MMA rules just got a little better / worse

July 4, 2008 – 10:36 am by fightlinker

The Association of Boxing Commissions got together in Montreal for a rules meeting and a poutine, and we now have good news! Good news #1 is that poutine is delicious! Perhaps a little TOO delicious … mmm. Good news #2 is that the ‘back of the head’ rule has been rescued from idiocy:

McCarthy, who presented the revisions to ABC members with Kliparchuk and Lembo, told the group that the “Mohawk” definition had always been the intended interpretation of the rule since its 2001 inception and had never been the cause of serious injury during the sport’s tenure. McCarthy urged that altering the definition to include the entire back area would alter the mechanics of the sport.

McCarthy described the scenario in which one fighter can take another’s back, but would no longer be able to punch his opponent from that position.

“If you start doing things to try and make boxing fit within MMA, you start to allow the rules to control a position so the fighter can actually go to that position because they realize they can not be attacked there. The opponent who had dominance over me now doesn’t have the ability to do much to me,” said McCarthy.

So now we’re back to the ‘mohawk’ standard. As well, the retarded ‘downward elbows’ rule has been abolished and foul procedures were cleaned up. But it wasn’t all high fives and positive changes. For some reason (and without any discussion), the weight classes for MMA were changed. Dumbest modifications are in bold:

The fourteen weight classes include: flyweight (up to 105 lbs), super flyweight (over 105.1 to 115 lbs), bantamweight (over 115.1 to 125 lbs), super bantamweight (over 125.1 to 135 lbs), featherweight (over 135.1 to 145 lbs), lightweight (over 145.1 to 155 lbs), super lightweight (over 155.1 to 165 lbs), welterweight (over 165.1 to 175 lbs), super welterweight (over 175.1 to 185 lbs), middleweight (over 185.1 to 195 lbs), super middleweight (over 195.1 to 205 lbs), light heavyweight (over 205.1 to 225 lbs), heavyweight (over 225.1 to 265 lbs), and super heavyweight (over 265.1 lbs).

As well, just because the Association of Boxing Commissions has agreed on these rule tweaks doesn’t mean they go into effect immediately. Now it’s up for each individual athletic commission to pass the revised unified rules into effect. It’s worth noting that two important commissions didn’t even bother to show up for the meeting … the California and Nevada State Athletic Commissions. Let’s hope this isn’t an indication that they plan to continue ‘interpreting’ the back of the head rules however they feel like.