The Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts prohibit kicking a downed opponent in the face.
A grounded opponent is any fighter who has more than just the soles of their feet on the ground. (i.e. could have one shin or one finger down to be considered a downed fighter) If the referee determines that a fighter would be a grounded fighter, but is not solely because the ring ropes or cage fence has held fighter from the ground, the referee can instruct the combatants that he is treating the fighter held up solely by the cage or ropes as a grounded fighter.
However, since 2013, the Association of Boxing Commissions has permitted some latitude in the actual application of the rule, to prevent fighters from abusing it.
The rule change, was co-authored by Keith Kizer (NV), Bernie Profato (OH), and Nick Lembo (NJ).
“Referees should instruct the fighters that they may still be considered a standing fighter even if they have a finger or portion of the hand (or entire hand) on the canvas. In the discretion of the referee, a fighter who has a finger or hand on the canvas may still be legally struck in the head with knees and kicks. The referee may decide that the downed fighter is placing his or her finger or hand down without doing so for an offensive or countering maneuver in an attempt to advance or improve their position. The referee may decide that the downed fighter is instead simply trying to draw a foul. If the referee decides that the fighter is ‘touching down’ simply to benefit from a foul, the referee may consider that fighter a standing fighter and decide that no foul has occurred.”
Further, the referee can at his or her discretion penalize the fighter for Timidity, issuing a warning, or even a point deduction if the offense is particularly egregious or repeated.
Marc Ratner is one of the most knowledgable officials in the history of the sport. He currently serves aa the UFC’s vice president of Regulatory Affairs, and is a former Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The interpretation that we’ve come up with, with the Association of Boxing Commissions, which should be called the Association of Combat Commissions – they should change that – but the spirit of the rule has been violated by a lot of fighters,” explains Ratner.
Obviously if you’re downed and you have a hand on the deck, and you have three points there and you get kicked or kneed, that’s a foul. But we have fighters now who are putting their hand down, bringing it up, putting it back down again.
I call it, if you’re talking basketball, trying to draw the foul. They’re hoping that the referee will see it and call a foul and maybe disqualify the other guy. So we’re telling the referees before the fights, go into the dressing rooms and say, ‘look, if you do this you’re doing it at your own peril and in my judgment as a referee, if you’re doing it, I’m going to call it legal.’
It’s a judgment call, said Ratner.
So what’s your judgement on this one? As it turned out, there was an initial DQ, but upon further investigation, it was determined that the fighter was not grounded, so the winning fighter won.
