Commission updates unified MMA rules, UFC says they won't follow.

[smoogy]

lol Big John is now on "the list"

[Dork8503]

Originally Posted by smoogy

lol Big John is now on "the list"

I found that really funny when i read that part.

But something else, Big John is a ref the guy shouldn't be poking his nose in that stuff like he is.

Who is he to fight that there needs to be more weight classes. Yeah i agree there should be some or some need fixed but the way they were done is a fucking joke.

[CJRockstar]

i already posted this earlier

[POINDEXTER]

I'm not a fan of needless rule changes and the weight-class multiplication. I think the one addition could be a super HW class, but that's about it, IMO.

[smoogy]

Originally Posted by Dork8503

I found that really funny when i read that part.

But something else, Big John is a ref the guy shouldn't be poking his nose in that stuff like he is.

Who is he to fight that there needs to be more weight classes. Yeah i agree there should be some or some need fixed but the way they were done is a fucking joke.

He retired as a ref dude. He can do what he wants, and as an expert why wouldn't he get involved with regulating the sport? He should be the David Stern of MMA

[AngryJohnny]

I don't think Dana is going to have a whole lot of people supporting him on the "Big John isn't our friend anymore" stance.

[RearNakedStroke]

Originally Posted by Dork8503

I found that really funny when i read that part.

But something else, Big John is a ref the guy shouldn't be poking his nose in that stuff like he is.

Who is he to fight that there needs to be more weight classes. Yeah i agree there should be some or some need fixed but the way they were done is a fucking joke.

I was wandering how the UFC would react to the "unified rules". I'm glad they are going to fight the weight class rules because that many is just ridiculous. I think they're great how they are in the UFC and the last thing they need to do is dilute the talent in the heavyweight division.

[#1taz]

Big John has every right IMHO to speak his piece to any athletic commission, especially when it comes to fighter safety and consistant ref calls. He was there from the begining and has ref'ed more high profile, main event, and champion fights than any other MMA ref. He helped come up with the rules/regulations that all of the refs now use and has always fought hard with all of the organizations in MMA to try to protect fighters from any serious injury. And unlike Dana and the UFC, he truly cares about the fighters, their safety and health, and his statements aren't financially biased.

As to the weight classes - they have about as much chance getting Dana and the UFC to agree with that as they do of talking Dana into getting in the octagon on a UFC PPV to fight Randy Couture...lol

Dana and the Fertitas are convinced that the weight classes that the UFC uses are the best and have always refused to even discuss altering them or adding any others.

[POINDEXTER]

Originally Posted by smoogy

He retired as a ref dude. He can do what he wants, and as an expert why wouldn't he get involved with regulating the sport? He should be the David Stern of MMA

The problem with this analogy is that David Stern was elected to lead the NBA, and in terms of basketball, and especially regarding their contracted athletes, they operate in an entirely unilateral and hegemonic manner with no direct competition - the exact same thing the UFC is criticized for in their attempts at leading and directing the sport of MMA. The player's (fighter's) union though would make a huge difference in MMA, IMO, if done right. That being said, I think Big John does offer valuable input and he has consistently given a shit about fighter safety over almost everybody else - for sure. That is why the making of a larger area on the back of the head available to strikes seemed a bit contradictory to Big John's approach. Maybe he wasn't responsible for that, though.