xnfx,
The incident that caused the ban happened at what is normally a MMA show, although they do have a kickboxing division. The Utah State Athletic Commision is actually named after Pete Suazo, a deceased local boxing coach and state government official . . . so they have a strong connection to boxing.
While the commission is filled with good guys they are relatively undeducated when it comes to non-boxing contact sports like Muay Thai and MMA. So when a rukus happens and they look at it from their boxing background and say "what the heck is that guy doing in his opponent's corner?" So of course they would ban it.
And in my opinion the ban CAN, not will but can, happen elsewhere if promoters fail to educate their local commissions concerning the traditions of the different art. Now, I'm not saying that Mike Stidham made a mistake by not informing the promoters what Mikee was going to do and that it was traditionally acceptable (hell, in the last year Mike has not only managed to keep the commission from banning MMA outright he even went to bat when they wanted to ban any type of choke and from what I heard they proposed a motion to ban kicks to the head . . . which Mike helped overcome).
I honestly place the blame squarely on Jimmy, Chago's manager (Chago was the other fighter). Jimmy is a boxing coach of sorts and understandably enamored of his own traditions, but his reaction to Mikee was rediculous and damn near started a riot.
|