Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
Mixed martial art's is a hybrid sport allowing participation by all martial arts and hand-to-hand combat styles. As a result, participants must be very diverse in their fighting styles.
This event will host a broad selection of talents including wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, submission grappling, etc. The fans will get a taste of stand up boxing along a taste of the intricate world of grappling. Our event is intended to be a fair and clean spectacle that will allow our fighters to showcase their hard earned talents and to provide the fans with the entertainment found in the world of MMA.
SECTION B
Ring / Cage All matches of the True Fighting Championships will be fought in a boxing style
ring or cage.
SECTION C
Fighters
· All fighters will be required to be present at the designated check in area no less than 3 hours prior to the start of the first match.
· All fighters shall attend a pre-fight meeting held at 6:00pm the day of the event. The meeting is mandatory and will review all rules as stated here in, answer any questions, clear up any confusion and update fighters and camps to any changes in rules, personal, fight cards etc. Pre-fight meeting will be held at event venue.
· All fighters shall sign the consent forms at this meeting, if fighter is under the age of 18, a legal guardian must be present and sign. Fighters must be 18 for to compete in mixed martial arts. Competitors for kickboxing, boxing and wrestling matches may be under 18 years old.
· All fighters shall be weighed in the day of the event , as soon as they arrive at the designated area. You must be at our below the maximum weight for your weight class in order to compete.
· Fighters and corner men will stay in designated areas until summoned by staff to enter ring.
SECTION D
Physician
THIS IS NOT REQUIRED! IT IS, HOWEVER, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED! IT IS YOUR HEALTH, AND FOR YOUR SAFETY!
It is the fighter’s responsibility to arrange for and to visit a physician and ensure that they are physically able to fight in this contest. Each fighter will be responsible for any charges incurred do the physician visits, before or after the fight.
SECTION E
Gloves
SECTION F
Hand Wraps
Hand wrapping is acceptable and encouraged. Wrapping of the hands must be in accordance with the following guidelines.
· No more than 20 yards of gauze per hand.
· The gauze may be held in place with athletic tape or surgical tape. Tape shall be applied sparingly, enough to keep gauze in place.
· Pre-manufactured hand wraps will be allowed, without modifications or tape, if preferred over the traditional tape and gauze method. This wraps shall be similar to the Title Boxing Classic Weave or Title Boxing Mexican Hand Wraps. If pre-manufactured wraps are used, the must have a Velcro fastening system, and shall be fastened in such a fashion that the gloves cover the entire fastening system.
· Fighter’s hands, wraps and gloves cannot be coated with any substance whatsoever.
· All hand wraps can be inspected at the discretion of the inspector or at the request of their opponent or opponent’s camp.
· Taping of small joints will be allowed, i.e. fingers and toes. No other tape can be present on the fighter’s person unless specifically denoting here in.
SECTION G
Costumes / Allowed Clothing
In order to protect the fighters, the costume/clothing of each fighter must meet these requirements.
· Fighter cannot grease, oil or coat their body or clothing with any foreign substance prior to entering the ring or at any point during the fight. A sparing amount of petroleum jelly will be allowed to the nose, brow, and ear and cheek area. IF amount is deemed too much by inspectors or referee it must be removed to the official’s satisfaction immediately and cannot be reapplied.
· Fighters cannot enter the ring with any object made from hard material.
· Fighters cannot wear glasses or hard contact lens of any nature during the fight.
· Fighters cannot wear loose or baggy clothing during the fight.
· Fighters can wear a gi or kimono at their discretion. If the fighter chooses to wear a gi or kimono, it can be used against them.
· Fighters cannot wear t-shirts during fight. Rash-Guards will be allowed.
· Fighters shall wear fight shorts or board style shorts with no metal or exposed buttons, zippers or ornaments.
· Fighters must have a protective groin piece prior to entering the ring.
· Fighter must have a fitted mouth piece prior to entering the ring.
· Fighters will be allowed to wear joint supports, knee pads or elbow pads. The supports/pads must be constructed of soft material, and not require any fastening to perform their specified duties. (No Velcro or tie-on supports will be allowed). If the fighter chooses to wear these items, they may be used against them during the fight.
· Shoes will not be allowed.
SECTION H
Weigh-In
· Official weigh-ins will take place between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the day of the fight. Weigh-ins will be held at event venue.
· Fighters will weigh in the presence of an event official and be recorded accordingly. The fighter must be at or below the maximum weight for their division.
· The scale used during the weigh in will not be certified, however it will be consistent throughout the weigh-ins, and be accurate enough for our event.
· At weigh-ins scale will be placed on a solid, level surface and will not be moved until all fighters have been weighed.
· With prior written request, the opponent or opponent’s camp shall be allowed an opportunity to be present during each fighters weigh in. It is the opponent or their camps responsibility to be present during this time.
SECTION I
Weight Classes
Weigh Ins will be conducted morning of event.
The Maximum allowable will be as follows:
135lbs – Featherweight
145lbs – Lightweight
155lbs – Welterweight
170lbs – Middleweight
185lbs – Light Heavyweight
205lbs – Cruiserweight
265lbs – Heavyweight
No Limit – Super Heavyweight
SECTION J
Corner Men
Each fighter will supply their own corner men. If no corner men are available, please contact in writing prior to event and an attempt will made toward providing support. We will not guarantee corner support.
Tickets will be supplied for one corner-man per fighter; everyone else will be required to purchase tickets at the gate. Corner-men must be at pre-fight meeting in order to get into the event without ticket.
Three men will be allowed to accompany the fighter to the ring. The same three men will be allowed to work his corner during the round. More than three persons working the corner will be considered a foul and could lead to disqualification. Inappropriate behavior of the corners can also lead to a foul and disqualification.
All persons working the corner shall remain seated during the rounds.
SECTION K
Equipment allowed in Corner
Each fighter will be allowed to have the following equipment in their corner during the bout.
· Petroleum Jelly
· Water, must be in a pliable container
· Bucket
· Sponge
· Ice bag
· Spray bottle (must contain water) in a pliable container
· Round tipped surgical scissors
· Adrenalin 1:1000 solution
· White towel – Must have in order to fight.
SECTION L
Referee
The referee will be selected by the event officials.
Each referee will meet with the fighters during the pre-fight meeting.
Referee has the right to inspect and agree to or reject any clothing, supports, , hand wrappings etc.
Upon entering the ring the referee will perform one last inspection of each fighter, ensuring that they are wearing proper personal protective equipment, and give final instructions.
During a bout the referee will use the following three commands:
STOP – If the referee uses “stop” at any point during the fight, the fighters must cease all action. As each fighter is stopping, they must protect themselves.
ACTION – will be used to order the fighters to resume the bout
WORK – will be used to direct fighters to move in order to keep fight from being restarted.
The referee is the man in charge of the fight, and may stop the bout at his discretion at any point during the rounds.
The referee can separate the fight, and restart it at any point that he feels there is not enough action.
If the referee stops the fight to inspect one the contestants, the other shall retire to a neutral corner, as directed by the referee and stay there until the referee gives the directive to resume action.
The referee can warn, deduct points or disqualify fighters for committing serious fouls or repeatedly committing minor fouls.
The referee shall stop the fight immediately upon a knockout, tap out (verbal or physical) or corner surrender.
The referee can stop the bout, at his own discretion if he feels one of the fighters cannot or is not actively defending themselves and award a victory to the aggressor via TKO
The referee shall stop the fight to inspect a contestant in the case of severe blood or damage, the referee can either stop bout or request a physician’s inspection.
Where contestants receive an accidental groin strike, the contestant may be allowed up to 5 minutes to recover. Deliberate groin strikes will result in disqualifications.
At the referee’s discretion, he may have any member of the fighter’s corner team removed from the area if considers their actions inappropriate or intrusive to the progression of the bout.
SECTION M
Judges
Judges will be selected by True Fighting Championships Officials. The judges will be selected based on knowledge of the sport, attention to detail and previous judging experience. The judges will be announced during opening ceremonies.
Methods of Judging:
1. Each judge of a contest or exhibition of mixed martial arts that is being judged shall score the contest or exhibition and determine the winner through the use of the following system:
(a) The better unarmed combatant of a round receives 10 points and his opponent proportionately less.
(b) If the round is even, each unarmed combatant receives 10 points
(c) No fraction points are given.
(d) Points for each round must be awarded immediately after the end of the period of unarmed combat in the round.
2. After the end of the contest or exhibition, the announcer shall pick up the scores of the judges from the commission’s desk.
3. The majority opinion is conclusive and, if there is no majority, the decision is a draw.
4. When the commissions representative has checked the scores, he shall inform the announcer of the decision. The announcer shall inform the audience over the speaker system.
SECTION N
Decisions
See Methods of Judging, Section M
SECTION O
Fouls
During the fights, the fighter or the fighter’s representatives can be charged with a foul. A foul depending on the severity and the discretion of the official will result in a warning or a disqualification. Three (3) fouls earns a mandatory disqualification.
The following actions constitute fouls. This list, however is not to be viewed as a complete listing, actions causing, or with possibility of causing harm to fighter, opponent, fans, officials or premises can also be deemed as a foul.
ACTS CONSTITUTING FOULS
· Holding or using of ropes in any way, or holding onto the cage or ring structure.
· Biting
· Hitting or butting with the head (intentional is automatic disqualification)
· Ignoring referee’s instructions
· Attempting to strike or engage opponent after referee has ordered a break, before round starts or after round has ended.
· Attacking or behaving aggressively towards the referee, event officials, opponents camp or audience.
· Striking the opponent in the groin area (intentional is automatic disqualification)
· Attacking opponents eyes with fingers
· Clawing, pinching, scratching of opponent
· Strikes to or the grabbing of the throat (intentional is automatic disqualification)
· Hitting or Spiking opponent with direct blow of tip of elbow.
· Pulling of hair
· Strikes to the kidneys, spine area, back of neck, or back of head
· Use of crude or inappropriate language
· Unsportsmanlike conduct
· Unsportsmanlike conduct that could cause harm to opponent, officials, audience, premises, or the sport of MMA will result in automatic disqualification
· Refusing to fight
· Slamming or spiking of the opponent head first into the mat (intentional will result in automatic disqualification)
· Holding opponents gloves
· Holding opponents shorts
· Soccer style kicks when three or more points of the opponent are in contact with the ground.
SECTION P
Duration of Bouts
All bouts, unless otherwise negotiated no less than 5 days prior to the event, shall consist of time limits as stated below:
Under Card bouts will be (2) two (5) five minute rounds with a one (1) minute break between each round.
Title Bouts will be (3) three (5) minute rounds with a (1) minute break between each round.
