Majority draw in UFC: What does it mean?

UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo defended his title with a majority draw decision at UFC 256 against Brandon Moreno.

This was Figueiredo's second title defense after he picked the belt up in a submission win over Joseph Benavidez earlier this year.

46-4747-4747-47With the fight declared a majority draw Deiveson Figueiredo retains the UFC flyweight championship at #UFC256 🏆 pic.twitter.com/NQIlZJhaQJ
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) December 13, 2020

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Let's take a look at the nature of Deiveson Figueiredo's win at UFC 256.

What does Majority Draw in UFC mean?

Most decisions in MMA are either unanimous or split decision. A majority draw is among the rarest of judges' call in combat sports.

A majority draw decision means that two of the three judges believe that neither fighter has won or lost and give a tied scorecard, while the third judge scores in clear favor of one of the fighters.

Therefore, the 'majority' of the judges see the bout to be a 'draw', resulting in a 'majority draw' result.

In recent times, one of the biggest examples of majority draw was at UFC 205, where the Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson fight ended in a majority draw. Two judges scored the fight as a draw, while the third gave the bout to Tyron Woodley in a 48-47 score.

#UFC209 Official Scorecard: Tyron Woodley def. Stephen Thompson via Majority Decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-47) R5, 5:00 pic.twitter.com/G7OiLjH05E
— Mike Fridley (@mikefridley) March 5, 2017

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Bellator also saw a similar majority draw result last year. In April, 2019, Rory McDonald vs. Jon Fitch at Bellator 220 ended in the same result with two judges scoring 47-47 and one of them scoring 48-46 in favor of Jon Fitch. McDonald retained his title in that fight, just like Figueiredo

The amateur boxing match between Logan Paul and KSI also ended in a majority draw, with one of the judges giving it as a win for KSI.