One of the longstanding goals of the UFC is to implement the unified rules of mixed martial arts, as sanctioned by the athletic commissions in North America, everywhere that MMA takes place. That’s why the UFC uses the unified rules even in places where there is no sanctioning body, it’s why the UFC imposed the unified rules on Strikeforce and it’s why the UFC didn’t adopt any of the old Pride rules when it purchased Pride.
Implementing one set of rules everywhere is a worthy goal and a positive step toward mainstream acceptance of MMA around the world. But while the UFC is set in its ways of using the unified rules, some folks in MMA think the unified rules should look a little more like the rules used in Pride.
That includes Wanderlei Silva, who fought most of his career using Pride or Brazilian vale tudo rules but has spent the last three years in the UFC. Michael Schiavello asks the “Axe Murderer” on the upcoming HDNet show The Voice vs. Wanderlei Silva which rules from Pride he’d like to see in the UFC, and Silva said he’d love to be able to use knees to the head on the ground inside the Octagon.