How MMA Fights Are Scored: The 10-Point Must System and Ways to Win
How MMA judges score a round, what a 10-8 means, how many rounds a fight has and every way a fight can end: knockout, submission, decision, draw and no contest.
Most MMA organisations, including the UFC, use the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Rounds last five minutes. A regular fight has three rounds; title fights and UFC main events have five.
The 10-point must system
Three judges score every round on their own. The winner of the round gets 10 points and the loser 9 or fewer. A clear but competitive round is 10-9. A 10-8 is given when one fighter dominates, does serious damage or controls almost the entire round. A 10-7 is rare and means overwhelming dominance. Referees can also take away points for fouls.
What judges look at
The criteria are applied in order. First comes effective striking and grappling: the strikes and takedowns that do the most damage or bring a fighter closer to winning. Only if that is equal do judges look at effective aggressiveness, and then at control of the fighting area.
Ways a fight can end
- Knockout (KO) or technical knockout (TKO): a fighter cannot continue, or the referee or doctor stops the fight
- Submission: a fighter taps out or loses consciousness from a choke or joint lock
- Decision: unanimous (all three judges), split (two of three) or majority (two judges, the third scores a draw)
- Draw: unanimous, split or majority
- Disqualification for a serious foul
- No contest: for example, after an accidental foul early in the fight or an overturned result