No mention of rubber guard in Alan Jouban's fight check this.....

[Shawn Arnold]

Tell Joe Rogan to tell his friend he betta recognize!

[Logan Cook]

I find it strange that The Voice didn't mention "rubber guard" or correct/say anything to Frank when he was calling it high guard. Schiavello seems like the anti hater, I know his background is in striking but I can't imagine that his completely ignorant of the rubber guard. As far as the stand up goes, I see why people are complaining but I certainly don't think it was a horrible stand up. Jouban was staying active with strikes and working for submissions for sure, but he wasn't able to secure the triangle from the meathook, and he wasnt able to clear the neck when he tried for chill dog. There was less than a minute left in the fight, the ref stands them up, the Jouban scores a beautiful KO. Like I said I understand the controversy about the stand up but in the context of what was going on in the fight, the time left, and the exciting result thereafter I guess I find kind of hard to complain about the fight being stood up.

[StephenG]

There was less than a minute left in the fight, the ref stands them up, the Jouban scores a beautiful KO. Like I said I understand the controversy about the stand up but in the context of what was going on in the fight, the time left, and the exciting result thereafter I guess I find kind of hard to complain about the fight being stood up.

The problem is that the stand-ups from working JJ positions
seems to be becoming a trend. If it becomes the norm, it could
really pose some problems for fighters who rely on working
from the ground.

...but you're right, that was a pretty exciting finish

[joe]

I didn't think his rg punches looked like they were doing anything. I kept screaming at the tv to do something more productive with his rg. Like get a submission... seemed more like a stall to me than effective work so I wasn't too heated at the ref for the stand up. But that's me...

[Logan Cook]

Unfortunate stand ups have always been a problem in MMA and probably always will be until every referee is at the same level of competency as Herb Dean and co. Its all about context though, and since that is something that always going to be open to interpretation, it may be a problem that is never completely solved. Id like to know if Alan thought that the stand up was valid or not, that would end any sort of debate I would think.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

as far as standups in mma are concerned, the referee should be held responsible for knowing the fighters and having done his homework coming into the fight.

if you see a 10th planet guy on the ground working his rubber guard, you can make a rather safe assumption that he is in an advantageous position; one that he TRAINED TO BE IN. that's key. he is in control of the ring, which is one of the major criteria for scoring the fight. in Jouban's case, he is also controlling the pace and the striking (albeit from the ground, which is not a traditional striking position).

if a referee can allow strikers to dictate when a grappler has to standup (see Werdum v Overeem), the grappler should be afforded the same luxury when he does achieve position on the ground. otherwise, we allow the sport to trend towards a striking bias. i understand that is what the average, non-training fan wants to see; it is not, however, an accurate depiction of one-on-one, unarmed combat. quick standups and a push from the referees for "action" force one to come to the same conclusions that Rickson states in his most recent interview.

referees need to know the fighters and what their preferred mode of operation is. it would remedy many of the referee standup dilemmas.

[Will Thaxton]

maybe we will get what we want when the world understands how dangerous rubberguard is. I think if Royce was still fighting he would be given the respect to stay on the ground for awhile.