The Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) rules and regulations committee decided Tuesday that it will be working on unifying the grounded opponent rules in MMA.
While the current Unified Rules went into effect starting 2017, they have ironically been anything but unified as different states have different rules. This is mainly because of some athletic commissions declining to pass them due to health concerns while others were unable to clear them.
The main issue is with the grounded opponent rule with some states dictating that an opponent is grounded if in addition to their feet, they have any part of their body, such as a finger, touching the ground.
Other states use the Unified Rules which dictate that both palms or fists have to touch the ground, or another part of their body such as a knee.
The rule is important because a fighter can kick or knee their opponent to the head if they are not deemed a grounded opponent.
An example of the confusion this could cause was displayed at UFC 235 in March, where Jon Jones was at risk of being disqualified for an illegal knee strike to the grounded Anthony Smith.
As the fight took place in Nevada, it was an illegal strike, but it would have been a legal strike had the fight taken place in California for example as well as a number of other states.
Avoiding Confusion
With all the confusion caused by these different rules, committee chair Sean Wheelock told ESPN that the ABC are working on having a uniform ruleset soon with a new grounded fighter rule.
“I know there are some high-level fighters that are confused by the current rule,” Wheelock said. “I know there are some referees that are confused by it.”
“The MMA Rules and Regulations Committee is currently looking at restructuring the terminology and mechanics associated with the current Grounded Fighter rule under the Unified Rules of MMA,” ABC president Mike Mazzulli wrote to ESPN in a statement. “They are putting their attention and efforts towards this goal to better clarify the rule, making it easier to understand not only for Fighters and Officials, but also for the fans of MMA.”
The new grounded fighter rule could be approved in time for the annual ABC conference in July and would be brought to a vote.
While this would be good news, ESPN notes that even if a new rule was approved and adopted to the unified rules, it must be adopted by every jurisdiction which is not a guarantee. If that is the case, it would only further the current problem.
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