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SMMAF arbetar fram nya riktlinjer

”UFC Sweden 3” ägde den 4 oktober rum i Globen, och inför galan valde SMMAF (Svenska MMA förbundet) att inte godkänna ett möta mellan Dennis Siver och Taylor Lapilus. Dennis fick slutligen en ny motståndare, men händelsen har fått SMMAF att arbeta fram nya riktlinjer.

Här kan ni läsa vad ordförande Johan Halldin hade att säga om det hela, via ”MMAJunkie”:

In the case of Taylor Lapilus, the opponent, Dennis Siver, was extremely competent and experienced, and the match was deemed to be too uneven and thus unsafe, as outlined in an earlier official statement. Lapilus had competed mainly in France under Pankration rules, in which striking on the ground is not permitted. His three-match win streak took place against competition that was 3-7-1 in total, with his most recent victory over an opponent with a 1-1 record. On the other hand, Charles Rosa has two years professional experience following a lengthy amateur career. His 9-0 record includes nine stoppages under Unified Rules against experienced competition.

According to Swedish criteria, Lapilus had not yet proved himself as sufficiently experienced under any equivalent of national rules, let alone Unified Rules, to meet an opponent the likes of Siver. This does not mean that Lapilus was not potentially ready for Unified Rules and could not potentially have met another athlete under Unified Rules in Sweden, but that case was not on the table and as such not assessed.

Each individual match under Unified Rules must be reviewed at this point in time is a particular product of stipulations laid on the SMMAF by the government, and governance on that level of detail is unusual and not otherwise prevalent in SMMAF’s official role as a sanctioning body. The SMMAF’s agreement with the Swedish government came on the back of a proposed ban on MMA competition in 2006, followed by a lengthy campaign by the SMMAF’s founders and the Swedish MMA community. Mixed martial arts in Sweden is still treated with caution. In the future, when MMA is more accepted and the IMMAF has succeeded in establishing global standards, one should expect the Swedish government to remove this particular requirement.

This year brought the first event from an international promoter to feature a couple of bouts that in the assessment of the SMMAF Pro Committee did not comfortably fit within government stipulations; thus they were refused. This situation, however, highlighted to us that the guidelines for the Pro Committee, which did the assessments on Unified Rules matchups, needed developing, as they were not detailed enough and left the SMMAF board discontent in some areas. Thus the board is currently working on clearer definitions and processes for Unified Rules matchup assessments, improving the process for both our own committee and the applicants. The new guidelines will be published in English and Swedish.

The SMMAF board also wants to see a general increase of Unified Rules bouts in the future, something we will work to enable. More top-level professional competition will be good for the entire MMA community, including giving the government more exposure to competition under Unified Rules – and with that, hopefully decreasing their concern. The task of the SMMAF is to support, protect and develop MMA in Sweden on all levels, and that includes creating a positive business environment for promoters who want to host professional events.

Hur dessa riktlinjer kommer utvecklas återstår att se, men förhoppningsvis ser vi inom en snar framtid fler matcher utkämpas under ”Unified Rules”.

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