What does a 10-8 round mean in MMA?
A 10-8 round is a round a judge scores as a dominant win for one fighter: 10 points for the winner and 8 for the loser, instead of the usual 10-9.
How it works
Under the judging criteria of the Unified Rules, judges weigh three things when they consider a 10-8: impact (visible damage or a diminished opponent), dominance (one fighter forced to defend for the round) and duration (how long that lasted). When a fighter shows all three, judges are told to give a 10-8; two of the three should make them consider one. A 10-8 does not require a knockdown and is not reserved for damage alone.
A 10-7 is for a round that is overwhelming on all three counts, and it is very rare.
Worked example
Fighter A wins round 1 10-9, drops fighter B early in round 2 and keeps them under heavy ground strikes until the bell, and loses round 3 9-10. A judge who scores round 2 10-8 has A ahead 29-27; scored 10-9, the same card would read 29-28.
Good to know
Judges differ a lot in how often they give 10-8 rounds, which is why UFCalendar tracks every judge's 10-8 rate.
Where to see it on UFCalendar
Get it from the API
The same data is served as JSON by the MMA Fight Data API. The endpoints that carry it:
GET /v1/fights/{id}/scorecardsJudges' scorecards for any bout: every official, their score for each round, card totals, decision type and point deductions.
GET /v1/judgesJudge directory with career shape: fights worked, rounds scored, 10-8s, split cards and lone dissents.
UFC scorecards in the Fight API →