The Association of Boxing Commissions passed a revised edition of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts yesterday evening at their annual conference. The amendments to the rule set were drafted by ABC Chairman Dale Kliparchuk, Nick Lembo of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, ABC President Timothy Leuckenhoff, and former MMA referee John McCarthy.
Here is a quick overview of some of the changes.
- Illegal blows to the back of a fighters head have been further defined to the “Mohawk” definition - the “crown of the head down the centerline of the skull into the spine, with a 1 inch variance to each side.” This will change recent interpretations of the rule which prohibited strikes from “ear-to-ear.”
- All elbow strikes will now be permitted except to illegal areas (groin, spine, back of head, etc…). Previously, all downward striking elbows (12-to-6 strikes) were prohibited no matter what region of the body they struck.
- Smothering an opponents nose and mouth to disrupt breathing is now prohibited except for choke attempts where a fighter’s mouth is covered by his opponent’s arm.
- Unsportsmanlike conduct fouls were consolidated as was the “fighter recovery period.” Low blows will be given a five minute recovery period, while all other fouls will require a physician to determine if a fighter is fit to continue within a five minute period.
- Knees to the back of the head was not included in the revisions but will be discussed again in the future.
Perhaps the biggest changes to the Unified Rules came in the reassignment of weight classes in the men’s divisions. There will now be a total of fourteen different weight classes as defined below.
- Flyweight (up to 105 lbs)
- Super Flyweight (105 - 115 lbs)
- Bantamweight (115 - 125 lbs)
- Super Bantamweight (125 - 135 lbs)
- Featherweight (135 - 145 lbs)
- Lightweight (145 - 155 lbs)
- Super Lightweight (155 - 165 lbs)
- Welterweight (165 - 175 lbs)
- Super Welterweight (175 - 185 lbs)
- Middleweight (185 - 195 lbs)
- Super Middleweight (195 - 205 lbs)
- Light Heavyweight (205 - 225 lbs)
- Heavyweight (225 - 265 lbs)
- Super Heavyweight (over 265 lbs)
The biggest changes come in the welterweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight classes.
Will the UFC and EliteXC immediately follow these revisions? Promotions are not required to follow the new weight classes, but if they do not they will not be able to claim they are following the Unified Rules (which is something Dana White loves to boast about). Each individual state athletic commission is now responsible to either pass or reject these new Unified Rules changes into their own state regulations.
You can download the full ABC Unified Rules Document here.
[HT: RJStCroix & FightOpinion.com]
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im not 100% sure if i like a lot of these rule changes, like the elbows coming down from 12 to 6 is one. now imagine your on your back in guard and the guy in your guard is Anderson Silva and hes sitting up (you have no posture control) he reaches straight up and comes straight down with a nasty elbow, your only real option is to cover up, but what if the elbow slips through and the point of the elbow land directly in your eye socket? that could end a career, and i hope they dont let that happen before they fix that. the weight classes kinda seem like a big mess but it can be sorted out so im not all that worried about that, and besides ive been wanting to see more weight classes added anyways not that they did it the way i was thinking but i still think it can work well.
Thats a great point RJ, its alot easier for the elbow to get in there instead of lets say a punch (though it does happen, chuck vs vernon white).
Another thing i noticed.. its now legal to grap the clavicle?? why would they implement this? and how do you make the distinction if theyre holding the clavicle or pushing inward towards the fighters airway?
In Kempo this is one of the most basic techniques used to escape the mount position. Dig over and beyond the clavicle pushing inward towards the throat forcing the guy on top to back up, then you end up in his guard..
Then ofcourse theres the option to just tug at the clavicle and break it, i dont see any good reason why this should be allowed???
yeah for sure man i sat a read the entire thing and there was a few thing i found questionable, the twister for one. they always frowned on spinal locks and cranks and with the amount of times someone is going to be able to pull one off you would think they would just say f*ck it ya know.
well clearly some the distinctions they made are questionable, but we still dont know when and if these rules will be adopted by any of the organizations. As we saw with Marquardt, the refs tend to adopt rlues and implement them before theyre actually ANNOUNCED as official by the UFC.
ah man i was reading the new rules and they took away one of my biggest weapons…… your not aloud to headbutt to the body anymore, damn it now how am i gonna win a fight lol.
People will look at rules like that 20 years from now and say “what the heck were those morons thinking”?
check out what i found:
Weight Categories – Mixed Martial Arts
It is recommended that the unwritten custom of the one pound allowance for
non-title bouts be discontinued. Athletes must make their contracted weight class
by the close of the weigh-in and should not be allowed the one pound allowance.
NOTE: Commissions may however use their discretion to approve certain out of
i guess Thiago and Gina are gonna have to make a better effort in cutting weight eh?
Dana wont like this.. it could seriously hurt his ppv if someone else like Travis Lutter or Thiago Alves shows up in the future pulling some crap right before fight night… I mean it could ruin an entire card..
I like and dislike these divisions …. too many divisions for one.. I mean you would have to sign on another 200 fighters in the UFC to have people filling them.. secondly well this is just confusing.. they are OVER REGULATING people and we all know that over regulation of ANYTHING means it gets mucky and screwed up.. I like the current divisions and wouldn’t change them.. I like this modification only because it gives my man Wand the ability to drop down to Middleweight or even SUPER WELTERWEIGHT and fight guys like Pierre without giving up his power and size.. but that only benefits one fighter so I am against these revisions for the most part.
The super heavyweight division does look interesting however.. hehe