Should the slam of Namajunas by Andrade be banned in the MMA?

Jessica Andrade is the new female UFC featherweight champion. She won this title with a violent victory in the second round against Rose Namajunas at UFC 237 on Saturday night in Brazil.

The technique, Andrade leading the Namajunas to the carpet, head and neck first, was legal. It was well in the unified rules of mixed martial arts. Regulators are in agreement on this fact.

The big question that arises this weekend, however, is not whether a vicious slam is legal, it's good to know whether it should or not be.

According to the unified rules of the MMA: "All throwing with an arch to his motion must be considered a legal throw." In addition, if a fighter tries to submit his candidacy, his opponent is able to take it and "control him in the way he wishes because he does not control the body of his opponent". The slam of Andrade met both criteria; there was a bow and Namajunas was attempting a kimura bid at the time. It was legal.

An illegal slam is a very specific and extremely rare violation in MMA. He is defined in the rules as a "pile driver", a fighter controlling the body of the opponent, "placing his feet in the air with his head straight, then forcing his head into the air. Opponent in the canvas or floor covering ".

Namajunas was knocked out by legal slam and Andrade was declared the winner via TKO by referee Marc Goddard. The angle in which Namajunas's head hit the rug was hard to watch, but Namajunas did not go to the hospital afterwards, his agent, Brian Butler said Ariel Helwani of ESPN.

The Executive Director of the Brazilian Sports Commission MMA (CABMMA), Cristiano Sampaio, told ESPN that he had already asked that the topic of slams be discussed this month at the Boxing Rules Committee's teleconference. Combative Sports (ABC). Sampaio, whose agency governs UFC 237, is a member of this committee.

"Whatever decision is made, I am convinced that the safety of the fighters will always be the number one priority," Sampaio wrote in a statement by e-mail. "And I have also requested the opinion of the CABMMA Medical Committee.Hope that by July, at the annual conference of the ABC, we will be able to draw conclusions about the need for Improve or not this rule. "

Dr. John Neidecker, vice president of the Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP), told ESPN that, even if the type of Andrade slam used was dangerous, it would be likely that a straight tip up and down in the that would put fighters "at greater risk" of suffering short- and long-term damage or even paralysis.

"The most dangerous thing about the neck is this frontal collision, this axial pressure coming down the cervical spine," said Neidecker, a specialist in sports medicine and orthopedics. "So, if you make a slam that goes up and down, you definitely put someone at greater risk for this type of impact.

"When you meet this bow [on a slam]you are actually removing this axial pressure component in the neck. You can get hyper extension or excessive lateral flexion of the neck and this can cause injury, but this will not cause the catastrophic injuries you see with paralysis, as does an axial spur. There is potential for neck injury with any type of slam, but there is potential for injury with just about everything in the MMA. This is the name of the game. "

The rule of slam is written specifically because of the desire to continue to "fight as limitlessly as possible in the cage", within reasonable limits in terms of health and safety, according to the executive director of California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), also chairs the medical committee of the ABC.

"The fighters are damaged and paid to be damaged, they are there for that, they know the risks."

John McCarthy

The slam rule goes back to the original drafting of the 2001 Unified Rules. Legendary referee John McCarthy said that there was a move to ban slams after Tito Ortiz knocked out Evan Tanner with another to the UFC 30 a few months ago. McCarthy said that he had brought DVDs to the fight slams meeting and judo games of the 1996 Summer Olympics in order to show other regulators that he was acting. already accepted practices in other sports.

"Everything is legal right now at the Olympics," McCarthy told participants. "Each of those throws was legal in their sport and you will say that they are not legal now in MMA?"

A consensus has emerged and this is how the current slam rule has been adopted, said McCarthy, who began refereeing the fighting at UFC 2 in 1994 before retiring. Last year to embark on color commentaries with Bellator.

McCarthy, who is also part of the CBA's rules and regulations committee, said he was sticking to the current wording. He added that if Namajunas did not want to be slammed this way, she would have published the submission.

"It's his choice," McCarthy said. "She made a choice – he's a smart fighter and she suffered the consequences of a bad decision – should we stay there and say we should change the rule? Absolutely not."

McCarthy acknowledges that it was a dangerous slam, but added that knockouts of any other type are also dangerous. It is difficult to legislate on the danger of MMA, he said.

"The fighters are damaged and are paid to be damaged," McCarthy said. "They're there for that, they know the risk, and you can not fight and make sure no one gets hurt." That will not happen. football, it's possible that he's paralyzed for the rest of their lives. Same thing with basketball. "

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Foster said that he would be open to discussing the slam rule, but does not believe that a change is necessary at this stage. There have been only 11 slam eliminations in UFC history, four in the UFC title fights. The last knockout KO in a title fight at UFC before Saturday was when Matt Hughes stopped Carlos Newton at UFC 34 in 2001.

"I think it's fine to talk about it, to debate it, to have that kind of conversation about it," Foster said. "Unless it becomes a regular problem, I do not think that a change is necessary."

Nick Lembo, a lawyer from the New Jersey State Sports Control Commission (NJSACB), who was also in the room 18 years ago when the Unified Rules of MMA were drafted, said he would not advocate to change the slam rule, to anything that could make MMA safer for fighters. Lembo and New Jersey are against the new definition of a ground hunting rule that was adopted in 2016 because they believe that it increases the risk for athletes.

"Fighters are already hurting themselves enough in practice and competition and will face other consequences after the end of their careers," Lembo said. "I've always thought that currently active fighters should have their say in rule changes that directly affect them and what is allowed.

"[Saturday] the night situation is rare and the rule does not usually need to be discussed or applied. I am not advocating a change, but if there was an important call for change, I would be in favor of a change that would make fighting safer for fighters. "