An innovation has appeared in one of the leading Russian MMA promotions AMC Fight Nights - now the fighters will be automatically raised to the rack after 60 seconds on the ground. bbabo.net correspondent - about what impact this will have on the league and the fighters, as well as which of the Kazakhs may face new obstacles.
This decision was announced the day before by the president of the organization, Kamil Hajiyev. He argued that the audience likes to see how the fighters fight in the rack. However, he also cannot deprive the wrestlers of his base, so he will be allowed to fight on the ground for a minute, after which the referee will raise the athletes to the rack.
This fact is surprising that nothing here will depend on the level of activity. A fighter on top can passively control an opponent, or, conversely, actively finish off or even choke. But as soon as the minute has passed, they will have to return to their original position, even if the attacking fighter has already closed the lock on the choke.
From an MMA point of view, this is, of course, not very good. Because the league departs from generally accepted norms and rules. Russian journalist Igor Lazorin even wondered if the AMC Fight Nights fights would now be taken into account in the statistics of the authoritative portal Sherdog. This will not please those fighters who mainly preach the wrestling style. Grapplers will now fade into the background, or they will have to think about moving to another league, with standard rules. The strikers who have problems on the ground will benefit from this.
If you think about it, ground fighting is as much a part of MMA as stand up fighting. There are many who like to see the “cutting” in the standing position more, but there are also those who are attracted by the fighting technique in grappling, beautiful transitions and sweeps, takedowns, submissions and chokes. There is a popular opinion that in MMA it is interesting to watch the fight in the stand, but this is a subjective judgment. And with the same success tomorrow, another promoter can limit the time of fighting in the rack to a minute, and then send the athletes to the ground. It won't be MMA anymore. It turns out that this innovation Fight Nights can ruin the reputation of the organization.
As for the Kazakhs, in recent years the number of fighters participating in Fight Nights has decreased. More recently, another victory there was won by Goiti Dazaev (11-3-1). For many years, one of the stars of the promotion was Kuat Khamitov (21-8-1), not so long ago Muratbek Kasymbay (11-4) made a fuss.
But now it is Goiti who attracts the most attention among all Kazakhstanis in the league. This innovation is unlikely to greatly affect him, since Dazaev works great in the rack. Plus, there is not a single submission in Goity's asset, and there are seven knockouts at once. For him personally, the innovation can play a positive role. But it can upset the Russian Maxim Butorin (20-4-1), who immediately quarreled with Dazaev after the end of his fight. They already fought in September 2020, and then the Kazakhstani won. Now Butorin insists on revenge. He has 12 submission victories in 20 fights won.
But now Fight Nights needs to seriously think about whether they were in a hurry with the decision. Perhaps, first it was necessary to propose this idea to the fans, and then, based on the reaction of the public, to make a decision. At first glance, this innovation will throw the league back, away from the ACA and Eagle FC.
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