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MMA RULES 101 WITH HERB DEAN
Sunday, June 29, 2008 - by Jeff Cain - MMAWeekly.com

Referee Herb Dean recently spoke with MMAWeekly.com explaining several rules that all mixed martial arts fans should know. The nine-year professional MMA referee broke down the rules for strikes to the back of the head, illegal elbows, allowing fighters five minutes to recover from illegal techniques, intelligently defending yourself, spiking and strikes to downed opponents.

Probably the most misunderstood rule in mixed martial arts is the illegal elbow strike. There is only one illegal elbow in MMA, and you can impact with the point of the elbow.

Dean explained, "The only illegal elbow is the one coming from noon to six, and what we mean by noon to six, because people start talking about the clock. 'Where's the clock? Is the clock as I see it, or if I'm on my back, or if I'm looking this way?' What we mean is from the actual sky to the floor.

"Say you're on your back, the clock isn't in front of your face. That would be coming from wall to wall if you were to do that same motion. We're actually talking about ceiling to floor is an illegal elbow. Any other elbow is fine."

Strikes to the back of the head are illegal, but what is considered the back of the head? With the illegal area recently being modified, there's a lot of confusion surrounding what constitutes a prohibited blow.

"Ears back is considered the back of the head," said Dean. "Like if you're wearing headphones and they're going up over the top of the head, so anything that's behind the ears would be the foul area... It can be on the side of the head, but if it's behind the ears it's considered the back of the head."

"That's something we've only been enforcing in MMA as the back of the head for about the last two years. That started when MMA became legalized in California," Dean explained. "Dr. Paul Wallace came to a referee seminar that we were doing and explained to us, diagrammed and explained to us what is supposed to be the back of the head. I talked to him in detail about it and then I talked to Armando Garcia, who is executive director, and he said, 'that's what we want to be enforced for the back of the head, from the ears back.’"

"When I went to Nevada, I told them about it so we would be all on the same page. They said that they were okay with that as the back of the head. That's what they want us to enforce, so that's what I enforce everywhere.

"That's not what I've always enforced in MMA," he added. "I've been refereeing for nine years. Most of the time I was enforcing the flat of the neck going up to the top. But when the sport became regulated, we need to enforce what the athletic commissions tell us to enforce."

Kicking or kneeing an opponent to the head while they're downed is forbidden under the unified rules adopted and used by most MMA promotions. Dean addressed what is considered a downed opponent.

"Anything but his feet supporting his weight, he's grounded," stated the veteran referee. "Anything but his feet. If he's got a hand down or a foot and one elbow, anything but his feet supporting his weight, he's a downed opponent and the head is off limits for knees and kicks."

Another rule often misinterpreted is the five-minute recovery time allotted to fighters that are victims of an illegal technique. The only time a combatant is guaranteed five minutes to gather himself is a groin strike.

"I'm not sure about the rule in every state, but in most states it is written in a way that the only one … that the five minutes is given is the groin strike," commented Dean. "That's the only one that's written that you actually have five minutes. Otherwise, it's at the discretion of the referee and the doctor.

"Something like a head strike, the referee and the doctor are going to watch it closely," he continued. "If you don't know if you can continue within a period of time, you're not going to be given five minutes. If you haven't figured it out after five minutes you probably need medical attention, so you're probably not going to be given five minutes to figure out if you want to fight or not."

Seemingly different with every referee, Dean was asked about intelligently defending yourself and what a referee is looking for in determining when a fight should or should not be stopped.

"I'm looking for some movement, any sort of movement to solve the situation, to protect themselves," he said. "Just laying down and covering up is not enough. The fighter needs to do some sort of movement to solve the situation that he's in. Sometimes fighters are covering up, but they're pushing away with their legs, or they're doing something with their feet trying to improve their position. So I'm looking for anything."

Rarely coming into play, Dean was questioned about spiking an opponent's head into the canvas, and what's the difference between a throw and spiking. He responded, "All throws need to have an arch on them. If you pick someone up and are in control of their body and drive their head into the mat that's illegal.

"You can throw somebody and if they end up landing on their head, that happens. It's a throw, but if you pick somebody up, line their head up and drive it into the mat, a power driver, that's what we're looking for."

When a fighter commits a foul, three things can happen: he can be warned; a point can be deducted, or he could be disqualified depending on the situation.

"Each infraction of the rules is an infraction of the rules," said Dean. "If I've given someone continual warnings, they know that they should be trying to keep it clean. But if you break the rules, you can get a point deducted." The fighter can also be disqualified.