What is the 10-Point Must System in MMA?
The 10-Point Must System is how MMA judges score a fight: each judge must give the winner of every round 10 points and the loser 9 or fewer.
How it works
Three judges score each round on their own, without conferring. The winner of the round gets 10; the loser gets 9 for a close round, 8 for a dominant one and 7 for an overwhelming one. A 10-10 round is allowed but meant to be extremely rare. Under the Unified Rules of MMA, judges decide a round first on effective striking and grappling, then, only if that is even, on effective aggressiveness, and only after that on control of the fighting area.
At the end each judge adds up their round scores, subtracts any point deductions, and the three totals decide the result: a unanimous, split or majority decision, or a draw.
Worked example
In a three-round fight a judge gives round 1 to fighter A (10-9), round 2 to fighter B (9-10) and round 3 to fighter A (10-9). That judge's card reads 29-28 for fighter A.
Good to know
Promotions that do not use the Unified Rules can score differently; some judge the fight as a whole instead of round by round. The scorecards on UFCalendar are the judges' official cards.
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 →