Michael Bisping wants rule changed after UFC Vegas 85
The thought of changing the downed fighter rule in mixed martial arts has gained steam in recent years and Saturday’s UFC Vegas 85 main event proved why the rule should be changed.
After watching the middleweight headliner between Roman Dolidze and Nassourdine Imavov, former middleweight champion Michael Bisping joined the change the rule camp.
“The UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex just finished, Roman Dolidze taking on Nassourdine Imavov. And that went the distance and the rule needs to be God d**mn changed,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.
The rule “The Count” referenced is the “downed fighter” or the “downed opponent” rule. Some states, like Florida for instance, have already adopted a new rule for a downed fighter. In the past, and in a lot of places, the rule that defined a downed fighter stated, “A grounded fighter is defined as: Any part of the body, other than the soles of the feet touching the fighting area floor.”
The newer rule only adopted in some places reads: “A grounded fighter is defined as: Any part of the body, other than a single hand and soles of the feet touching the fighting area floor. To be grounded, both hands palm/fist down, and/or any other body part must be touching the fighting area floor. A single knee, arm, makes the fighter grounded without having to have any other body part in touch with the fighting area floor. At this time, kicks or knees to the head will not be allowed.”
Part of the problem with allowing fighters to simply put a finger on the canvas to be considered grounded is that when a fighter does that he’s not protecting himself. The second part is that it makes it difficult for a referee to determine whether a fighter is grounded.
In Saturday’s main event, Dolidze put his hand on the canvas while standing. Imavov kicked him in the head. A point was deducted from Imavov for the infraction but it was a clear example of why the rule should be amended everywhere.
“There was a point deducted because, I think, it was round 3. In round 3, Dolidze again had given up his back standing because he throws a lot of spinning techniques and at times trying to get the takedown against the fence he’d turned and gave up his back a few times,” Bisping said.
“Dolidze had given up his back. Imavov’s got him in the body lock. What does Dolidze do? Well, he’s playing the game. He’s putting the hand down on the octagon canvas,” continued Bisping. “And you can’t hit him there because that’s a ‘downed opponent.’ Just recently there was a lot of talk by the California Athletic Commission that that was going to be changed.”
The new rule is mostly the same as the old rule. It required two hands instead of one on the canvas to be considered downed. If any other part of your body is on the canvas other than your feet, you are considered a downed opponent. Fighters would simply have to take a knee, for instance, to be considered downed. One hand on the canvas would no longer make a fighter downed and his or her opponent would be allowed to kick or knee.”
“Imavov kicked him in the face. Whoa. Stop. Herb Dean stops the fight and takes a point from Imavov. It didn’t really matter because he had dominated most of the rounds anyway.”
“The big thing here is nobody in their right mind, in a real fight live combat situation, if they’re in a fight is going to lean on the ground, just chill here for a second. I’m just going to put my hand on the ground because in a fight situation you’re going to get cracked. You’re going to get punched, kicked, You’re going to get demolished. Nobody, no man alive, leans, puts their hands on the ground and goes, you know what. I’m good here sausage. I can hang out here all day,” said Bisping.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/michael-bisping-wants-rule-changed-after-ufc-vegas-85
