Protest

NOTE (in Swedish): Protestavgift gäller för alla tävlingar och regelverk utanför MMA-ligan.

In order to file a protest with the Swedish MMA Federation please read the following carefully:

Once a protest reaches the Swedish MMA Federation it will be sent to the chairman of the Assessment Committee. The Assessment Committee has a processing period of two weeks from the day of receipt of the protest fee.

The protest fee (2 000 SEK) must without delay be paid to:

Swedish Payments: Svenska Budo & Kampsportsförbundets plusgiro 612120-6. (Mark the payment: “Protest”)

International Payments: IBAN: SE77 8000 0890 1198 3834 0199. BIC: SWEDSESS. Swedbank AB. 105 34 Stockholm. Sweden. (Mark the payment: “Protest”)

Paragraph 32, in the Swedish MMA Federation’s sets of rules and regulations for professional and amateur MMA, covers the issue of protests:

§ 32 Protest

32.1 If a contestant or his/her seconds finds the result of a match to be incorrect then a protest can be handed in to the event coordinator within 48 hours upon conclusion of the match.

32.2 A protest must be submitted from the contestant’s association (Swedish athletes) or from the contestant’s club/team or manager (foreign athletes), not from the contestant personally.

32.3 The protest shall contain information regarding which match it concerns, what the protest is in regards to, reasons for protesting, how one finds that the match should be judged as well as complete contact information.

32.4 The results of a match shall only be changed if an obvious mistake has been uncovered, one that had an effect on the outcome of the match and was made by the referee, judges or another official.

The SMMAF Assessment Committee directive:

1. The Assessment Committee shall to the best of their ability handle all protests submitted to the SMMAF in regards to competitions carried out under the rules and regulations pertaining to the following: Amateur Mixed Martial Arts, Swedish professional Mixed Martial Arts and International professional Mixed Martial Arts.

2. The Assessment Committee shall follow the SMMAF rules and regulations pertaining to the handling of protest as stated in § 32.4:

• § 32.4 The results of a match shall only be changed if an obvious mistake has been uncovered, one that had an effect on the outcome of the match and was made by the referee, judges or another official.

3. If the Assessment Committee identifies a lack of information that is significant for them in order to make a ruling, or consider themselves in need of additional information, they shall initiate the collection of that information.

4. The members of the Assessment Committee all have one vote each. If a ruling comes down to even numbers the chairman casts the deciding vote.

5. In the event of a member being biased (through, for instance, involvement in the matchmaking of the competition or him/her having some kind of connection to the contestant in question), he/she is not allowed to cast a vote.

6. In the event of the chairman being biased (through, for instance, involvement in the competition as a judge/referee or him/her having some kind of connection to the contestant in question), he/she is not allowed to cast a vote. In such a case the vice chairman casts the deciding vote if a ruling comes down to even numbers.

7. The SMMAF board will continuously submit cases to the chairman of the Assessment Committee (or, when applicable due to bias, to the vice chairman). The chairman coordinates the Assessment Committee’s work and presents the SMMAF board with a ruling within a time frame of two weeks.

Protest handling procedure:

1. Each member of the Assessment Committee shall watch the competition pertaining to the protest alone and with the sound turned off.

2. Each member of the Assessment Committee shall use a specific chart provided by SMMAF to judge the competition round for round, meticulously basing his/her judgment on the criteria stated in §10, §29 and §30 in the SMMAF rule sets.

3. Justify each ruling in the comments field of the chart.

4. Take meticulous notes of errors made by the judges and referees, also in the chart.

5. The results are summarized by the chairman of the Assessment Committee (or, when applicable due to bias, the vice chairman) and is thereafter discussed.

6. The Assessment Committee produces a formal response to the protest as well as a ruling.