What Is a 'No Contest' (NC)? How It Differs From a Draw and a Disqualification

The short answer: neither a win, a loss, nor a draw

A no contest (NC) is the ruling used when a bout can't be fairly completed for reasons outside either fighter's control — most often an accidental foul, such as an accidental clash of heads, an eye poke or a low blow — so the result counts as neither a win, a loss, nor a draw for either fighter. Only the referee has the authority to stop a bout in the first place (per the ABC Unified Rules, “the referee is the sole arbiter of a bout and is the only individual authorized to stop a contest”), though a sanctioning commission can later overturn a result to a no contest after the fact.

No contest vs. a draw

A draw is an official result: the fight reached (or was stopped after enough of) its scheduled rounds and the judges' scorecards came out even, and it's recorded as a 'D' on the fighter's record. A no contest never gets that far — the bout is halted before a fair result can be reached, so it isn't scored as a win, loss or draw at all; it's tallied separately as an 'NC'.

No contest vs. a disqualification

A disqualification (DQ) is called when a fighter commits a deliberate, flagrant foul — that fighter loses on the spot and the opponent is awarded the win. A no contest, by contrast, follows an accidental foul or a circumstance nobody is at fault for, so neither fighter is credited a win. One notable exception: if both fighters are disqualified at once (a 'double disqualification'), the result is usually ruled a no contest instead.

Where the round count becomes the dividing line

When an accidental foul stops the fight, how far the bout had gone decides the outcome. Under the ABC Unified Rules of MMA, if the referee stops the bout before 2 of 3 scheduled rounds (or 3 of 5 scheduled rounds) are completed, it's a no contest; after that point, it goes to a technical decision awarded to whoever is ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Under the ABC Unified Rules of Boxing, the threshold is the completion of 4 rounds (the bell ending round 4). As of 2026-07-17, both rule sets draw the line at essentially the same idea: if the fight was cut short before enough of it happened to score fairly, there's no result at all.

A result can also change to a no contest after the fact

If something comes to light after the bout — most commonly a failed post-fight drug test — a commission can retroactively change the official result to a no contest. If it was a title fight, the belt reverts to the previous champion and the bout doesn't count as a defense.

This term is part of the combat glossary & rules guide. For the KO/TKO line see What is a TKO?, for the scorecards see UD, SD and MD decisions, and for referee/doctor stoppages see What is RSC and a doctor stoppage?. When a fighter's record shows an NC, it's almost always one of these accidental circumstances.