Rich Franklin, a UFC Hall of Famer and ONE Championship executive, argues that the unified rules of MMA are outdated, commends recent changes like legalizing 12-to-6 elbows, critiques the 10-point must scoring system, and advocates for ONE’s comprehensive fight-scoring criteria which he believes encourages fighters to aim for finishes.
The unified rules of MMA are set to adopt some changes in November. These include 12-to-6 downward elbows no longer being considered illegal, along with a new definition for a downed fighter.
But UFC Hall of Famer and current ONE Championship executive Rich Franklin believes that the rules used by most MMA promotions are remarkably outdated. While he operated under those rules for almost his entire career, Franklin says he found a superior set of standards after starting with ONE just over a decade ago.
He commends the Association of Boxing Commissions for finally voting to make changes, especially regarding 12-to-6 elbows. In reality, Franklin feels that rule was unnecessary to begin with after fighters learned about the defined area where strikes to the back of the head were no longer allowed.
“I think the 12-to-6 elbow change was definitely long overdue,” Franklin told MMA Fighting. “Originally, the 12-to-6 elbow rule was put in place because when you look at some old UFCs, you’d see wrestlers shoot in. Then, when guys started figuring out how to stuff the shot and sprawl on top, they’d start unleashing those 12-to-6 elbows from that position, leaving the back of the head compromised. So the 12-to-6 elbow rule gets implemented. I believe that’s the reasoning for it.
“But once you had illegal targets established — the mohawk down the back of the head and to the spine — you’re not capable of hitting those targets.”
When it comes to what makes a “downed opponent,” Franklin knows it boils down to when a fighter can unleash knees on their opponent in a potentially compromised position.
The new rule going into effect in November states: A fighter shall be considered grounded and may not be legally kneed or kicked to the head when any part of their body other than their hands or feet is in contact with the canvas (ground).
The ONE Championship rules actually have a stricter definition. However, Franklin says that doesn’t matter because athletes in the Singapore-based promotion are still allowed to throw knees to the head of a grounded opponent.
“Our definition of down is very, very clear,” Franklin explained. “If anything other than the soles of your feet are touching the ground, you’re down. Even if it’s just a finger touching the ground, you’re considered a downed opponent.
“In our sport, this is very important because we allow knees to the head of a grounded opponent. That’s the elephant in the room. It’s a big competitive difference in our ruleset but clearly defined.”
As much as Franklin would like to see changes in unified MMA rules, perhaps his bigger concern is the continued use of the 10-point must system and scoring criteria used to decide fights. This system means a fighter who wins a round gets 10 points while their opponent receives nine or fewer points.
When MMA was first sanctioned and rules were put in place to govern the sport, the scoring model was adopted from boxing. The problem is most MMA fights last three rounds or five rounds at most versus many boxing matches being scheduled between eight to 12 rounds.
Losing one round in a 12-round boxing match isn’t nearly as devastating as losing one round in a three-round MMA fight.
Franklin knows from personal experience how much that can alter a fight’s outcome because it happened to him several times during his career.
“I’m not a fan of the 10-point must system, especially for MMA,” Franklin said. “For example, in my Forrest [Griffin] fight, I threw a kick in the first three seconds and we clashed and went to the ground. It wasn’t necessarily a takedown but he was in my guard. I remember thinking I wouldn’t waste energy pushing off since Forrest was probably 30 pounds heavier than me. So I tied him up and kept any real action from happening, hoping Mazzagatti would stand us up. But I went into that fight already down a round after round one. It’s tough to come back from that.”
Franklin ultimately lost a unanimous decision to Griffin.
A different set of circumstances in Franklin’s fight against Dan Henderson in 2009 presented another problem with today’s scoring model.
“My Dan Henderson fight—check the scorecard on that one,” Franklin said. “Two judges scored it 29-28 for him and one judge had it 30-27 for me. I lost two judges to one but when tallying up points, I actually win the fight. I’ve never been a fan.”
In ONE Championship, judges score fights as a whole rather than round-by-round but still use weighted criteria to determine outcomes.
Picking a winner isn’t simply based on an eye test of who judges think won but rather on a pyramid-style scoring system:
- Near-knockout/near-submission
- Damage (internal, accumulated, superficial)
- Striking combinations and cage/ring generalship (ground control and superior positioning)
- Earned takedowns or takedown defense
- Aggression
“When you look at our scoring system, this is something I’m 100% sold on,” Franklin said. “I like judging fights in their entirety with criteria starting from aggression and moving up to near finishes. We even break damage into different categories; it’s very specific.
“We educate our athletes on this criteria so they know exactly how they’re being scored and can strategize accordingly.”
At ONE 168 on Friday in Denver, ONE returns to the U.S. for its second time with Colorado Combative Sports Commission allowing their ruleset and judging criteria for these fights. The same goes for their upcoming card in Atlanta this November.
While it’s uncertain if more commissions will consider adopting these rules or if promotions like UFC would support them, Franklin has seen firsthand how effective they are.
“Our criteria pushes athletes to finish fights,” Franklin said. “It’s one reason we have such a high finishing rate.”