In order to bring in more of a casual viewing audience, it would make sense to immediately implement the following rules for the UFC.
1. Increase the size of the current gloves. Matches end much too quickly with the thin padding. It is not a true test of skill for this reason...a fighter can just "get lucky". Look at Chuck Liddell in his recent fight against Couture. 99 times out of 100, Chuck would lose...but one lucky shot, and he wins the belt, gets a huge contract, and gets to take Willa Ford to bed. Gloves need to be made larger, so the fights last longer and the matches become more a test of skill, not luck.
2. Limit the amount of grappling during a fight. Lets face it...while grappling is effective in "street scenarios", it is hardly a crowd-pleaser. People want to see fighters standing and trading blows. Are casual fans interested in sweaty men wrestling on the mat? You be the judge. By this criteria, I would like to suggest the complete abolition of grappling.
3. Because of the recent slip of Ken Shamrock throwing a high kick, kicking should also be either limited or banned. It's only a matter of time before the first UFC death is recorded due to a slip while throwing a high kick. Besides, they are showy and ineffective.
4. The ref should break the fighters on the clinch to avoid any unnecessary "ground fighting".
5. All submissions should be removed from the sport. The casual fan cannot comprehend the nuances behind the "guillotine" and the "triangle choke". Besides, c'mon...guillotine? That is used to murder someone. That's just asking for the sport to be banned. Submissions are bad for the sport.
I hope that the organizations are taking notes. Best of luck!
All real violence should be banned and fights should only be the video game kind, they are much more exciting! BJM would be pleased in that he is always trying to protect fighters at all costs.
I would also propose that with the faster pace of the fights, the rounds should be shortened to from anywhere between 2.5 to 3.5 minutes. Make the non-title fights around 10 rounds, and the title fights roughly 12. This would set a faster pace and would eliminate stalling tactics for the most part.
I can't imagine how people took this post seriously
I think we should have judges buzz into an electric scoring system when they feel a fighter has scored a point. if two of the three judges buzz in at the same time, the fighter is awarded the point. Points should be displayed as the fight progresses. Points should bear no relation to actual strength of blow, but simply must judge whether the strike landed on the correct part of the glove.
LOL but on a serious note the size of the gloves isn't so much a problem as having seams on the outside of the glove-notice all seams on a boxing glove are on the inside of the glove....take a look at Shooto gloves.
As far as elbos I love'm but they do cause cuts faster than any other weapon and cut stoppages are the LEAST desirable way to see a fight "end".
Definitely take the elbows out of fighting..the common fan wants to get their moneys worth, not just a 5 second fight ended by an accidental elbow cut. If Dana WON'T remove elbows, then fighters should be required to wear elbow and knee pads, much like vert ramp skaters wear.