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/r/MMA's Rules and Guidelines
If you see anyone breaking these rules, please report them or send us a message. This helps us react faster and better understand why something has been reported.
See our Extended Rules for a more in-depth discussion/description of the rules, or answers to commonly asked questions.
If you have a question regarding a rule or a removal please Message the Moderators via Modmail
r/mma's Official Resource Guide is here
Quick Rules
Be civil.
Follow Reddiquette.
Don't Spam.
Detailed Rules
1. Be Civil
A bit of banter or trash talk is fine, but don't cross the line. If things do get out of hand you will be warned or even banned for a few days. Repeatedly breaking this rule will lead to a permanent ban. If you've been asked by a mod to read the rules, be sure to read all the rules.
1.1. Personal Attacks
Personal attacks, insults, hostile, uncivil, and disruptive comments or posts will be removed.
1.2. Bigotry
Racial, homophobic, xenophobic, and sexist (including sexual slurs or overtly sexual) comments or posts will be removed.
1.3. Fanbase Attacks
Fanbase attacks will be removed. We strive to be an inclusive community and inflammatory statements of this variety serve no purpose.
1.4. Don't be a Creep
We get it, some fighters/personalities are attractive. Keep your fantasies to yourself though.
1.5. Fighter bashing.
Criticisms are fine but prolonged or excessive attacks are not permitted.
1.6. No brigading.
Discussing or planning the brigading of other subs will not be tolerated, and will lead to a permanent ban. Don't go teabag in other subs - this rule extends to users reported to us by the moderators of other subreddits.
2. Promotional submissions
2.1. 3:1 Rule of self-promotion
If you post your own work (or otherwise affiliated with you or your organization), it must be original and you may only post 1 piece per 3 non-affiliated submissions. Comments do not count toward the 3:1 rule. If you are attempting to stay within ratio and we remove your post for a rules violation, that does not count toward improving your ratio. Bulk posting unaffiliated links, using multiple accounts, and coordinating with others to skirt /r/MMA's 3:1 rule is not allowed. Violations of 3:1 will result in the account being banned from /r/MMA, and the entire domain or brand could be banned site-wide! Approved Submitters are exempt from this rule.
2.2. Fan Art
All fan art should be placed in the General Discussion thread.
2.3. Donation/Crowd-Funding Links & Referral Programs
Donation and crowd funding links are generally not allowed. Referral programs and links fall under spam rules and will be treated as such.
3. Low Relevance
Submissions and comments should be relevant to /r/MMA. Posts should pertain to MMA fights, techniques, analysis or contain content that encourages discussion. Submissions that merely involve a figure in the MMA community are not necessarily relevant to the /r/MMA community, especially when they focus on the non-sporting aspect of MMA. This includes selfies with fighters and 'view from my seat' posts. These posts can be added as comments in General Discussion, the Fight Thread or current stickied thread.
3.1. Social media posts
Social media posts are relevant only if they announce breaking news or are highly newsworthy themselves. Social media is not relevant simply because its author is a MMA figure.
Podcasts: If a notable event occurs on a non-MMA podcast, a short segment can be posted on /r/MMA. Any news must be time-stamped in the post title so the listener can skip to the relevant content. Other podcast-related items, such as upcoming guest announcements or multiple links to recently completed episodes, will be removed. If you are posting your own show then you should adhere to r/MMA's rules of self-promotion (3:1 rule). Podcasts can also be posted in other subreddits, such as /r/mmapodcasts.
3.2. Other Combat Sports
Although Mixed Martial Arts includes many disciplines (Boxing, Kickboxing, BJJ and many more) there is often a more appropriate subreddit for gifs and fights than /r/MMA. /r/MMA is a subreddit for the sport of mixed martial arts, not for the practice of mixing many martial arts. Links for these subreddits can be found in the sidebar. Examples of posts that would be allowed:
- News about another combat sport if it's big (ex: passing of a legend, superfights, major tournament or vent)
- Illustration of a technique directly related to a recent MMA fight
- Events from other combat sports involving current, active MMA fighters may be posted by the /r/MMA moderators or crossposted by the moderators from the appropriate subreddit of the other combat sport
- Highlights during a live card that /r/mma is covering (not crossposting) with a fight thread are allowed while that fight card coverage is ongoing.
3.3. Non-MMA Fights
No street fights, justice porn, bully beatdowns, bum fights, bar fights, knight fights, 5v5, animals fighting, animal vs human, etc. Anything that is not a sanctioned fight is subject to removal.
3.4. Political and Religious discussions
Posts cannot be inherently political or religious. This is an MMA forum, not a political platform: all posts and discussion threads must fit within the context of professional MMA discussion. eg: If a Muslim fighter's fight announcement turns into religion-bashing, it will be locked and/or deleted. If a thread with a fighter discussing COVID turns into political bashing, it will be locked and/or deleted.
What is allowed under political rule because they affect fighters and the sport:
Discussion of fighter unionization
Fighter pay discussions
Discussion of lawsuits against an MMA organization
A fighter announcing a political career change. This affects whether or not they fight.
A fighter being arrested during a protest. This affects their career. A post about a fighter participating in a protest would be removed.
Comments which attempt to derail an existing on-topic conversation by turning it into a politically- or religiously-focused argument will be removed without notice.
3.5. The Thirsty Rule
No "look at this attractive person" posts of a sexual nature, whether they are fighters, ring card girls, fighters' partners, etc. Comments which are lewd and do not add to the discussion may be removed. Posting porn is a bannable offense.
4. Spoilers
Spoilers are considered any images, videos or discussion threads which may reveal the outcome of a fight.
When creating a post, ensure the description (or title) does not reveal the result (i.e. finish, KO, scorecard, defends).
Use the [Spoiler] tag for all posts that reveal the outcome or details of a fight. Mark the post as "Spoiler" and/or "NSFW" to ensure it is correctly hidden from users who do not yet wish to know the outcome of the fight.
This rule is in effect for 24 hrs following a live event. Repeated violation of this rule will result in a temporary or permanent ban. Example of a good title: "Winner of Smith vs. Jones post-fight interview".
Reason for spoiler rule: Even if you are avoiding r/mma, a thread from the sub can show up on your front page or on r/all. Our policy is in place because people may actively avoid the sub but could still have results spoiled. By utilizing the spoiler tag we will not spoil the results for those who cannot watch the fights live.
5. Duplicates
Posts will be removed if a post on the same topic has been made within 7 days or if the topic is repetitive. If an existing discussion is still active, please add your thoughts to it.
If you have links that add new information, add them as comments in the original thread.
6. Low Quality or Joke-only Posts
Posts that are in bad taste or generally do not fit in with /r/MMA will be removed. This includes but is not limited to posts that are:
6.1. Joke Posts
No memes, rage comics, parody videos or posts that are entirely jokes. This includes humorous images, photoshops, repetitive jokes, and videos edited to be humorous. This rule also includes Wikipedia vandalism, publication typos and tale-of-the-tape mistakes. Please post them in /r/mmamemes.
6.2. Troll Posts and Troll Accounts
False announcements that fights are off or a fighter is injured will make us ban you. No novelty or troll accounts allowed. For example, 'StephenWonderboyThompson' would not be appropriate.
6.3. Low Effort Posts
These include TIL, DAE, ELI5, MRW, reaction posts, 'XX years ago' and other low effort posts. If a question can be easily answered, Google it.
This rule also covers short self-posts. A self-post is more than an elevated comment: self-posts should be used to start discussion, not just state an opinion. If you are here because a mod asked you to read the rules, respond with the code word "tsetse fly" in your response. If you submit a self-post make sure to add points/counterpoints and make it a good discussion.
Opinions, predictions and observations can be shared in the daily General Discussion Thread.
6.4. Valid Sources
Announcements of news without an established source will be removed. Questionable sources may be removed at the discretion of the moderators.
6.5. Editorialized Titles
Posts with inflammatory, misleading or sensationalized titles will be removed. If you link to an article or video, use the original title. Changing the title to make it 'click-baity' is against the rules. Commentary and editorializing should be done in the comment section.
6.6. Meta or sub-specific posts
Posts about /r/MMA itself, such as features, rules, moderation, and other users, should be directed to the moderators. Feel free to send us a modmail.
6.7. Gifs, images and video titles
Please use both fighter names to avoid duplicate submissions, unless it is a highlight compilation of a single fighter, wherein the title must be as descriptive as possible. We reserve the right to limit gif/video frequency (gif battles). Media should be of high quality.
6.8. NSFW Submissions
NSFW submissions should be tagged as such. Absolutely no porn.
6.9. Highlight Clip Quality
All highlight clips posted during an event must be a minimum of 720p, with sound. Clips must show the finish or decision announcement (hand raise). Clips not meeting these minimum criteria will be subject to removal at moderator's discretion, especially when a newer clip is posted which does meet these criteria.
Please note highlight clips hosted on Twitter will be considered "low quality" in the context of this rule due to many reports we've received that users are experiencing difficulty playing twitter videos.
7. That's Illegal!
We aim to be an industry-friendly community.
7.1 Asking for, or distributing pirated sources.
Just don't. Also, if it requires a VPN then it's not allowed. We take this very seriously as it can get the sub shut down.
7.2. Do not linkjack or post rehosted content.
Always link to the original source. We do not take kindly to users who steal the content of others.
8. Other Suitable Thread
Please look on the new page (or use the Search bar). There is already a thread about this topic.
8.1. Belongs in Current Sticky
During live events or breaking news we often create a sticky thread or megathread to prevent the discussion from taking over the entire subreddit. Please look for a relevant sticky thread (they're at the top of the list) and post your link there as a comment.
These are our regular threads:
- Daily General Discussion
- Moronic Monday Thread - any silly MMA question goes
- Technique and Training Tuesday Thread - serious thread for those who train
- Wednesday Betting Thread - who you got?
- Photoshop and Goofy Thursday Thread - meme your heart out
- Friday Flair Betting Thread - a sub tradition in which you can bet on upcoming fights and trade flairs
8.2. Training, gym selection and 'how do I start MMA?' threads
These are more appropriate for the General Discussion thread or one of the martial arts subs linked in our sidebar. Alternatively, try using the search bar - questions like these have probably been discussed in the past. Technique & Training Tuesday threads will have good information for you. Also consider r/MMA_Academy.
8.3. Betting Threads
This is more appropriate for the regular Betting Thread.
9. Fuck the Honeydickers
Jake Paul, Floyd, Conor, GSP videos and "news" can go in General Discussion. We'll lift this rule once an actual MMA fight has been officially announced.
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