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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Andy Foster hopes to finally solve the grounded fighter dilemma.

For the past several years, one of the biggest headaches in MMA has been the rule declaring knees to the head of a grounded fighter illegal. The rule has gone through a few changes over the years in regards to what being a “grounded fighter” actually entails, and is still not universally adopted in all jurisdictions, leading to rampant confusion in bouts as the UFC travels to different locations. Most recently, the issue popped back up again at UFC 297, when Arnold Allen delivered a series of questionable knees to Movsar Evloev.

But this week at the upcoming Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) rules committee meeting, Foster plans to propose a change to help solve this problem once and for all.

“We’re going to get rid of the hand,” the California State Athletic Commission executive director said on The MMA Hour. “That’s my proposal. We’re going to get rid of it. If you want to be down, you need to put something else down. Knee, back, anything. Anything other than — you can’t be standing up, putting your hand on the ground. It’s caused too much confusion. A rule that we put in for safety has in fact created an unsafe environment, and it’s created an untenable environment for referees to regulate this. They all view it differently.

“Herb [Dean] likes weight bearing, others do different things, different commissions look at it different ways. You can’t have unified rules where the rules aren’t unified. We’ve got to get rid of this. It’s a situation that we, the regulators, have created. It’s our creation, it hasn’t worked, and we need to fix it.”

Aside from serving as executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, Foster is also the Chairman of the ABC Rules Committee. The official wording of the change is that a fighter will be considered grounded “when any part of their body besides their hands or feet come in contact with the canvas,” a departure from the current ABC rule defining grounded as “anything other than the soles of the feet, bearing weight” touch the canvas.

Foster said he expects the changes to be accepted by the committee and that they will then propose it for adoption at the ABC conference this summer, where he also expects it to pass through, with its implementation following shortly thereafter.

Assuming that all comes true, Foster believes this change will not only lead to a safer and more efficient environment, it will also bring about more action in the cage.

“This grounded fighter takes up a good portion of the rules meeting, because there are questions about it, and the referees go back and forth,” Foster said. “Here in California, we have a ‘weight-bearing’ type, we want to see you bear some weight [on the hand]. That’s really not written down anywhere, that’s just a rule because all these things are ambiguous. What exactly is ‘the hand down?’

“Some people just put the fingers down and hope they don’t get kneed in the face, and there’s been a couple examples where Herb just let it keep going, which I think he’s right. But that’s what I’m talking about. The fighter thinks they’re protected when they’re not, and the knee is on its way. Then they find out after the fact that Herb wasn’t going to enforce that. He tells them in advance, ‘You need to have weight bearing,’ and they’ll put it down, but it’s hard to tell what exactly is weight bearing, what’s not in the heat of the moment. The referee is looking at a lot of things. It’s a lot cleaner.

“And by the way, I think it creates a lot more action. Because there’s been a lot of stall points when you get there and maybe if they’re a grappler type person, they’re looking for a re-shot, and if they’re a striker, they’re looking for the timing of the knee. It’s just a bizarre game we’ve created. Stand up and box or kickbox, set up your shot, do something, or get on the ground and grapple. One of the two.”

Of course, the other way to solve an ambiguities around grounded fighters would be to simply get rid of the rule entirely. Several international sanctioning bodies allow for knees to the head of grounded fighters, and the Colorado Athletic Commission already approved such an exemption for ONE Championship. But Foster isn’t on board with that.

“I’m not to the point yet though we’re I’m ready to go to knees to the head of a grounded opponent,” Foster said. “I’m just not there. Some people are, I’ve talked to a lot of people. ‘Why don’t you just do the global rules?’ as they call them. I’m just not there.

“It comes from experience. I watched a fight back years ago … where a guy got soccer kicked in the head, and that kind of turned me off to that,” Foster continued. “I was cageside when it happened and it was a pretty damaging strike. I never had seen anything quite like it, at that time. I feel like there’s limits to this and that’s too dangerous right now, for me. But maybe one day I’ll get there. They can show me some data or something.”

The grounded fighter rule isn’t the only change Foster is proposing. Foster also noted that he’s suggesting the committee remove the “12-6” elbow rule, which prohibits elbows thrown straight downward. One of the most controversial rules currently in MMA, it famously led to Jon Jones’s lone MMA loss, a disqualification against Matt Hamill in 2009. And while Foster wants the grounded fighter rule changed for safety reasons, he’s proposing this rule because it’s pointless.

“That rule, I don’t even know if there is anybody that will disagree with this — it’s just silly,” Foster said. “That rule is just — what about 11-5 if we’re going to use the clock? Or 1-7? Those aren’t illegal; 3-9 is an awful hard strike from side control, but that’s not banned. It doesn’t make any sense, is the point I’m trying to make. Either you ban elbows or you allow them. This is the only one that’s not, and it’s poorly enforced. Hardly ever is it enforced, and when it is enforced, it’s enforced wrong. And you certainly shouldn’t have people being DQed over this. You go back and you have people arguing, ‘Well, it wasn’t straight down.’ I’ve had all this. This rule is untenable as well. Terrible thing we’ve put our referees in. We should not have rules on the books that are clearly unenforceable.

“This one particular strike — you see guys from the bottom of the guard throwing elbows. Those hurt. I’ve seen guys do a lot of damage with those elbows, cut them up, and those are legal but this [is not]? It doesn’t make any sense.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

It was an off week for major MMA this past weekend so not a lot of pressing matters to discuss. Given that, the questions this week cover a whole range of topics, including the looming specter of UFC 300. Let’s talk about it, Road House, and ONE Championship’s latest fiasco.

ONE Championship Snafu

In case you missed it, ONE Championship held ONE 165 on Saturday evening in Tokyo, which was supposed to feature a 170-pound matchup between Shinya Aoki and Sage Northcutt. However, mere hours before the fight, Northcutt withdrew because his cornermen were denied visas into Japan and so he opted not to compete without them. In his stead, career flyweight/bantamweight John Lineker stepped in for an openweight bout, and Aoki effortlessly throttled him. The entire thing was absurd, and then to make matters worse, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong decided to take shots at the country of Japan. Just a deeply unserious combat sports promotion through and through.

The Lineker-Aoki situation is ridiculous, not because they fought, but because it was necessary. I’m actually totally down for the openweight bout as a last-ditch resort, because that is cool. But the inability to see this as a problem beforehand and mitigate it? That’s rookie stuff. What, you think fighters are going to just compete without their coaches? Have you ever talked to professional fighters before? Screw that, have you ever met Sage Northcutt?! You think he’s about to cowboy up out there with three dudes from the crowd giving him pointers? This was some vintage Pride era booking here to an end that doesn’t even matter. Aoki is 40 years old! What are we doing here?

Anyway, John Lineker rules for accepting that fight and it would be way more fun to have more openweight matches, just with fighters that are prepared and, preferably, not very good. Y’all telling me you wouldn’t watch Chris Barnett vs. Paul Craig? Liars.

UFC 300 and the Meshewlin Star System

For those unaware, the Meshewlin Star System is a patented method for grading fight cards that some have called “a revelation of incisive commentary and brilliant simplicity.” (It was me, I called it that.)

The premise is simple and based on the Michelin Guide, the most venerated food guide in the world. The Michelin Guide gives out one star to restaurants that are “very good,” two stars for restaurants “excellent, worth a detour,” and three stars for “exceptional, worth a special journey.” I have co-opted this to rate fight cards, with one star being worthy of attending if you live in the city it takes place in, two stars being worth of a small road trip to attend, and three stars being worth a special trip to attend. See? Simple.

And with that out of the way, even without a main event yet, UFC 300 is the most three-star Meshewlin card I’ve ever seen. On paper, this has a pretty strong case for being the best card the UFC has ever put together. One title fight, the BMF fight which is the favorite to win Fight of the Year, Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan which is third in Fight of the Year voting right now (Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis is second), and eight other great fights that could co-main event a pay-per-view without issue. This card rocks in a way that almost makes me want to break the rules and add a fourth star.

As for other three-star cards, there aren’t many. In fact, because I wasn’t doing the Meshewlin Star System until fairly recently, UFC 300 will be the first. But going back into the archives and applying the scale retroactively, UFC 285 was definitely a two-star event, and might have cleared the three-star bar, but if it didn’t, UFC 281 absolutely did. And that feels about right, honestly: Around one three-star event a year.

UFC 300 ideas

I don’t think the UFC should make 300 a two-night event for two reasons. First, it’s just a lot. UFC 300 is already stacked beyond belief and if they make it a two-night event, one of two outcomes happens: Either they water down 300 and split up the great fights, or they just have one card that is clearly inferior beforehand. Both choices aren’t all that great. I’m fine with just going all out for 300.

Secondly, I actually do think this is something they should do every year with International Fight Week. Previously, UFC did exactly this. Back in 2018 they had an Ultimate Fighter finale show on the Friday before UFC 226. But in recent years they’ve put less of a priority on making IFW a big deal. Sure, it’s a big PPV every year, but it’s not really living up to Wrestlemania levels of hype. I would like UFC to go back to that sort of build, because it’s cool and I think doing a two-night event like that works better for a yearly planned thing.

Withdrawals

It seems highly unlikely that any of the three fighters listed are going to get a title shot without another win. Amir Albazi and Manel Kape, I would put at actual zero percent to get one. Kape blew weight and Albazi doesn’t have the name or appeal to just get shoved into a title shot right now. He needed the big win, and now he can’t get it.

Tatiana Suarez is a bit of a wild card. It would be a bit ridiculous for her to just get a title shot next, however, she’s decently popular and if Weili Zhang beats Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300, then there’s not a great next contender lined up for her. Given that, it’s possible UFC just says screw it and puts her in there, and honestly, I kind of hope they do.

Brian Ortega vs. Ilia Topuria

These two aren’t especially close to facing one another right now, but I assume they will at some point in the future, and when that happens, I will feel exactly the same as I have about every Brian Ortega fight: He isn’t very good and shouldn’t win, and there he is getting sonned and — oh, submission out of nowhere, Ortega wins again.

Ortega is the Brock Purdy of MMA: He doesn’t make sense. He loses almost every fight he wins, but then he just … stops that. He’s not very defensively sound, his offense is disjointed, and it doesn’t matter. It’s infuriating. I said after the Cub Swanson fight that Brian Ortega was going to put together a 20-fight win streak and set the record for featherweight title defenses and all the while I would still be shaking my head and muttering that he’s not good, and I stand by it.

When he and Ilia Topuria inevitable clash, I firmly expect Topuria to batter him around the cage for 12 minutes before falling in a guillotine and going to sleep.

Conor McGregor and Road House

In case you missed it, the first trailer for the remake of Road House dropped last week, with Conor McGregor featured prominently in it. That led me to the above tweet, which then raised this question: What are the top-four MMA fighters as actor performances in cinema?

Oddly enough, this is a topic I’m deeply invested in. I have made it my mission to watch as many of these performances as I can because I find it deeply amusing. So while I haven’t seen all of them, I feel like I’m well-versed enough to give you a pretty solid list. And the Mount Rushmore goes like this:

• Gina Carano in Haywire: Carano is not a good actress and she got a lot worse as she tried to act more, but Steven Soderbergh rocks and she showcases some good action chops in this one.
• Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in The A-Team: This movie rules and I was bummed and a bit shocked when it somehow didn’t kick off a Mission Impossible-esque run of films. It may have been a few years too early for peak IP movie making, but it remains a cable classic and Rampage is good as Mr. T (aka B.A. Baracus). Not perfect, and like Carano, he struggles with the acting bits, but he’s great in the action sequences.
• Tait Fletcher in various roles: Shout out to Tait Fletcher, man. This man lost to flabby Josh Haynes on The Ultimate Fighter and somehow ended up being an elite movie henchman. If you don’t know, check out his IMDB. In half of the fun action movies of the past decade or so, Fletcher is filling five minutes of screen time getting whomped on by the hero. How many people can you say got thumped by John Wick, Robert McCall (The Equalizer), and Christian Wolff (The Accountant)? Legend.
• Keith Jardine in Shot Caller: Jardine is basically just Tait Fletcher redux. He’s got a look and that got him in the door and now he’s a regular henchman in films (even made his directorial debut last year). Fletcher has the better portfolio of work, but “The Dean of Mean” has a solid, albeit brief, performance as “Ripper” in Shot Caller, which is a movie that more people should love.

Obviously, I chose not to include Dave Bautista as he has one MMA fight in his career, but if we’re adding him in, then he probably has the entire Mount Rushmore to himself. He’s a legitimately good character actor. Also, Kimbo Slice has some decent work as a heavy in bad action movies, but he’s also not entirely an MMA fighter, so I left him off. Other than that, everyone is terrible, though it can often be fun. So like I said above, if Conor can simply hold his own opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, he’ll be a top-tier MMA fighter-turned actor.

And if you want to see the worst performances of all-time, let me leave you with a little film called D-Day: Battle of Omaha Beach, starring Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, and Nicholas Cage’s son Weston Cage Coppola. It may be the worst thing you’ll ever see, but you won’t be able to tear your eyes away from it.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in Tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send your Tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again and see y’all next week.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Former UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, who also wore gold at flyweight, will compete for the No. 1 contender spot in the official 135-pound rankings when he collides with streaking division contender Merab Dvalishvili as part of the upcoming UFC 298 pay-per-view (PPV) event, locked and loaded for Sat., Feb. 17, 2024 at Honda Center in Anaheim.

A loss could prompt “Triple C” to retire (again).

“This is for the No. 1 contender spot,” Cejudo told The HJR Experiment (transcribed by Farah Hannoun). “I think to have to lose it to Aljamain … I think if I was going to go maybe down the ladder, I would probably be done with fighting again because it’s just like the sport is hard, man. Training camps, having two kids, and things like that. … It’s all or nothing, man.”

Cejudo, 36, is currently ranked No. 3 in the bantamweight rankings, one slot below Dvalishvili. Former 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling currently occupies the No. 1 spot; however, he is expected to vacate that position upon making his featherweight debut as part of the UFC 300 PPV extravaganza this April at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“It’s more of a motivation of vengeance,” Cejudo continued. “It’s not always the love. Even coming back to the sport, I was like, ‘I want to test myself.’ I like the matchup. It has been three years, but it was also the financial compensation. I mean, there’s nothing easier to make money than the fight game.”

The bantamweight title will be up for grabs when current champion Sean O’Malley puts his belt on the line against longtime rival Marlon Vera atop the UFC 299 PPV card next month in Miami. The winner is expected to make his first 135-pound title defense against the winner of Cejudo vs. Dvalishvili, assuming there are no serious injuries or wacky outcomes.

And if anyone asks, Las Vegas is not in the desert.

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Luke Rockhold’s early impressions of fellow former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland were not very good, as he recounts Strickland walking into his home gym on sparring day.

“He’s just that guy that doesn’t care,” Rockhold said on the JAXXON Podcast. “He’ll try to kill you. Sean Strickland walked into RVCA one time and he was such a loud mouth idiot, I was like, ‘Who the f*** is this guy?’ I was so hungover, so annoyed, I was like, ‘F***, I’m going to get in a spar with this guy, I can’t even take it.’

“But I had seen him… he hurt a guy in the gym. He hurt him with a head kick. With like 30 seconds left, he wobbled him, and [the coach] was like, ‘Keep going, finish out the round.’ Instead of what most people would do which is try to work with him — especially when you’re on somebody else’s turf — Sean went straight back to that head kick and tried to knock him out multiple times. There’s 30 seconds left in the round, the kid’s done, show yourself as a f****** man and try to finish the round rather than just go back to the well and knock him out.”

Strickland has become of of the UFC’s biggest stars after defeating Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound title at UFC 293 in September. He went on to headline the promotion’s first pay-per-view of the year at UFC 297 earlier this month and dropped a razor close split decision to new champion Dricus du Plessis.

Like Strickland, Rockhold had a short run as UFC middleweight champ, losing the title in his first defense to Michael Bisping at UFC 299 in June 2016.

On that day at RVCA, Rockhold ended up getting his opportunity to spar with Strickland, and says despite feeling rough after a night of consuming adult beverages, he held his own.

“I remember we got into a little brawl for one round,” Rockhold explained. “He’s tricky, he’s a little tricky guy.

“I went into the bathroom, I put paper towel [and] wrapped it in my teeth like an old school wet mouthpiece, and I was swallowing the thing, sparring him hungover, and it was close. It was a close round. I would love to get him back out here [to spar again].”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Tom Aspinall was all in on a “freak show” fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 300.

Since winning the interim heavyweight world title in November, Aspinall has been in a bit of a holding pattern as undisputed champ Jon Jones recovers from a pectoral injury. Even when Jones returns, ‘Bones’ has his sights set on a divisional superfight with former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic instead of the much more logical and intriguing unification clash with Aspinall.

As a result, rumors have been flying about some potential big-money matchups for the Salford, England native. During a recent interview with OLBG, Aspinall expected the promotion to pull together something crazy, like a fight with former heavyweight king Brock Lesnar or a champion vs. champion showdown with Alex Pereira.

“With the Jones palaver and all the politics around that, I was thinking they’d maybe give me some freak show kind of fight against Brock Lesnar, or maybe at UFC 300 they’d do something a bit out there like Alex Pereira but that doesn’t look likely now, I have no idea my next move, I’m kind of waiting about,” Aspinall said.

Tom Aspinall Eyeing Rematch with Curtis Blaydes

Aspinall has stayed ready for a potential appearance at the promotion’s next landmark event on April 13, but as we inch closer to the highly anticipated date, it’s looking more and more like he will enjoy the festivities from the stands instead of in the Octagon.

“I absolutely would be ready for UFC 300, I believe now it’s only three months away and I have been training twice a day since a week after my last fight, so my body is in good shape right now,” Aspinall added. “But there isn’t really a realistic opponent. The only realistic ones would be Pereira or Lesnar and they’re not really realistic.”

The most logical fight out there for Aspinall at the moment is a rematch with the only man who holds a victory over him under the UFC banner, Curtis Blaydes. Razor’ is scheduled for a scrap with Jailton Almeida at UFC 299 on March 9. Should he pass his test against the submission specialist, Blaydes could be in for a shot at Aspinall’s interim strap.

“I think I’ll have a rematch with Curtis Blaydes in the UK,” Aspinall said. “I’ve got one loss on my (UFC) record and it’s by injury to Blaydes. And if he wins his next fight – which is a tough fight – if he wins it makes sense to do me and him again at this point, because let’s be honest, I’m not going to get the Jones or Miocic fight the way it’s going. I like Curtis, but professionally he has a win over me and I don’t want him to.”

LowKickMMA.com

When it was announced that Kayla Harrison was signed by the UFC most people thought that she’d be competing as a featherweight.  She competed as a lightweight during her dominant reign in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), amassing a 16-1 record.  

She’s only fought once at featherweight but is booked to take on former bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm at UFC 300.  Bantamweight is a 20-pound drop from where Harrison is used to fighting and former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate doesn’t think the weight cut will go well for the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo.  

“When I saw it was at 135, I was shocked, because Kayla Harrison begged for 155-pound division at PFL and she got it and I think she’s been great there,” Tate told Fight Nation on SiriusXM. “She’s been tremendous. I know she’s made 145 before, I think it was tough for her. I think 135 is going to really suck the life out of her, and it’s not the best move.

“I guess I’m speaking from personal experience, because when I went down to 125—although I did it and I still had a pretty decent camp—I just didn’t perform at my best, and I think Kayla is just used to being such a big, strong woman, that she won’t have that on her side, and I’m really curious to see how that’s going to benefit her with someone like Holly, who really does move so well. She really has some of the best footwork in the women’s divisions, and I think that’s going to be tough for Kayla.  And I’m pumped for Kayla.  I’m excited for her to come over here.  I think it’s going to be really good, but if you’re asking me who I think is going to win that fight looking at it right now, I would say Holly.”  

"If you're asking me who I think is going to win that fight, looking at it right now, I'd say Holly."@MieshaTate breaks down the x-factors of the #UFC300 matchup between Kayla Harrison & Holly Holm.

MMA Today | 🎙️ @RJcliffordMMA @AngieOverkill pic.twitter.com/bKdLXtnwt3

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) January 26, 2024

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