Definition of Majority Draw
What does the term "majority draw" mean in the world of combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts? What is meant by a "majority draw"?
In professional combat sports, there are three judges that will score a card. If two of the three judges believe that a fight ended in a draw, while the third judge believes that one of the two fighters won the fight, this will result in a "majority draw", and nobody will be declared the winner.
Majority draws are quite rare in the world of combat sports.
An example of a "majority draw" in the world of mixed martial arts?
On April 27th, 2019, Rory MacDonald took on Jon Fitch in the main event of Bellator 220: MacDonald vs Fitch.
The fight was a close one, and the judges scored the fight the following way:
Judge Ron McCarthy: 47-47
Judge Anthony Maness: 48-46 Fitch
Judge Mike Bell: 47-47
Even though one judge felt as though Fitch won the fight, the other two judges thought it was a draw, and this resulted in a "majority draw".
In this case, MacDonald retained the title, as the belt can't change hands due to a draw, even though one judge felt as though Fitch won the fight.
An example of a "majority draw" in the world of boxing would be the KSI vs Logan Paul fight.
In that case, one judge scored the fight in favour of KSI (58-57), while the other two judges felt as though the fight was a 57-57 draw.