SuperJail Warden wrote:
You aren't a fan of soccer kicks? Most fights were stopped after a second or third kick anyway. Do you at least think knees to the head of ground opponents are fair? I can live with no soccer kicks if knees were allowed. I also think up kicks on grounded opponents should be allowed. Both of those changes would go a long way to stopping lay and pray. I love Damien Maia but it really pissed me off that he could shoot for 20 takedowns and not worry about getting knocked out for screwing one up. He was in the perfect position for a few in his fight with Rory.
The judging rules and yellow cards go back to the problem with commissions. The NSAC has too much power. Other promotions in the U.S. can't tinker with their rules unless NSAC decides it's a time to look at modifying the unified rule set. I think the heavyweight class should be openweight. I also liked the one night tournaments. How do you feel about both of those?
All things considered, if you had the choice between the UFC using its current rule set or going full Pride, would you really stick with the unified rule set? Drug testing and fixed fights obviously aside.
I'm fine with that. I never liked him as a person or fighter.
no, soccer kicks are super dangerous and shouldn't be in the game. Same with knees to the head of downed opponents. You're just asking for head/neck trauma and potential paralyzation if those were allowed.
Lay and Pray can be resolved by the use of yellow cards. There's a difference between trying to improve position and just laying on top of a guy. There are existing rules to deal with this, the refs just need to actually enforce them. Just recently there was a fight stopped due to timidity of one of the fighters...that's a good thing.
Open weight is good for a grappling match, bad once you start allowing strikes. I do think they should have a super heavyweight class, but that's usually fatties like Tim Sylvia and Bob Sapp who are more freaks than athletes.
I really liked one night tournaments too. I'd like to see those come back, but there is definitely a health risk involved in allowing people to get hit in the head a bunch in one night. It's a tough idea to navigate through - how do you appease the fans, promoters and fighters while still maintaining fighter safety?
The commissions are supposed to be there for fighter safety, insurance and to help make sure fighters get paid. In addition to all the rules regarding fighting, they also regulate the promoters and handle financial arrangements (like putting the fighters' show money into escrow accounts to make sure they don't get stiffed), coordinate insurance payments and liability, etc. I like the idea of regulation. The NSAC has the power they do simply because of experience. They are the de facto leader because most fights in the US happen in Las Vegas. The NJSAC was actually the first athletic commission to adopt the unified rules, so it's not like the Nevada commission has always taken the lead. It's actually the opposite of what you describe - there is no unified body regulating MMA in the US or the world, for that matter. You have to get changes from the outside done on a commission by commission basis as opposed to one regulating body adopting rule changes. People in the industry just tend to adopt rule-sets proposed by the NSAC because they have a lot of experience and therefore tend to allocate more resources into trying to better the sport.