Poll, knee's to the head in the new proposed Semi pro format.

cowzerp

Yay or Nay

Martin Walker

No

I voted to keep them. I dont think you should water down the rules too much. In my opinion a shin in the face can be just as bad if not worse than a knee.

cowzerp

No

i've also voted yes, assuming the lower level fighters stick with Amateur then this should be fine, the problem would be when a low level fighter gets in at that level out of his depth and gets knee'd easy without good knowledge of safety in clinch etc...

13bmoe

No

Yes. Stick with the knees!

David Jones

No

Yes to knees for reasons I outlined on rules thread.

SBG Ireland

undecided as of yet....

i feel they should be left out (but im not convinced yet)

one experienced ref says no, one says yes

lets keep the discussion going....

Menace2Society

No

Martin Walker wrote: »

I voted to keep them. I dont think you should water down the rules too much. In my opinion a shin in the face can be just as bad if not worse than a knee.

What he said!! ^^

Sid_Justice

Am I right in saying Dave Jone's reason for wanting them allowed in is because accidental knees occur 'quite frequently' and that this unfortunetly results in a lot of DQs.

I'm just wondering would it be 'fair' if we kept them banned but gave the same penalties that are given for groin shots
- purely accidental and no damage done : time to recover and /or point reduction/yellow card
- intentional and or serious damage done: more of the above or DQ

Just a suggestion, perhaps the above is unreasonable.

mmaireland.com

No

Voted "yes". Taking knees away from a striker is like taking the triangle in the guard off a grappler. I don't see "they happen anyway" as a reason to include them (strikers should know what they're throwing and where they're throwing it) but I'd much rather see them in than out.

David Jones

No

Am I right in saying Dave Jone's reason for wanting them allowed in is because accidental knees occur 'quite frequently' and that this unfortunetly results in a lot of DQs.

I'm just wondering would it be 'fair' if we kept them banned but gave the same penalties that are given for groin shots
- purely accidental and no damage done : time to recover and /or point reduction/yellow card
- intentional and or serious damage done: more of the above or DQ

Just a suggestion, perhaps the above is unreasonable.

First of all, its not a question of keeping them banned, they are in already working well and its a question of keeping them or not.
If they are banned you will see a lot more DQ's as you did back when they werent allowed. The difference between groin strike and knee to the head is that even a rock solid groin strike you will recover inside the allowed 5 minutes, if you are kneed to the head with the same force its unlikely, you will have corners screaming for immediate DQ, fighters saying they cant continue (even if they could) you could have cuts, fighter could be rocked and put at such a disadvantage that even if fight restarted he is quickly beaten. His opponent gets the win even though most of the damage was done with an illegal strike.

Secondly its MMA, the idea of now allowing head strikes (albeit with bigger gloves) to the head on the ground while at the same time taking away one of the strikers weapons seems a bit stupid to be honest.

Thirdly I think upgrading the C class rules to strikes on the ground whist keeping knees to the head in forces coaches to refrain from putting their fighters into C class too early without the necessary skillsets and experience which will now hopefully be found from the mmaleague circuit and d class (now amateur) classes.

From last nights show in Limerick there were 5 C class fights, I think one knee landed to the head all night and there were a few guys making their debut at that level that I felt and in no way is this disrespectful to them that they could have done with more amateur level experience before taking those fights. Coaches will now have to evaluate their fighters much more stringently and be prepared to take longer to get their athletes to the required level.

The rules from C - A should not be watered down to suit fighters, that is what mmaleaague and shows like Barry's are for. The fighters should be trained well enough and have enough experience for the rules sets. C is a stepping stone to B and then on to A if the fighter is capable.

Barry.Oglesby

No

Excellent reply Dave. I couldn't agree more.

Anakin.S

I haven't posted a vote.

but if you can't defend a knee should you really be competing at semi pro?