New MMA Org new rules

dave1982

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Vale Tudo legend Rickson Gracie is partnering with a new MMA organization in Brazil, y’all, and he’s putting his own unique stamp on the format and rules. Some are new ideas, many are ones tried before and at least one is just kinda weird.

Our friends over at GracieMag have the full story on the new Mestre do Combate, debuting November 22nd. Below we have some of the highlights.

Teams - Rickson’s organization will use a team format of some sort, akin to what the now defunct IFL used.

Rounds - There will just be two, like in the old Pride non title bouts. The first round will be ten minutes and the second will be five.

Cannot be saved by the bell - So this is interesting. “Fighters will not have the luxury of being saved by the bell: if a submission hold is in place when the bell sounds, they will have to defend or tap out first for the fight to end,” GracieMag reports. What do you think of this rule, nation? I think its a compelling idea, even if it could lead to some messy and uneven arbitrary implementation.

“Judges’” decision - Speaking of potentially messy and arbitrary, “in the event of a fight ending without a submission or knockout, the decision-making system is a curious one: the referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy has one vote, Master Rickson has another, and the audience watching at the venue or over television has a tie-breaking vote.”

Ok, so let us linger on this one for a moment. Being partial to everything Rickson, I don’t have a fundamental problem with him serving in a judging capacity for MMA fights. The guy knows what he’s looking at and he’s certainly more qualified than most current MMA judges. However, his exact role with the organization has not really been publicly specified and there could be issues there. Is he a promoter? Is he a part owner? Is he both? In either case, I’m not sure how I feel about a promoter or organization executive deciding who has won fights, because they could easily be compelled, even if subconsciously, to vote for the more marketable fighter since that fighter might make them more money.

Also, what are the criteria that Rickson, McCarthy and the fans are supposed to use to judge? Oh yeah, having the ref score a fight is a horrible and dangerous idea.

From conversations I’ve had with top refs in the past, I’m rather surprised that McCarthy would even agree to doing this. From what I understand, refs have their hands full just making sure fighters are safe and keeping to the time and rules. If McCarthy is to cast a judging vote to a fight he has just refereed it certainly seems like he’d then have to either

A.) Divert some of his attention from rule enforcement and safety to thinking about who is winning, or

B.) Keep his full attention focused on safety in the ring, in which case he’d probably not have a great idea of who won the fight immediately after.

How, exactly, will fans vote? Will it be a majority thing and they all have two buttons attached to their seats so they can choose who they thought won? Or will it be like a college open mic night where applause is used to determine the winner. In which case, will there be a decibel meter to determine who, exactly, received the louder applause or will some person decide who had more support? If the latter, who will that person be? [Ed. Note: Possibly via text message voting, but who actually takes part in text message voting at stadiums? Other than me that one time fans were asked which ethnic stereotype will run around Miller Park in a sausage costume fastest, for obvious reasons. Don't judge me.]

Weight - So yeah, Mestre do Combate will have same day weigh ins. The idea is to discourage harmful weight cutting by fighters and to encourage to fight at their natural weights. Love the concept, hope it works. Amateur wrestlers have to weigh in the same day as competition and they still cut a lot of water weight often times.

Elbows - No elbows. Sorry, that sucks. A real Jiu Jitsu practitioner needs to ultimately learn how to deal with the different range and angles that elbow strikes pose on the feet and on the ground. At least professional MMA fighters should learn how to.

I’ll definitely be watching this event in November. I love anytime someone new enters the space. It allows for more opportunities for fighters. Let’s see how all these rules play out. What’s your prediction, ‘taters?

Technical bouts, messy albatross or something in between?

Sounds great

El Guapo!

Sounds terrible to be honest.

dave1982

Apart from the judging part I'd be in favour of the rest.

Pride style rounds

Same day weigh ins will benefit the fighters make them fight at their true weight besides crazy weight cut.

Theres going to be some fantastic BJJ with saved by bell rule gone.

I'm assuming knees will be allowed to downed oppenant.

El Guapo!

• The changes to judging is a joke. That's fairly self-explanatory.

Same-day weigh-ins: That's a difficult one to figure out. Everyone knows the dangers of weight cutting but I'm not sure weighing in on the same day will stop fighters making dangerous cuts and

"make them fight at their true weight besides crazy weight cut." If anything, I think it could be worse. You could end up with fighters still cutting weight and trying to pile back on a bit of weight on the SAME day! Imagine how much more dangerous that would be. I honestly think weighing in the day before is the lesser of 2 evils.

The no saved by the bell rule is a joke too. If you're going to let the fight continue on for the benefit of the bjj guy, that's a bit unfair no? Why not allow the same luxury for the striker who's tee-ing off on his opponent when the bell rings? And sure if you're gonna go that far then why have rounds at all? Why not go back to the old days of just one big long scrap till someone quits or is KO'd? That worked out well in the past didn't it?!

Having teams is a joke too. It's an individual sport, not a team sport so why complicate things and try make it something its not?

No elbows?? Why not?!! Another stupid rule favouring the bjj guy over the striker? You'd think the inventor of this new organisation had some bias towards bjj or something.............oh wait.......

unknown13

The save by the bell rule will never be clear cut enough in MMA to be used. Its very clear cut in boxing, hence why it is effectively used.

dave1982

Don't think the saved by the bell rule applies to just BJJ I hope.My favourite part of the BJJ is the defending of it and getting out of the sub.


The judging no matter hows its done people will have issues with it.

Ideally retired fighters should judge but then you have issues with them being impartial.

Mellor

dave1982 wrote: »

Apart from the judging part I'd be in favour of the rest.

Pride style rounds

Same day weigh ins will benefit the fighters make them fight at their true weight besides crazy weight cut.

Theres going to be some fantastic BJJ with saved by bell rule gone.

I'm assuming knees will be allowed to downed oppenant.

Same day weighs will lead to smaller cuts (this is good) but also fighting dehydrated (This is very very bad). Dad decision overall imo.

I don't see how the saved by the bell rule will allow fantastic bjj? It allows the exact same BJJ as before just a little more time. I think its a terrible rule thats full of problems
How will it be determined if a submission is in place? A fully locked in RNC is obvious, so thats let run until escape or tap. But what about if he just has his back and the choke isn't on? Or is halfway through setting up a sub, at what point is it on?

cowzerp

dave1982 wrote: »

Same day weigh ins will benefit the fighters make them fight at their true weight besides crazy weight cut.

This was done in the 1st place to save fighters been brain damaged so I don't see how this will be a good thing, If everyone just didn't cut it would be fine but fact is lads will and will get punched to the head while dehydrated and when their brain is not padded by water.

Since this rule came into Boxing the death rate has seriously reduced.

People who think same day weigh ins are a good idea simply don't understand weight cutting and the dangers.

00benski

cowzerp wrote: »

This was done in the 1st place to save fighters been brain damaged so I don't see how this will be a good thing, If everyone just didn't cut it would be fine but fact is lads will and will get punched to the head while dehydrated and when their brain is not padded by water.

Since this rule came into Boxing the death rate has seriously reduced.

People who think same day weigh ins are a good idea simply don't understand weight cutting and the dangers.

Our brains are not padded with water, its surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid.

EnjoyChoke

00benski wrote: »

Our brains are not padded with water, its surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid.

The major component of which is water. I'm pretty sure he didn't think there was a bottle of Ballygowan knocking around in there.

El Guapo!

00benski wrote: »

Our brains are not padded with water, its surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid.

That's true but the point still stands. Dehydration causes an increase in the volume surrounding the brain, (less fluid in and around the brain), which means when a person receives a blow to the head, the brain has further to travel before it collides with the skull. Because it has further to travel it picks up more momentum than in a fully hydrated skull and crashes into the skull harder and faster. Couple this with less padding due to loss of fluid, and the risks of brain damage increase significantly.

El Guapo!

EnjoyChoke wrote: »

The major component of which is water. I'm pretty sure he didn't think there was a bottle of Ballygowan knocking around in there.

It's actually Deep Riverock.......it's water you wear.

weemcd

Very, very uneasy about the idea of a referee being involved in the scoring of a fight.

DrPhilG

Realistically, is this going to last at all?

Or is it just the latest YAMMA...