Luke Thomas defends Colorado's use of the Global Martial Arts Ruleset in ONE: "Flat out better"

Much has been said about ONE Championship’s Global Martial Arts Ruleset, which offers very stark differences to the Unified Rules of MMA that organizations in North America like the UFC and Bellator use.

But the overall consensus and growing support for ONE Championship has fans thinking: Which ruleset is better?

Colorado has recently come under fire by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) for allowing ONE Championship to host an event in the state using their Global Martial Arts Ruleset. ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III took place before a sold-out crowd at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield.

Veteran mixed martial arts analyst Luke Thomas of Morning Kombat came out in support of ONE Championship’s rules and regulations, and shared some interesting points on the current events.

In a post he shared on X (formerly Twitter), Thomas wrote:

“CO hasn’t rejected unified rules. They just make it promoter discretion.

"2 points. 1, it stands to reason unified rules can’t be the only reasonably safe system. In fact, CO has data to show ONE system is comparably safe.

"2, rule set homogeneity favors the incumbent. If everyone has the same rules and you’re the most powerful company, no competitor can rule differentiate as a way to stand out.

“It’s bad for the industry to only use unified rules and, personally speaking, ONE ruleset is flat out better.”

ONE Championship features various deviances from the Unified Rules of MMA, including allowing knees to a grounded opponent and scoring fights as a whole using specific criteria as opposed to the 10-point must system.

They also have a revolutionary weight and hydration protocol that encourages fighters to compete at their natural weight class, as opposed to dehydrating themselves to dangerous levels in order to gain competitive advantages.

What do you think of the ONE Championship Global Martial Arts Ruleset? ONE Championship returns to the Singapore Indoor Stadium on September 29 with ONE Fight Night 14: Stamp vs. Ham on Prime Video. Check it out and see for yourself.