Earlier this month in Las Vegas at the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) annual conference, regulators added three new “procedural changes” to the official Unified Rules of MMA.
These procedural changes are simply codifications of best practices in several situations that often come up during a bout. In short, these are as follows:
- That a cut person could tend to a cut caused by a foul during a round (as opposed to just in between rounds).
- Codifying language on referee discretion on when to separate stalling fighters.
- Clarification of how referees and ringside physicians should work together following an eye-poke foul. The clarification will help ensure some bouts don’t come to a premature end following a foul without giving a fighter adequate time to potentially recover.
In addition to this, the Rules Committee tabled a rule for consideration about referee discretion on repositioning fighters after a foul.
The full text of the rules that were passed (procedural change No. 2 was only tabled and not yet voted on) are as follows:
Author Erik Magraken is a British Columbia litigation lawyer, combat sports law consultant, combat sports law blogger, and deeply, deeply appreciated UGer.
