E18 – MMA’s Greatest Podcast – UFC 208 Controversy!

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☐ UFC 208 results

Dustin Poirier defeated Jim Miller by majority decision (28-28, 30-27, 29-28)

Glover Teixiera defeated Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Jacare Souza defeated Tim Boetsch by submission (kimura), 3:41 of round 2

Anderson Silva defeated Derek Brunson by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Germaine de Randamie defeated Holly Holm by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)

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☐ De Randamie says she wants to give Holm a rematch

☐ Dana White didn’t object to Todd Anderson being the ref for Holm de-Randamie

☐ UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Browne fight card for Sunday,  in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 19.02.2017

Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne

Johny Hendricks vs. Hector Lombard

Sam Sicilia vs. Gavin Tucker

Elias Theodorou vs. Cezar Ferreira

Sara McMann vs. Gina Mazany

Nordine Taleb vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio

Carla Esparza vs. Randa Markos

Aiemann Zahabi vs. Reginaldo Vieira

Jack Marshman vs. Thiago Santos

Alessandro Ricci vs. Paul Felder

Gerald Meerschaert vs. Ryan Janes

Alex Volkanovski vs. TBA

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☐ Report | Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have reached a deal regarding financial figures for a boxing match

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☐ Ref says bell does not end round, the ref has to

☐ changes to MMA rules in 2017

With new scoring changes, 10-8 rounds should be more prevalent

Grounded fighter

Under the original rules, fighters could place a single finger tip in the ground to establish themselves as grounded, thereby avoiding legal kicks and knees to the head. Officials have long dubbed that “playing the game.” It’s no longer viable. Now, fighters must have both hands on the ground — either their palms or fists — to be considered grounded. As always, if a fighter’s knee or any other part of the body except the hands and feet are touching the mat, then that fighter is also grounded.

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Extended fingers

Eye pokes have been a topic of controversy lately. They are fight-ending, career-damaging illegal maneuvers. Under the original rules, referees could do nothing about it until it was too late and the poke was already landed. The new rules empower referees by making it a foul to extend your fingers outward toward an opponent’s face, which could lead to an eye poke.

Previously, a referee could tell a fighter to close his or her hand, but the ref had no recourse — a point could not be taken. Now, it can be if a fighter continues to extend fingers in the direction of an opponent’s face.

Female apparel

The days of T-shirts, half-shirts and loose-fitting tank tops (sorry, Reebok) are over in women’s MMA. Women must wear either a sports bra or a form-fitting rash guard in the cage. For bottoms, the rules are the same as for men: nothing below the knee, which means no more grappling or yoga pants.

Why is this a big deal? Well, loose-fitting shirts are actually dangerous. Fingers and toes can get caught in them. They can slip over a fighter’s head if too loose. UFC fighter Valerie Letourneau recently had an issue when her opponent Joanna Calderwood’s foot pulled down her tanktop with a front kick and she nearly had a wardrobe malfunction. Letourneau covered up and was struck in the head by Calderwood when she wasn’t defending herself. That kind of thing can’t happen in MMA.

Grappling pants, which have been used by Marloes Coenen and others, are an inherent advantage. Men have never been able to wear them under the Unified Rules. This is the first time women’s apparel has been standardized in the official rules.

Many have asked, Why are a bunch of men deciding what women can wear? That’s a good point. But MMA rules and regulations committee chairman Sean Wheelock consulted with Invicta FC matchmaker and women’s MMA pioneer Julie Kedzie .before writing these regulations.

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Heel kicks to the kidneys

The last time any of us saw this technique was Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock. It’s not prevalent and the fact there was a rule against it was kind of odd. All other blows to the kidneys are 100 percent legal, but heel kicks (used by fighters holding opponents in guard) were banned. Not any longer.

Heel kicks to the kidneys aren’t much more than an annoyance or cause to change positions, as demonstrated Tuesday by MMA legends and Randy Couture and Jeremy Horn.

“The kidney strike with the heel is not an effective strike,” Couture told MMA Fighting. “It doesn’t make sense for it to be illegal. We do get hit in the kidneys. I can get in on a shot, if you’re trying to take an opponent down, and he’s perfectly free to hit me in the back all that he wants. It’s not illegal now.”

Grabbing the clavicle

Very few people knew this was even illegal before. The foul has now been removed. It was unanimous this week at the ABC Conference that no one had ever seen this attack attempted in an MMA fight.

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