According to MMAweekly.com the Nevada State Athletic Commission has passed two new rules in regards to MMA:
1.) Nevada will now allow officials the use of instant replays to determine if a foul contributed to an injury which resulted in the end of a fight.
The final wording as passed: “A referee at the conclusion of a contest or exhibition stopped immediately due to an injury to an unarmed combatant pursuant to NAC 467.718 and after making a decision, may view a replay if available in order to determine whether the injury in question was caused a legal blow or a foul.”
The rule addresses several controversial stoppages in recent history where a fighter lost a contest because the referee couldn’t see an injury that forced a bout’s stoppage.
2.) Dubbed the “BJ Penn rule”, it will now be considered a foul to have any sort of foreign substance (such as vaseline) on a fighters body.
Dubbed by a commission official as the “B.J. Penn Rule,” the use of foreign substances will now be added to a list of “fouls” in the Nevada Administrative Code that address tactics illegal to fighters, such as eye gouging, small joint manipulation, or biting.
Controversy surrounding the use of Vaseline at UFC 94 threatened to overshadow welterweight champion St. Pierre’s dominating fourth round win over lightweight champion Penn.
Payout Perspective:
It’s completely understandable that a number of sports fans would cringe when hearing the words “instant replay;” the mechanism is highly subjective, interrupts the action, and often slows things down dramatically.
Fortunately for MMA, the instant replay rule implemented in Nevada is likely to be seldom used and only on occasions of dire and obvious need – as was pointed out and illustrated by the Burns-Johnson eye poke.
The sport already has enough problems with officiating and judging. Instant replay, used correctly, is a welcome addition to help curb some of the legitimacy problems MMA might face as a result of bad stoppages or unfair decisions. It’s about getting it right – that’s what fans care about and that’s what’s good for business.
On a separate note – one related to the new “BJ Penn” rule – some might be surprised to find out that, while frowned upon, foreign substances such as vaseline on a fighter’s body weren’t specifically illegal. Rather, this is one of those examples that demonstrate how many of boxing’s rules and regulations were carried over to MMA. It was simply an oversight that was long overdue to be addressed – St-Pierre vs. Penn II provided the proper motivation to revisit the rulebook.
As MMA continues to grow, the rules and regulations will continue to grow and adapt along with it. The sport isn’t even close to where it needs to be from a rules and regulations standpoint, simply because it’s young and still developing.
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