Outside of well-deserved ridicule on broadcasts, the UFC has remained mostly silent on the newly splintered nature of MMA’s ruleset, which began Jan. 1. Until now.
UFC senior vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner gave an impassioned speech focusing on reconciliation and unification last week at the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) Conference at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. For the first time, a UFC official commented publicly on just how frustrating it has been for the promotion with different rules in different jurisdictions on a weekly basis.
“It’s been very tough for us, running around the country and having to talk to each commission and saying, ‘We’re using new rules, we’re not using the rules,’” Ratner said (h/t Joe Leonard).