MMA rules committee to discuss 12-to-6 elbows, instant replay next

LAS VEGAS — In its first year of existence, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) MMA rules and regulations committee recommended a package of amendments that ended up being the most significant change to MMA’s Unified Rules since their inception.

And beginning next month, the committee will be back to work trying to put together another package for next year, according to chairman Sean Wheelock.

This week, the ABC general body approved the committee’s rules package at its annual conference by a vote of 42-1 with two abstentions. Included in the amendments were clearer criteria for scoring, a revised definition of a grounded fighter and a foul to reduce eye pokes.

Wheelock plans on having a conference call with the other nine members of the committee, which includes the likes of John McCarthy, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes, next month, as scheduled. The whole group, Wheelock said, will be back in place to recommend more new rules for next year’s ABC Conference at Mohegan Sun.

“We will literally do this until somebody tells me to stop,” Wheelock told MMA Fighting. “If somebody tells me to stop and they’re sick of me, I hope they bring in somebody new and do this forever, because it’s important.”

Wheelock already has some ideas about what he’ll discuss with the committee coming up, beginning with the abolition of the ban on 12-to-6 elbows in fights. The rules committee unanimously voted to recommend that foul be removed from MMA’s Unified Rules this year, but the removal was struck down by the ABC medical committee.

There just wasn’t enough support for it this year, so Wheelock said he will propose the start of a pilot program in late 2016 into 2017. His plan includes asking five to six commissions to remove the 12-to-6 elbow ban temporarily and collect data on its usage. The rules committee will then present that data to the …

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