored it even.

Who keeps the belt when a title fight ends in a majority draw?

The champion. A title fight that ends in a draw leaves the belt with the reigning champion, as happened with Tyron Woodley at UFC 205 and Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 256. If the belt was vacant going in, it stays vacant.

What usually causes a majority draw?

Referee point deductions are the most common cause, since a lost point can turn a winning scorecard into a tie. Dominant 10-8 rounds and the occasional 10-10 round can do the same.

How rare are majority draws in the UFC?

Rare. GroundedMMA counted 27 majority draws in the UFC between 2001 and 2022, an average of just over one per year across hundreds of fights annually.

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Sources

1. Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports. “Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.”
   https://www.abcboxing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Unifed-MMA-Rules-2019-.pdf. Accessed July 2026.
2. ESPN. “Woodley retains title with draw vs. Thompson.”
   https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/18036103/ufc-205-tyron-woodley-keeps-welterweight-belt-majority-draw-vs-stephen-thompson. Accessed July 2026.
3. FanSided MMA. “Every UFC title fight to end in a draw.”
   https://fansidedmma.com/posts/every-ufc-title-fight-draw-01j015awgjnq. Accessed July 2026.
4. GroundedMMA. “UFC Majority Draw: What is it? (Split Draw, Unanimous Draw).”
   https://groundedmma.com/ufc-majority-draw/. Accessed July 2026.
5. Wikipedia. “Majority draw.”
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority_draw. Accessed July 2026.

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