Point MMA

[skribs]

As some of you may know from other posts I've made on the subject, I'm planning on opening a TKD school soon and integrating some of my BJJ training into the TKD classes. I like sparring in TKD and BJJ because they are arts where concussions are generally avoided by the rules, compared to arts where a desirable win condition is a KO, such as Muay Thai or MMA. However, I do like the idea of MMA combining striking and grappling, even if I don't like the idea of concussions.

My BJJ/Muay Thai/MMA gym has recently had our Muay Thai fighters sign up for the new MDL (Muay thai Development League) which is a point-fighting variation on Muay Thai. So I'm toying with the idea of creating a sparring ruleset that would utilize both striking and grappling (like MMA), but would focus more on points and avoid concussions in the striking phase (like TKD). The idea is to create something that might work for in-house tournaments, and if that is successful to open the tournaments to the local community.

There's one big issue that I have. If I take out KOs (and likely TKOs) as a win condition, then does that give grappling (where you can win by submission) an unfair advantage? This is something that may simply take some experimentation and lessons learned to get right.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Something like this? https://www.usjjf.org/uploads/5/2/4/8/52481119/usjjf_competition_rules_15_may_2021.pdf

 

[J. Pickard]

there are already point MMA rulesets. My school runs a youth point MMA program under the IMMAF and USFL rulesets. There is also a point MMA ruleset for the ISKA. The fun part about it is that the training is pretty much identical to MMA training, but the competition has a much lower risk of severe injury. All the fun with like 10% of the risk. One of the ways certain categories of Point MMA get around a submission being an automatic win is the advantage rule; if you get a submission, then you don't win you get advantage. If your opponent knocks the wind out of you and you are hunched over for the standing count (TKO) then you lose advantage and the results go by points. If your opponent submits you then you lose advantage and the winner is decided by points. If time runs out and you have advantage, then points don't matter and you automatically win. If you have advantage then land another submission, the round ends and you win. Depending on age and if its class A, B, or C rules, it's either one long round or 2 shorter rounds done in a bracket just like a karate or TKD tournament.