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Lorretta Hunt is reporting that the Association of Boxing Commissions, the body responsible for the Unified Rules which make modern mainstream MMA possible, have made a few clarifications and modifications to that code.  What, exactly, constitutes “the back of the head” has been specified.  The rarely enforced and never understood downward elbow rule has been abolished.  Smothering the opponent with the hand has been ruled a foul (take note, Matt Hamill!). 

More signifcantly, the official weight classes of mixed martial arts have been altered and expanded.  The ABC now recognizes fourteen weight classes for men, starting at 105 pounds and moving upward in ten pound increments to 205 pounds, then 205-225lbs for the light-heavyweight class, 225-265 for heavyweights, and 265+ for super heavyweights.  Ten female weight classes (alas, unspecified by Ms. Hunt) were likewise delineated.

The question, of course, is whether any major promotion will recognize and embrace these changes.  To do so would require the elimination arguably the UFC’s most talent-rich division, 170lbs.  Likewise, the home of the one EliteXC fighter (KJ Noons) with both elite talent and a promotion push would disappear.  But will Zuffa want to promote fourteen titles instead of five (and, yes, another five for the WEC)?  Will EliteXC?  Strikeforce?

If you’re a glass-half-full sort of promoter, look at it this way - fans love title fights.  Big belts are pretty and give the illusion of prestige if you don’t look too closely.  Every weight class is a chance to call yet another fighter “the best in the world” whether it’s true or not.  Many, many years ago, Battlecade created a welterweight title with the idea of strapping it on John Peretti favorite John Lewis.  More recently, the EliteXC lightweight division was set at 160lbs, rather than the more standard 155, to capitalize on Nick Diaz’ success at that weight in Pride.  (Neither of these gambits actually worked, but that’s irrelevant.  Successful or not, it’s a popular idea.)  If you’re the UFC, doesn’t a 165lb class you can slide undersized but talented welterweights like Diego Sanchez and Karo Parisyan into sound like a good idea?  Conversely, the Jon Fitches and GSPs of the division are hardly adversely affected by adding five pounds to their limit.  Heck, Thiago Alves wishes someone had come up with this months ago.  Kazuhiro Nakamura and Lyoto Machida are better suited to a 195lb division than 205.  Brandon Vera and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would be right at home at 225.  If you’re a good promoter, fourteen weight classes is fourteen potential main events. 

Perhaps the most significant change to the Unified Rules, though, is codification of amateur MMA regulations, including three rounds of three minutes, separated by ninety second rest periods.  MMA has, for the entirety if its existence, drawn from the amateur ranks of related but different sports - primarily wrestling and BJJ, but also judo, sambo, kickboxing, and others.  This results in fighters with pronounced areas of strength - the wrestlers’ takedown, the BJJers’ guardworkd, and so in - but equally pronounced weaknesses.  “Brazilian shoot” isn’t a compliment.  Furthermore, even those who have skills in more than one area, such as the ubiquitous wrestler/boxers, often lack the ability to flow from one range and one skillset to the other in seamless fashion.  Too many fighters are the product of on the job training.  Men sporting impressive (non-MMA) credentials get thrown in a cage with minimal training and no experience to face seasoned vets.  In boxing, a bout between a national karate champion with a year or two of boxing training and a handful amateur fights and, say, Mike Tyson would be considered a farce.  In MMA, Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir is the semi-main event of a major PPV. 

We’ve reached the stage in MMA history where we’re seeing fighters who grew up knowing this is what they wanted to do.  Don’t think that doesn’t make me feel old, either.  A kid can be ten years old and decide he wants to be an Olympic wrestler, judo player, boxer, or TKD fighter.  He can find a gym and train in that discipline, and he can face kids of his approximate age, size, and skill level in carefully regulated competition to progress towards that goal.  That same kid, deciding to be an MMA fighter, can find a gym and train in MMA, but his prospects for finding (at a later, more suitable age) a properly regulated venue to test himself are pretty slim at the moment.  This ruling by the ABC is a baby step along the way to fixing that.  The inevitable result of earlier competition and a smoother transition from practice to professional is a higher level of talent in the finished product.  That’s something I think we’re all in favor of.