Fouls

PURPOSE: This rule defines prohibited conduct for mixed martial arts bouts/contests and establishes related penalties and/or sanctions. (1) Fouls. The following actions in a mixed martial arts bout or contest are defined as fouls: (A) Holding or grabbing the fence—a fighter may put their hands on the fence and push off of it at anytime. A fighter may place their feet onto the cage and have their toes go through the fencing material at any time. When a fighter’s fingers or toes go through the cage and grab hold of the fence and start to control either their body position or their opponent’s body position it is an illegal action. A fighter may not grab the ropes or wrap their arms over the ring ropes at any time. If a fighter is caught holding the fence, cage, or ring rope material the referee may issue a one- (1-) point deduction from the offending fighters scorecard if the foul caused a substantial change in position such as the avoidance of a takedown. If a point deduction for holding the fence occurs, and because of the infraction, the fouling fighter ends up in a superior position due to the foul, the fighters should be re-started by the referee, standing in a neutral position; (B) Holding opponent’s shorts or gloves—a fighter may not control their opponent’s movement by holding onto their opponent’s shorts or gloves. A fighter may hold onto or grab their opponent’s hand as long as they are not controlling the hand only by using the material of the glove. It is legal to hold onto your own gloves or shorts; (C) Butting with the head—any use of the head as a striking instrument whether head to head, head to body, or otherwise is illegal; (D) Eye gouging of any kind—eye gouging by means of fingers, chin, or elbow is illegal. Legal strikes or punches that contact the fighter’s eye socket are not eye gouging and are legal attacks; (E) Biting or spitting at an opponent—biting in any form is illegal. A fighter should recognize that a referee may not be able to physically observe some actions, and make the referee aware if they are being bitten during an exhibition of unarmed combat; (F) Hair pulling—pulling of the hair or holding the hair to control an opponent in any fashion is an illegal action; (G) Fish hooking—any attempt by a fighter to use their fingers in a manner that attacks their opponent’s mouth, nose, or ears, stretching the skin to that area, placing of fingers into the mouth of your opponent and pulling your hands in opposing directions while holding onto the skin of your opponent will be considered “fish hooking”; (H) Groin attacks of any kind—any attack to the groin area including, striking, grabbing, pinching, or twisting is illegal; (I) Intentionally placing a finger into any orifice, or into any cut or laceration of your opponent—a fighter may not place their fingers into an open laceration in an attempt to enlarge the cut or into an opponent’s nose, ears, mouth, or any body cavity; (J) Small joint manipulation—fingers and toes are small joints. Wrists, ankles, knees, shoulders, and elbows are all large joints. In order to hold small joints, at least two (2) or more digits must be held; (K) Strikes to the spine or the back of the head—strikes behind the crown of the head and above the ears within the Mohawk area and below the top of the ear are not permissible and within the nape of the neck area are not permissible; (L) No intentional direct strikes to the kidney including heel kicks to the kidney; (M) Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea—no directed throat strikes, including, but not limited to, a fighter pulling his opponents head in a way to open the neck area for a striking attack or gouging their fingers or thumb into their opponent’s neck or trachea in an attempt to submit their opponent are not allowed; (N) Clawing, pinching, twisting the flesh, or grabbing the clavicle—any attack that targets the fighter’s skin by clawing at the skin or attempting to pull or twist the skin to apply pain is illegal. Any manipulation of the clavicle is a foul; (O) Kneeing and/or kicking the head of a grounded opponent—a fighter shall be considered grounded and may not be legally kneed or kicked to the head when any part of their body other than their hands or feet is in contact with the canvas (ground); (P) Stomping of a grounded fighter—stomping is considered any type of striking action with the feet where the fighter lifts their leg up bending their leg at the knee and initiating a striking action with the bottom of their foot or heel. Note: Axe kicks are not stomps. Standing foot stops are legal. As such, this foul does not include stomping the feet of a standing fighter; (Q) The use of abusive language in the fighting area; (R) Any unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to opponent; (S) Attacking an opponent on or during the break—a fighter shall not engage their opponent in any fashion during a timeout or break of action in competition; (T) Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee; (U) Timidity (avoiding contact, or consistently dropping the mouthpiece, or faking an injury)—timidity is any fighter who purposely avoids contact with his opponent, or runs away from the action of the fight. Timidity can also be called by the referee for any attempt by a fighter to receive time by falsely claiming a foul, injury, or purposely dropping or spitting out their mouthpiece or other action designed to stall the fight; (V) Interference from a mixed martial artists seconds—interference is any action or activity aimed at disrupting the fight or causing an unfair advantage to be given to one (1) combatant. Corners are not allowed to distract the referee or influence the actions of the referee in any fashion; (W) Throwing an opponent out of the ring or caged area; (X) Flagrant disregard of the referee’s instructions—a fighter must follow the instructions of the referee at all times. Any deviation or non-compliance may result in the fighter’s disqualification; (Y) Spiking the opponent to the canvas onto the head or neck (pile-driving)—a pile driver is any throw where you control your opponent’s body placing his feet straight up in the air with his head straight down and then forcibly drive your opponents head into the canvas or flooring material. It should be noted, when a fighter is placed into a submission hold by their opponent, if that fighter is capable of elevating their opponent they may bring that opponent down in any fashion they desire because they are not in control of their opponents body. The fighter who is attempting the submission can either adjust their position or let go of their hold before being slammed to the canvas; (Z) Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the round; (AA) The end of the round shall occur when the bell or horn sounds ending the round; and (BB) A fighter may not be saved by the bell or horn in any round, including the last round. (2) Any contestant competing in an amateur bout may not currently or ever have been a professional fighter in any contact sport including but not limited to boxing, kickboxing, full-contact karate, martial arts, or mixed martial arts. (3) The maximum number of rounds for an amateur mixed martial arts contest shall be three (3). AND INSURANCE (4) The maximum length of a round for an amateur mixed martial arts bout shall be three (3) minutes with one (1) minute rest between rounds. (5) The minimum glove size shall be four (4) ounces and the maximum glove size shall be eight (8) ounces. (6) Neoprene ankle wraps or elbow pads are optional. Contestant may tape their ankles and have a neoprene wrap or similar material covering the tape. (7) No elbow strikes of any kinds. (8) For the first five (5) sanctioned amateur bouts there shall be a prohibition of knee strikes to the head of an opponent during an amateur mixed martial arts contest. Both contestant may mutually agree to allow knees strikes during a bout after the fifth sanctioned bout by each contestant. A sanctioned fight is a bout that is sanctioned by a state or tribal agency charged with legal regulatory authority to regulate amateur mixed martial arts. (9) An amateur mixed martial arts contestant will be required to have a minimum of six (6) sanctioned amateur bouts with a winning record prior to being permitted to compete as a professional mixed martial arts contestant in Missouri. (10) Amateur contestants shall not receive any valuable consideration for their participation in an amateur event including but not limited to a purse, percentage of ticket sales, and/or discounts for gym training fees. No more than one hundred ($100) dollars may be paid to an amateur contestant for travel expenses for participation in a bout. (11) Injuries Sustained by Fouls. (A) Intentional Fouls. 1. If an intentional foul causes an injury, and the injury is severe enough to terminate a bout immediately, the contestant causing the injury shall lose by disqualification. 2. If an intentional foul causes an injury and the bout is allowed to continue, the referee may notify the authorities and deduct two (2) points from the contestant who caused the foul. Point deductions for intentional fouls are mandatory. 3. If an intentional foul causes an injury and the injury results in the bout being stopped in a later round, the injured contestant shall win by technical decision if he/she is ahead on the scorecards or the bout shall result in a technical draw if the injured contestant is behind or even on the scorecards. 4. If a contestant injures himself/herself while attempting to intentionally foul his/her opponent, the referee shall not take any action in his/her favor, and this injury shall be the same as one produced by a fair blow. 5. If the referee feels that a contestant has conducted himself/herself in an unsportsmanlike manner he/she may stop the bout and disqualify the contestant. (B) Accidental Fouls. 1. If an accidental foul causes an injury severe enough for the referee to stop the bout immediately, the bout is a no contest if stopped before half of the scheduled rounds have been completed. 2. If an accidental foul causes an injury severe enough for the referee to stop the bout immediately after half of the scheduled rounds have been completed, the bout may result in a technical decision awarded to the contestant who is ahead on the scorecards at the time the bout is stopped. A partial or incomplete round is scored. If no action has occurred, the round is scored as an even round. This is at the discretion of the judges. 3. A contestant who is hit with an accidental low blow must continue after a reasonable amount of time, but no more than five (5) minutes, or he/she may lose the bout by technical knockout. (12) Except as provided herein, any contestant guilty of foul tactics in a round shall be given an immediate warning or points may be deducted from the contestant’s total score, or both, as determined by the referee. The use of foul tactics may also result in the disqualification of the contestant. (13) A contestant who intentionally refuses to engage an opponent for a prolonged period of time may receive an immediate warning from the referee. If the contestant continues these tactics after a warning, a point(s) may be deducted by the referee. AUTHORITY: section 317.001, RSMo 2016, and section 317.006, RSMo Supp. 2024.* This rule originally filed as 20 CSR 2040-8.140. Original rule filed April 3, 2007, effective Oct. 30, 2007. Amended: Filed March 20, 2018, effective Sept. 30, 2018. Moved to 20 CSR 2040-5.070 and amended: Filed Jan. 25, 2019, effective Aug. 30, 2019. Amended: Filed Dec. 28, 2022, effective June 30, 2023. Amended: Filed Sept. 10, 2024, effective April 30, 2025. *Original authority: 317.001, RSMo 1983, amended 1996, 2007, and 317.006, RSMo 1983, amended 1996, 2007, 2018.