UFC Scoring System Explained

Understanding the UFC.

The UFC is a mixed martial arts promotion company. It has a roster that includes many of the world’s best male and female MMA fights, and it is considered to be the sport’s biggest and best organization. 

It is a very popular sport for watching, and many people also enjoy betting on UFC as well. 

How UFC fights are decided. 

UFC fights are made-up of three five-minutes rounds, if the fight is a championship fight though, this will be stretched to five rounds. These fights can end in one of ten ways. 

Decision. 

This happens when the allotted time runs out and the fight is decided by the judges’ scorecards. 

Knockout. 

This is when a fighter is unable to continue due to strikes, 

Technical knockout. 

In this case, the referee will stop the bout due to a fight no longer being able to defend themselves from strikes, or if they are taking excessive damage.

Submission. 

When a fighter admits defeat by tapping their opponent’s body or the mat, or they may also tap verbally.

Technical submission. 

In this case the referee stops the bout because a fighter is in danger of an injury from a submission, this could be due to a broken bone or have been choked into unconsciousness.

Doctor stoppage. 

A doctor decides it is unsafe for the fighter to continue, usually due to a cut. 

Retirement. 

When a fighter decides that they can no longer continue, often this happens between rounds.

Disqualification. 

In the case that a fighter is warned but continues to break rules, or uses an illegal strike that prevents their opponent from continuing, they will then be disqualified. 

No contest. 

In the event that a fighter cannot continue due to accidental illegal strikes early in the fight, the bout will then be ruled no contest. 

Technical decision. 

A technical decision happens when a fight cannot continue due to an accidental illegal strike in the third-round of a three-round fight, or a fifth-round in a five-round fight, the decision will then go to which fighter is ahead on the judges’ scorecard at the time. 

UFC scoring and its workings. 

UFC fighting is scored by three judges using a 10-point must system. Fighters are given a score at the end of each round and the winner of the round must receive 10 points, the loser receives 9. On the odd occasion, judges may score the round as a draw, where both fighters will receive 10 points, although this happening would be a rarity. If a fight is judged to have been thoroughly dominated for an entire round, they might only receive 8 points. 

There are 4 criteria that are used by judges to determine who will win the round. 

Striking effectively- This means how many legal blows a fighter lands upon their opponent. Strikes that continue to the immediate end of the match, such as power shots and knockdowns, are worth more than those that deal cumulative damage. 

Grappling effectively-  This includes how successfully a fighter uses wrestling and grappling to attack their opponent, this includes takedowns. Takedowns should only be judged as successful if the fighter uses them to establish an attack. Fighters are not judged on whether they are on top or bottom when grappling, but instead how they use these positions in the attack. 

Aggressiveness used effectively- This means how aggressively a fighter attempts to finish the fight. This and following criteria should only be used if the judges score the previously two completely equally. 

Fighting area control- This means how successfully a fighter manages to dictate the pace of the match and their position within the octagon. This is an area that should rarely be assessed, as the previous criteria take precedence over this. 

If a fight manages to go the distance, then scores from each round are added together in order to decide a winner of the match.