ABC Changes Rules on MMA Scoring Criteria

The ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions) held their annual conference today, and approved a package of changes to the rules regarding the MMA scoring criteria for fights. The biggest altercation to the rules will be including language that is more clear for judging, and redefining what makes a fighter grounded. The package of new rules was passed in a landslide vote of 42-1. Mike Mazzulli, the president of the ABC, said that the new rules will go into effect January 1st, 2017.

Rule Changes

One of the goals with the new MMA scoring criteria is to improve the clarity of the language for judges. The new rules address this issue by stating that “effective striking and grappling are the top tier for judging rounds — and only if those things are equal do you judge aggression and then cage control.”

Additionally, a 10-8 round may now be easier to come by. The new criteria asks judges to “look at dominance, duration and impact (or damage). If a round has two of those characteristics, a 10-8 should be considered. If a round has all three of those characteristics, it must be a 10-8 round.”

The new rules also state that a judge can award a 10-7 round if necessary. A 10-7 round is awarded “when a fighter completely overwhelms their opponent in Effective Striking and/or Grappling and stoppage is warranted. A 10 – 7 round in MMA is a score that judges will rarely give.”

The new scoring criteria also addresses what is called ‘effective aggressiveness’ when scoring rounds. Stating that effective aggressiveness is “aggressively making attempts to finish the fight. The key term here is ‘effective’. Chasing around an opponent with no result, impact or damage should not render in the judges’ assessments. Effective Aggressiveness is only to be assessed if Effective Striking/Grappling is 100% equal for both competitors.”

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