Pioneering referee wants to see an MMA rule change: 'It opens the fight up'
12/30/2024 09:42 AM
Veteran referee "Big" John McCarthy helped established the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts in the early 2000s, but there's one rule that he would change given the change.
"I would love to see it knees to the head someday, but I don't think it's going to happen, but I would like to see it," McCarthy told MMA Junkie Radio. "I think it would be a good thing for the sport."
Knees to a grounded opponent are illegal but whether they should be allowed has long been debated. They are permitted in Asian promotions Rizin FF and ONE Championship.
"I'm going to be honest, as a fan of the sport and even as an official, I look and say knees to the head to someone that's on the ground, not soccer kicks, it's different, but knees to the head of somebody on the ground could be effective in the fight," McCarthy said. "What it can do is that it keeps the defensive fighter from putting themselves in positions that they could be attacked with a knee if it was legal, but they know that they can't, so they're utilizing rules to protect themselves than skill sets.
"You go and you watch fighters that switch organizations to Rizin or ONE and have to change. They change quickly. Demetrious Johnson was a guy that got hurt and lost to Moraes off of a knee when he was grounded, but he learned from it and came back."
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Before the adoption of the Unified Rules, when the sport was sometimes called 'No Holds Barred," knees to a grounded were allowed. During the creation of the Unified rules, knees to a grounded opponent were banned due to safety. McCarthy disagrees with the assertion that allowing knees to a grounded opponent is dangerous.
"When you sit there and look at it and go, 'Well, that's terrible for the fighter,' what's the difference between being able to knee someone on the head when they're standing or if they're on the ground? There is no difference," McCarthy said. "I look at it and say that I honestly believe that knees to the head should be opened up. It would open the fight up and make the fights a little bit more realistic and more exciting at times. Any time you give an offensive tool to a fighter, it opens the fight up."
