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Nick Lembo statement on newly-proposed Unified MMA rules
By Zach Arnold | July 6, 2008
It should be noted that the ABC meeting with regard to the unified rules are merely suggestions to the membership.
The ABC should clarify its bylaws and its formal name since MMA is such a growing sport that it intends to address.
Each jurisdiction must go back and individually adopt the changes and amendments.
The document, with regard to professional mixed martial arts, has some items which would alter the longstanding unified rules developed in New Jersey.
Unless each jurisdiction adopts them, we will no longer have unified rules. Unified rules, in my opinion, are crucial to the growth of MMA. When New Jersey first drafted and later passed the unified rules, several months of meetings were held and observations were made at events. These meetings included discussions with medical staff, promoters, matchmakers, managers, fighters, fight officials, media and fans. We also got the approval of other jurisdictions in advance in order to ensure a unified document.
I fully support the clarifications and explanations of the existing unified rules in the new document. I do also support the rule deletions and smothering addition. However, I have decided that I do not support the weight class changes. With regard to weight classes, Nevada, California and Florida were not represented at the meeting. Further, very minimal discussion was held on the topic. I did not hear medical evidence to support the rule changes as Mr. Garcia and I had requested. I did not see any thoughts or comments from promoters or fighters. I also know that Ohio has concerns with regard to changing the weightclasses. Major MMA jurisdctions like Nevada, California, Ohio, Florida, Quebec and New Jersey need to have an involved role when contemplating serious MMA rule changes. Unless everyone is on board, the ridiculous result would be having different weight classes in different jurisdictions for the same fighters in the same sport. Changing weight classes is a substantial change that needs furtherdiscussion and exploration, in my opinion. There needs to be more discussion and involvement of more parties prior to contemplating such a drastic rule change. I am not convinced that weight classes are a crucial problem within the sport and I am not yet sure that the addition of so many more weight classes is warranted. I am concerned about unhealthy weight cutting but I do not think that simply adding more classes solves that.
Any drastic changes to the unified rules need to be carefully contemplated. If I was going to explore an area to possibly overhaul in the current rule set, it would be the scoring system. That, in my mind, warrants attention. That concerns me much more than the current weight classes. The weight classes will not be proposed for change in New Jersey at this time.
Nick Lembo, NJSACB
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I know Nick has posted here before. I would like to hear why he supports the elimination of hand smothering. It is a perfectly legitimate tactic in JJ and submission fighting and is certainly not a safety issue–at least compared to kicking someone in the liver or armlocking them.
It seems like a completely unnecessary change and seems like a change that simply came out of thin air.
Interesting.
Nick Lembo’s name was on the cover of the document. Some would argue that that meant that he supported the rules changes as stated.
I guess not.
Fantastically written by Nick Lambo.
As he said, there needs to be evidence as to why the weight classes need to be changes, not just people in a room deciding on changing them.
As for the scoring system, I honestly think the 10 point must system is still the best system. It is simple and easy for the fans to follow.
What they need to do is clarify the following:
1. What constitutes a 10-8 round.
2. How much does a near submission count? I don’t want a point system, but a reference guide needs to be put in place as to how striking and grappling match each other. Is a knockdown the equivalent to a near submission? And how close does the submission have to be? This sort of thing.
Or, leave the knockdown, just a stagger seems to be enough for some people to question the result of a fight these days.
I have been calling for a revision of the scoring criteria forever. Even if they kept the 10 point must system, the way points are awarded needs to be rethought I prefer something that rewards finishing attempts more than the current system.
The scoring criteria really shapes the sport. we have a chance to define the sport as one where the object is to finish the opponent and not win by points, distinguishing MMA from boxing.
Also, a sort of virtual yellow card system used by judge, not refs to deduct points for stalling or passivity would help.
“It is a perfectly legitimate tactic in JJ and submission fighting ”
You don’t wear gloves in grappling matches.
I have never seen a fighter seriously injured with a hand over the mouth technique.
What’s next? Frank Mir’s kneebar against Brock Lesnar illegal because he used his cup?
My own personal thoughts on how to score using the ten point system are as follows:
10-9: a relatively close round with one doing more.
10-8: A round in which one fighter was clearly dominant.
10-7: One fighter dominates and injures his opponent and/or is very close to ending the fight.
Perhaps a 10-6 being is a fighter is literally saved by the bell.
There is no way a close round should be scored the same as a dominant one, yet many seem to feel that a 10-8 is only when a fighter does large amounts of damage.
I think the 2nd round of Jackson/Griffin was an excellent example of what a 10-8 round should be.
I am happy to read these comments by Mr. Lembo. I have no problem with some tweaking of weight classes, but adding too many new ones will only lessen the importance of titles and weaken all of the classes by spreading out the talent way too thin.
Can anyone name all of the boxing weight classes?
How about MMA?
All of us know the different ones for MMA because there is a smaller number.
One last think about Big John: I think it is great he wants to be involved in MMA, but I am starting to feel that he sees himself as being far more important in the MMA world than he really is.
I think having 10-9,8,7,6 rounds causes more issues then we currently have.
I have no problem if one fighter wins one round by a larger margin then he loses another and it is 29-29 after two rounds. Both fighters know going in that they have to win 2 of 3 or 3 of 5 rounds in order to win a fight. For a WINNER, that shouldn’t be too much to ask for, no matter how much the margin is by round.
To me, a clarification on the weight of the different moves is the most important.
There are a million ways to make the judging system worse, I hope they take great care with it.
And honestly, there is no good way to judge MMA. It is nearly impossible due to all the different techniques and ways a round can go.
PRIDE’s judging system being the answer is so wrong, I don’t even really deem it necessary to review again. If the system that gave Vitor a “win” over Heath Herring or that would blatantly favor home fighters when it came to purse deductions was implemented, I doubt there would be a significant downswing in the number of questionable decisions.
Can anyone name all of the boxing weight classes?
How about MMA?
All of us know the different ones for MMA because there is a smaller number.
All of “us” know the weight classes because we are hardcore fans. 99.9% of people in this country have never seen an MMA fight between 115 or 123lb fighters, and probably two-thirds have never seen a 135 or 145lb bout either. MMA will end up with more weight classes in the future as the number of fighters increases to a level comparable to boxing, assuming that ever happens.
Good to hear. I’m certainly not in favour of the excessive number of weight classes they are trying to implement, although I do believe they should slot in ONE more weight class, to lessen the gap between 155-170-185-205.
You are correct Jeremy…that’s the only way the 10 point must system works in a 3 round fight.