Yeehaw! Let’s Talk Weird Texas MMA Rules!

This week Texas’ athletic commission is in the spotlight again after some bizarre stuff following UFC Austin.

At the event Joaquin Buckley was declared winner after his opponent, Albert Duraev, was examined by a doctor right before the beginning of round three. Following examination the bout was called off.

Texas declared the official result as a TKO at the 10 second mark of the third round despite the round not starting. MMA Fighting reports the following bizarre explanation of the result with Texas blaming shortcomings in their rules:

“Since Round 2 had ended but the fight hadn’t, we don’t have a mechanism to just call it between rounds. So – we started the clock, which started Round 3, and then stopped the clock at 10 seconds, thereby stopping the round and the fight.”

Leaving aside that this explanation, as pointed out by Michael Carroll, does not seem to gel with past precedent, Texas does have bizarre rules on the books. Check these out.

There have been two previous UFC fights that ended between rounds in Texas and they were called at 5:00:

Dallas 5/13/17 – Edgar R2 5:00 TKO over Rodriguez
Houston 8/7/21 – Gatto R2 5:00 TKO over Leonardo
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) June 21, 2022

You can win an MMA fight in Texas via 10 count.

Yup. The rule even has a typo in it saying if the opponent is down on the ‘map’ (should be mat) for 10 you win!

You can wear a Gi in Texas for MMA!

You can fight bare knuckle MMA in Texas!

In Texas you can grab the ropes once! But the second time you lose!

You can escape the fighting area!

Yes, you can jump out of the ring once. It is a rope call. See above rule you get one freebie. So in Texas MMA you can escape once and all is good!

In Texas MMA you can have 3 minute rounds. Or more!

Up to 15 minutes of 3 minute rounds for a non championship fight and up to 25 minutes of 3 minute rounds for a championship bout. Or, perhaps even one 25 minute round based on the wording of this rule!

In Texas women must wear a plastic pelvic guard.

“A female contestant must wear a plastic pelvic guard “

What the heck is that? Well click on the below thread from Lauren Murphy for one bizarre story

Okay so my friend Nikki Knudsen fought Holly Holm back in the day, like 2013 or 14, in Dallas. And the commission rushed into the locker room like 60 mins before the fight and says, “Do you have a cup?!” And we were all like “🤨 No” and they said “You need one!” But no one could
— Lauren Murphy (@LaurenMurphyMMA) June 23, 2022