UFC title fights that ended in a draw: A complete history in light of the alleged judging debacle at Noche UFC

Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 2 is the sixth UFC title fight to be scored a draw.

On Saturday night, Noche UFC ended in controversy when Grasso retired her women’s flyweight title due to a split-decision draw (48-47, 47-48 and 47-47). The rare championship bout ending led to ESPN MMA sharing a statistic for the five other times the result occurred in the Octagon.

Firstly, BJ Penn and Caol Uno competed in a rematch for the vacant UFC lightweight title in February 2003. After five rounds of action, the fight was scored a split-decision draw (48-46, 47-48 and 48-48). Neither fighter fought for the 155-pound strap in their next fight.

Next up was another lightweight rematch. In January 2011, Frankie Edgar looked to defend his throne against Gray Maynard. The fight ended up being one of the craziest wars in UFC history, but neither fighter emerged victorious due to a split-decision draw (48-46, 46-48 and 47-47).

The third title fight draw inside the Octagon was in November 2016. Tyron Woodley was defending his welterweight championship against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thomson when the latter showcased a valiant effort.

Unfortunately for Thomson, it wasn’t enough, leading to Woodley keeping his strap by majority decision (48-47 Woodley and 47-47 x2).

In December 2020, Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo fought for the first of four times. Figueiredo was the champion for their first meeting and retained his throne due to a majority draw (48-46 Figueiredo and 47-47 x2).

Last but not least, Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz fought for the vacant light heavyweight title in December 2022. Neither fighter left with the championship belt, as the judges scored the bout as a split-decision draw (48-46 Ankalaev, 48-47 Blachowicz and 47-47).

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Valentina Shevchenko speculates potential bias toward Alexa Grasso due to Noche UFC being on Mexican Independence Day

Valentina Shevchenko was confident that she would get her hand raised when the Noche UFC main event was done. Unfortunately for her, the judges didn’t agree, leading to a controversial split decision. During her post-fight press conference, Shevchenko voiced her frustration:

"I think I did everything to secure the victory. Unfortunately, I think because this event is Mexican Independence Day, that's why it affected the decision of the judge to give a 10-8 in the fifth round."

Some fans are calling for the trilogy bout to be scheduled immediately, but it’s unclear what direction the promotion will go. It’ll be intriguing to see who Alexa Grasso defends her women’s flyweight throne against next.