Mike Perry, as ruthless as he is inside a ring, hasn’t been a rule-breaker in the UFC. Unlike Michael Chandler, fans haven’t called him out for landing illegal shots to the back of the head. However, now that Perry has his own promotion called Dirty Boxing Championship, he’s shared what he thinks about illegal blows that can potentially damage the opponent’s brain.

UFC veteran Stephen Thompson joined “Platinum” on the OverDogs podcast recently. “Wonderboy” pointed out that Dirty Championship Boxing rules are more realistic than traditional boxing. He said, “The more realistic the rule set, I think the better. I like boxing, yes, but there’s always that question, like if this was a street fight, I get it all the time. Oh, you do karate, but if this was a street fight, bro, you know what I’m saying? But this makes it more realistic to wear. I mean, you got elbows. When a dude drops, you can ground and pound him out.”

But while discussing the ground-and-pound rule, part-owner Mike Perry revealed a rather risky demand he had from one of his fighters. “That’s the way I see it. I was yelling at one guy getting ground and pound. I’m like, come on, protect yourself. He’s like, ‘Come on! He’s hitting me in the back of the head,’ like fighters, fight! Don’t worry about calling the rules. Let the refs do that. You got to fight, dude.”

Essentially, the former UFC welterweight is asking his fighters to trust the referees to protect them from illegal blows and continue fighting until the action is officially stopped. This approach is definitely best in terms of entertainment and excitement, but also sheds light on the current state of rules and regulations in MMA.

To be fair to Perry, shots to the back of the head have been a gray area in combat sports since the beginning. It is hard to identify whether a shot to the back of the head was intentional and illegal in the first place. On paper, a shot near the back of the head is considered legal as long as it touches the opponent’s ear. However, in fast-paced and adrenaline-fueled fights, a couple of illegal shots slip out quite often, and we’re yet to establish a way to stop them more efficiently.

A great example is the UFC 309 co-main event between Chandler and Charles Oliveira. Towards the end of the fifth, “Iron” rocked the Brazilian and attempted to end the fight through shots to the back of Oliveira’s head. Referee Keith Peterson caught a lot of heat as he didn’t warn Chandler at all and let the action resume on the ground.

How is Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing Championship different from boxing and the UFC?

Thompson appreciates that unlike boxing, Mike Perry’s Dirty Boxing Championship doesn’t stop the action at knockdowns, and ground-and-pound is allowed.  Even as one of the most decorated strikers in MMA history, “Wonderboy” gets questioned whether his Karate expertise and boxing skills would suffice in a street fight. The UFC legend believes that such doubts will be better cleared in DBX’s modern and dynamic rules.

For readers who aren’t aware of the precise rules in Dirty Boxing Championship and only know about the promotion because of the big names associated with it, here’s a brief rundown:

• Fighters use 4oz gloves. In contrast, UFC fighters generally use 6oz gloves while boxing professionals have 8-10oz gloves.
• In case a fighter is knocked down, ground-and-pound is allowed. However, the attacking fighter cannot touch both hands on the ground as they’ll then be considered downed too. If both fighters are downed, the referee stops the action and asks them to get back up and resume.
• Elbows are allowed.

A fighter is considered downed, as per DBX’s official rule set, when any part of their body except the sole of the feet touches the ground.

The aforementioned rules, combined with three-minute rounds and a smaller ring, help Dirty Boxing Championship live up to its name. And from the looks of it, even long-time UFC fighters like Thompson are in favor of making fights more exciting and decisive.