Unified Rules of MMA amended by Association of Boxing Commissions

Tuesday afternoon the Association of Boxing Commissions made amends to the Unified Rules of MMA after a 42-1 vote passed several revisions.

MMAJunkie has the official revisions, which we included below.

The first major change to the rules is that a fighter is now declared a “downed fighter” who cannot be kicked or kneed in the head when both hands are down on the canvas, rather than just one hand on the mat.

The second change was that referees can now deduct points to fighters who “moves their arm(s) toward their opponent with an open hand, fingers pointing at the opponent’s face/eyes.”

The third change is in regards to how rounds are scored, with “Effect Aggressiveness” being secondary “only to be assessed if Effective Striking/Grappling is 100 percent equal for both competitors.” Lastly “Fight Area Control” is the third tier of criteria and “is only to be assessed if Effective Striking/Grappling and Effective Aggressiveness are 100 percent equal for both competitors.”

What do you think of the changes?