Proposed Unified Rules change on 10-8 rounds

The Unified Rules of mixed martial arts come from boxing’s 10 Point Must system, are based on winning rounds. In a 10 round fight, that probably gives you the right winner. But in a three round fight, if one fighter narrowly loses two rounds, but dominates the third, in the eyes of most, he won the fight, but would lose the decision.

The Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) MMA rules and regulations committee has unanimously passed new scoring language, including a more liberal definition of a 10-8 round. It will be voted on at the annual convention this year in Las Vegas, and could go into effect on Jan 1, 2017.

“In many cases, unless someone is getting destroyed and the referee is about to step in, judges are not giving a 10-8,” said committee chairman Sean Wheelock to Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting.

Wheelock, a former Bellator commentator who now serves on the Kansas Athletic Commission, has put together a legends panel that includes, Randy Couture, Matt Hughes and John McCarthy.

Under the new rules, judges will look at damage, dominance, and duration.

Damage -€” A judge shall assess if a fighter damages their opponent significantly in the round, even though they may not have dominated the action. Damage includes visible evidence such as swellings and lacerations. Damage shall also be assessed when a fighter’s actions, using striking and/or grappling, lead to a diminishing of their opponents’ energy, confidence, abilities and spirit. All of these come as a direct result of damage. When a fighter is damaged with strikes, by lack of control and/or ability, this can create defining moments in the round and shall be assessed with great value.

Dominance -€” As MMA is an offensive based sport, dominance of a round can be seen in striking when the losing fighter is forced to continually defend, with no counters or reaction taken when openings present themselves. Dominance in the grappling phase can be seen by fighters taking dominant positions in the fight and utilizing those positions to attempt fight ending submissions or attacks. Merely holding a dominant position(s) shall not be a primary factor in assessing dominance. What the fighter does with those positions is what must be assessed.

Duration -€” Duration is defined by the time spent by one fighter effectively attacking and controlling their opponent, while the opponent offers little to no offensive output. A judge shall assess duration by recognizing the relative time in a round when one fighter takes and maintains full control of the effective offense. This can be assessed both standing and grounded.

A round where two of the three are present merits consideration of a 10-8. Of all three are present, a 10-8 or even a 10-7 is merited.

The proposed rules revision also emphasizes the importance of striking and grappling, only considering aggression and cage control as back up plans, when the first two are equal. Further, damage is highlighted as a defining factor in determining the effectiveness of striking and grappling.

The proposed judging criteria are available in full here: