A New Committee Is Born — Rule Changes Coming To MMA?

Sean Wheelock, who used to do play-by-play for Bellator, is now the chairman of a brand new MMA rules and regulations committee.

Wheelock, who’s a certified boxing referee, was recently given the position by ABC president Mike Mazzulli. The new committee will discuss and take a look at some of the bigger issues in the rules of MMA. For example the 12-to-6 elbow rule. It’s a pretty confusing rule, one that even fighters have a hard time understanding completely.

The rest of the committee was handpicked by Wheelock and includes quite the list of names.

• Randy Couture
• Matt Hughes
• John McCarthy
• Jeremy Horn
• referee Rob Hinds
• referee Kevin MacDonald
• ringside physician Dr. David Watson
• Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission director Matt Woodruff
• head of the Nebraska Athletic Commission Brian Dunn

ABC president Mike Mazzulli had this to say to MMAFighting about the group:

“It only makes sense to have the fighters involved. That’s where Jeremy Horn comes in and Couture and Hughes. Sean is the perfect voice. He’s very articulate and he’s going to do a great job. I think it’s going to be very interesting.”

It was the New Jersey Athletic Commission who first started sanctioning Mixed Martial Arts under a rule set, back in 2000, California quickly followed suit. But The ABC wasn’t fully on board until 2009, when they adopted the Unified Rules of the sport, which now transcends all local guidelines for the sport.

Prior to the ABC’s adoption, and unanimous vote of the rule set, the sanctioning bodies across the United States followed New Jersey’s lead and adopted the same Unified Rules established by them back in 2000.

With a new panel of former fighters and other experts, rule changes are sure to come down the pipeline. With the sports still relatively new, there’s a lot of room for improvement from the 2000 adoption of the New Jersey guidelines.

Stay tuned to BJPENN.COM for the advancement of this panel.