What is the difference between a unanimous, split and majority decision in MMA?
When a fight goes the distance, a unanimous decision means all three judges scored it for the same fighter, a split decision means two judges picked one fighter and the third picked the other, and a majority decision means two picked the same fighter and the third scored it a draw.
How it works
Each judge's card is totalled separately and counts as one vote. The verdict depends only on how the three votes fall, not on the size of the margins.
Unanimous decision: three votes for the same fighter. Split decision: two votes to one. Majority decision: two votes for one fighter and one draw. Draws come in the same shapes: a unanimous draw (all three cards even), a majority draw (two cards even) and a split draw (one card each way and one even).
Worked example
Cards of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 make a split decision. Cards of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28 make a majority decision. Cards of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for the same fighter make a unanimous decision.
Good to know
A split decision is not automatically a controversial one, and a unanimous decision is not always clear-cut. UFCalendar's Robbery Index ranks the decisions the public record disagreed with most.
Where to see it on UFCalendar
- All-time leaderboard: Decision wins →
- All-time leaderboard: Decision rate →
- Judges →
- Robbery Index →
- Results →
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/fights/{id}One bout with corners, result (winner, method, round, time), referee and bonus flags.
UFC scorecards in the Fight API →