Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Finally, there will be substantial changes to unified rules of mixed martial arts, which will come into effect on January 1, 2017.Not only will the rule changes make a lot of techniques available where they wouldn't have been before, but also the adaptions to the scoring process should make MMA far more independent and recognizable in comparison to other combat sports.Yesterday, veteran referee John McCarthy released a video to give further clarity on the rule changes, which we will look to further explain.Heel Kicks to the KidneysDespite Royce Gracie utilizing heel kicks to the kidney's from his guard against Ken Shamrock at UFC 1, the technique was later banned when the unified rules began to come into effect in 2000. Although fighters were deemed to be able to strike the back from the guard, shots to the spine and kidneys were not allowed.Jon Jones is one of the serial offenders for utilizing extended fingers as a way to gauge distance, so his return to the Octagon should be very interesting with the new rules in place."If they have both feet on the ground, they would have to have both hands touch the ground to put themselves in a position where they are determined to be grounded by the official, where they cannot be kicked or kneed to the face."He added: "If a fighter has both hands up and puts one knee on the ground, he is a grounded fighter. If you've got a fighter with both hands in the air and his butt is on the ground, he is a grounded fighter. If you've got a situation where a fighter has anything more than his hands and feet on the ground, they are grounded and cannot be legally kicked or kneed to the face under this rule.""We want you to judge the effectiveness of who is the better at either one of those two elements. Obviously, if 90% of the round is striking we want you to go with a heavy emphasis on striking. If 90% of the round is grappling, the stronger emphasis will be on grappling."Who is doing the most to impact a fight and bring a fight to an end?""We're looking for big power that has an impact on the fight. This is not a game of numbers. If you are giving more credit to numbers than quality, you're making a mistake. If you have one fighter that lands six jabs fighting a guy who lands one beautiful right cross that hurts his opponent, that one person with the right cross is winning our fight."
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- Heel kicks from the guard to the kidneys are no longer a foul
- Referees to pay special attention that heel kicks are not hitting the spine
- Heel kicks from guard to opponent's legs, buttocks and back and remain legal
- Grabbing the clavicle is no longer deemed a foul by the new unified rules of MMA
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- Fighters extending fingers out and towards opponents' faces will be warned by referees
- Action can be stopped for referees to warn fouling fighter. Fighters can also be warned without stoppage
- After being warned several times, if fighter continues to foul referees can stop action and take points
- Fighters can also be disqualified for repeated fouling with extended fingers towards opponents' faces
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- Fighters are only determined to be grounded when they have both hands, as well as feet on the ground
- Fighters with a single hand on the ground can now be kicked or kneed in the face
- A single hand placed on the canvas can be stomped as fighter is not grounded
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- Success in grappling and striking exchanges to determine winner of rounds
- Quality of strikes rather than volume to be given more emphasis
- Control of grappling exchanges given emphasis in grappling-dominated fights
- 10-10 round to be scored for a completely even fight
- 10-9 to be scored for marginal round win for one fighter
- 10-8 to be scored when there is a large margin between fighters at the end of a round
- 10-7 to be scored when there is overwhelming damage and domination in a round