At its inception, the Ultimate Fighting Championship had very few rules – so few, in fact, that it led people to compare it to cock fighting, and for a long time, it was not considered a legitimate sport at all. People criticized the UFC for its brutality and it was driven into the underground by increasing political pressures. As a result, the Ultimate Fighting Championship underwent a rigorous reformation in both concept and theory. Ultimately, that evolution led the sport to its current place in sporting society.
The rules by which the UFC is currently regulated were designed by the New Jersey Athletic Control Board. New Jersey also established the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which are not only the set of rules used by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but were also put into place by several other states that promote regulated mixed martial arts events, such as Nevada, Louisiana, and California, not to mention a number of other promotions within the United States. They have since become mandatory in the states which began using the rules and are now the standard for most events specializing in mixed martial arts on a professional level.
One of the things the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts adopted by the UFC relegates are the rounds. In Ultimate Fight Championship competitions, each round lasts for a total of five minutes, and for title matches, there are five rounds. The non title matches are comprised of three rounds which last five minutes. In both title and non title competitions, there is a break between rounds; these rest periods last one minute.
Like most combative sports, be it boxing, wrestling, kick boxing, or ultimate fighting, the UFC maintains very stringent weight classes.At present, there are five different weight classes within Ultimate Fighting Championship rules. To be a lightweight, fighters have to be146 lbs to 155 lbs; to qualify as welterweight, fighters must way between 156-170 lbs; middleweights have to be 171-185 lbs; in order to classify as a light heavyweight, participants must weigh between 186 lbs and 205 lbs; finally, heavyweights have to weigh in between 206-265 lbs.
The UFC also utilizes rules for the cage, which is known as The Octagon. As he name suggests, it has eight sides; the walls are basically a chain link fence, covered with black vinyl. It is 32 feet in diameter, which allows 30 feet of space for the fighters. The fence is anywhere from five feet, six inches to five feet, eight inches high and the cage itself is fixed on a platform, which places it 4 feet above the ground. The top of the fence is lined with foam padded, as are the eight sections. Fighters enter The Octagon through one of two gates, located on opposite sides of the cage.
The UFC maintains very strict rules for fighter attire as well. Participants are allowed to wear approved shorts. They cannot wear shorts, shirts, gis, or long pants. They have to use light gloves which have been approved; generally this means that they are made with padding that is at least an inch think around their knuckles. They must be able to move their fingers and grab easily.
The rules concerning the outcomes of matches are comparable to other combat sports. A fighter can win by submission, wherein either he either taps on the mat clearly or his competitor surrenders – or submits – out loud. Winning by a knockout of course means that one fighter has fallen, thanks to a legal blow; he must be either unconscious or obviously unable to continue the fight right away. In the UFC, a technical knockout, otherwise known as a TKO, means that a fight is not able to continue. There are three categories of TKO: either the referee stops the fight, the doctor on site stops the fight, or a fighter’s corner man stops the fight.
Lastly, a judges’ decision can be determined by any number of factors: there can be a unanimous decision, a split decision, or a majority decision; as well, there can be a unanimous draw, a split draw, or a majority draw. There are several other types of outcomes as well, such as technical decisions, disqualifications, forfeitures, technical draws, and no contests.