ABC to recommend new MMA language for downed fighters

The concept of what constitutes a downed fighter could change following this week’s meeting of the Association of Boxing Commissions, which oversees MMA’s regulatory bodies.

Commission representatives Nick Lembo (New Jersey), Bernie Profato (Ohio) and Keith Kizer (Nevada), who represent some of MMA’s busiest and most prominent regulatory bodies, will present their plan at Wednesday’s ABC meeting in San Antonio.

Lembo will argue their case, in which the regulators want referees to instruct fighters that placing a finger tip on the canvas won’t necessarily make them a downed fighter.

In recent years, many standing fighters have taken advantage of the current language used in the Unified Rules of MMA. That helps them avoid knees or kicks to the head, or possibly put their opponent in danger of a warning or point deduction. The commissions hope to eliminate such gaming of the system.

“Recently, some concern has arose over fighters who are taking punishment (usually thru knees) while both fighters are standing,” reads the group’s letter, which MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) obtained. “The fighter then begins to bring his or her finger(s) down and up again, and then down again as a strike is being delivered. In certain situations, it appears as if the ‘touching down’ fighter is attempting to draw a foul and benefit from the foul.”

The commission reps hope that in future rules meetings, referees will instruct fighters beforehand that they won’t be considered a downed competitor in such situations.

Their recommendation, according to the letter: “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.

“Additionally, a referee may penalize, via warning or point deduction, the offending fighter for timidity.”

There are countless examples from recent MMA fights. For example, earlier this year in UFC on FOX 3's network-televised headliner, when clinched with his opponent, title challenger John Dodson repeatedly put his fingers on the canvas, which forced referee “Big” John McCarthy to audibly signal to flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson when his opponent was technically grounded. Some refs have even recently admonished fighters mid-bout for “gaming” the system.