Good rules for your own mma fights...

[OrangeLeopard]

i few of my firends and I are starting a little UFC/ Pride type of mixed martial arts around in each others houses and such. Basically we were going to adopt the rules of either Pride or UFC with a few amendments. What are some good additional rules to have a fun fight thats rather realistic without any of us getting too too injured.

as a side, where can i see pride fights without buying the dvds?

[clapping_tiger]

Without buying the DVD's you really only have 2 options. One is to get the fight on PPV after the live event. Most of the time you can get the fights for a few weeks after the live event, and it will run you around $9.00, but I have seen them air one event for a long time and it was $3.95. The other option would be to check out your local video store. Many carry the Pride, UFC, and King of the Cage DVD's.

As far as rules go, I think the 2 organizations have done a good job of protecting the fighters. I don't know what you could really add, except maybe the use of headgear. I don't know what you do for a living, but if you deal with customers, having a black eye does not give a good impression. So depending on what you do, maybe limit the head contact. But that is the fun of it, isn't it :)

[kempo-vjj]

I beleive for there fights not only is the referee highly educated and skilled when someone gets ko'd or submitted to stop the fight, but there are also doctors on hand. depending on what level your fights at I'd say mininum of some head gear and maybe regular boxing gloves, which make some submissions totally obsolete.

[CMack11]

I agree--since you don't have a trained referee or a doctor, wear headgear. They also make MMA-style gloves now that are more for training. They have more padding, but still have open fingers for grappling.

I'd also make sure to have an agreement w/ both fighters about the level of contact when going in to a fight, and make sure to have somebody impartial act as a ref to stop the fight if it gets ugly.

[Shogun]

We have done these gatherings for several years, but now we have a licensed referee ( who is a Collegiate wrestler) and a certified CPR man at ringside.Hospital is only 20 minutes away too. No injuries so far....

[JDenz]

Why bother doing that go join an event have a doctor there, get paid. That would seem to be the wise thing to do. Not to mention the liablilty issues when someone does get hurt at someones house.

[Andrew Green]

No one fights like that regullarly, the body wouldn't be able to take it.

Most of the training those fighters do is NOT like what they do in the ring.

Join a MMA club, don't just beat the crap out of each other...

[JDenz]

very very agreed

[Shogun]

Ours are like a friendly gathering. we dont get together and kill each other every day. its like 4-7 times a year, and we are overpadded.
All the guys there train in something, and a couple are local MMA fighters, who train with Landon Showalter. (link to sherdog stats)

http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?fighterid=2803

[Makalakumu]

Join a MMA club, don't just beat the crap out of each other...

Right On! :asian:

Join a club. Get a good QUALIFIED teacher. BJJ is good. Shop around. If you try to do this on your own, you may really hurt yourselves badly. (Ive had a few broken bones with the friendly gathering thing btw) In fact, you could very well kill someone...

And that is no joke.

Things like what you described, scare me for that very reason. Ten years ago, I gave it a go in an MMA gym for that very reason.

[Shogun]

Well, the thing is, we all go to some sort of MMA gym. for the last two eyars, we just do sumbission grappling. striking hurts. BTW, I dont know if it was mentioned, but we have a ring, a referee, medic, and we all are trained.

[Makalakumu]

Well, the thing is, we all go to some sort of MMA gym. for the last two eyars, we just do sumbission grappling. striking hurts. BTW, I dont know if it was mentioned, but we have a ring, a referee, medic, and we all are trained.

Oh, okay. I thought this was kind of a backyard thing. My bad. Are you training with Pedro Sauer or is there some other reason that site is in your sig?

[Shogun]

My instructor is a Pedro Sauer affiliate. I have trained with Pedro sauer, and he is a great teacher and good human being in general. I have never seen another teacher smile as much as professor does when they teach.

Yeah, we have two places where we have our little gatherings. one is in Washington, the other Canada. both have inspected rings, licensed ref, and someone that is CPR and defribulator certified. We dont often box, so cut people are not needed. we all have signed waivers and the like.

[OrangeLeopard]

well we're all trained in something or other...i am a blue belt in kempo and train around in bjj and scholastic wrestling and have expierence in sparring (third in 1 kempo classic tournament out of a total of 230 competitors).
Also one of the people we do full contact sparring with is second in our state in scholastic wrestling. we know what we are doing when it comes to the fighting I was inquiring about rules to set up in addition to the ufc and pride guidelines(seeing as those fights are still pretty brutal). so we have an mma club but need some advice from other mma clubs and full contact sparrers.

[ace]

Why bother doing that go join an event have a doctor there, get paid. That would seem to be the wise thing to do. Not to mention the liablilty issues when someone does get hurt at someones house.

This is the Way to go

[Semaj]

So good he cleared that up some, because I pictured a bunch of people with no real trainign or experience meeting a few times a year to beat the holy hell out of each other with little regard to thier own health.

although, if you are all qualified, and have a licenced ref and a medic on hand (and whatnot) I'd probably look into making it a real MMA federation of some sort... Course I'm one of those people who like everyone to know when I caught someone in the guillotine 35 seconds into a 3 round fight :)

[sgtmac_46]

Without buying the DVD's you really only have 2 options. One is to get the fight on PPV after the live event. Most of the time you can get the fights for a few weeks after the live event, and it will run you around $9.00, but I have seen them air one event for a long time and it was $3.95. The other option would be to check out your local video store. Many carry the Pride, UFC, and King of the Cage DVD's.

As far as rules go, I think the 2 organizations have done a good job of protecting the fighters. I don't know what you could really add, except maybe the use of headgear. I don't know what you do for a living, but if you deal with customers, having a black eye does not give a good impression. So depending on what you do, maybe limit the head contact. But that is the fun of it, isn't it :)Ditto that. Same rules, more protective equipment. It'll be fun. Heck, if it was closer, i'd come join.

[DavidCC]

Well, more padded gloves. Headgear. both good ideas. Always have at least one person watching so that they can protect you from the environment.. like if you are going to close to a wall or about to roll in some dog poo they can call a time-out. Also, as far as rules changes... it seems to me most injuries I;ve seen have come from elbow shots to the face. if I was going to do waht youa re doing, I would prohibit elbows to the face.

Also, get a copy of the full UFC rules and make sure everyone reads them and then quiz them on it to make _sure_ they read them. If somebody isn't willing to put out even that much effort,then they aren't serious enough to fight.

[Semaj]

Even with everyone well trained, and that means the ref and the paramedic most importantly, this is still a train wreck waiting to happen.

I guess if I could name a few major things:
- Have the venue as close to a hospital as possible. - no matter how careful you are... all it takes is one good punch and someone can have serious issues, just look at the Female Boxer who died yesterdayish.
- check out the legalities of what you are doing... - I can very well imagine the cops causing a ruckus unless its all perfectly within the law, which varies from state to state.
- Error on the side of safeness. I dont care if Pride allows Knee's to a guy on the ground, or UFC allows Elbows or etc.... Think long and hard about the damage they can cause before you let them into your gathering.

Your goal should be to protect the fighters first and foremost. Once you have done that well enough, then you can worry about kicking each others cans :)

[sgtmac_46]

Even with everyone well trained, and that means the ref and the paramedic most importantly, this is still a train wreck waiting to happen.

I guess if I could name a few major things:
- Have the venue as close to a hospital as possible. - no matter how careful you are... all it takes is one good punch and someone can have serious issues, just look at the Female Boxer who died yesterdayish.
- check out the legalities of what you are doing... - I can very well imagine the cops causing a ruckus unless its all perfectly within the law, which varies from state to state.
- Error on the side of safeness. I dont care if Pride allows Knee's to a guy on the ground, or UFC allows Elbows or etc.... Think long and hard about the damage they can cause before you let them into your gathering.

Your goal should be to protect the fighters first and foremost. Once you have done that well enough, then you can worry about kicking each others cans :)
Life's imperfect. I guess they could look at the Dog Brother's gatherings as a template.

[OrangeLeopard]

yeah thhats a good point, it is lawful we looked into that and most of us are 18 and we are signing waivers. we have two people that are trained emts is the national course so they could take care of any immediate injury plus they have expierence with large cut woods and such. We also have a few refs to watch every match.
As far as added rules we are going to include headgear and forbid elbows and knees to the face and/ or spine, neck and back or side of the head. I think we are to stick with mma style gloves since the majority of fighters are grapplers (except me). In which case ill probally wear thicker gloves maybe 8 or 10 oz than the standard 6 oz.
Any additional ideas/ concerns?

[WilliamJ]

I would say disallow the point of the elbow. Watch Florian vs Leben sometime. One elbow can open a huge cut and then you will need stitches. Also I would disallow soccer kicks. Unless you have some experienced grapplers in the group you might want to avoid heel hooks as well.