UFC releases full 'Code of Conduct' policy after Matt Mitrione's Fallon Fox flap

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced the creation of a code of conduct for fighters under contract earlier this year at the UFC on Fox 6 pre-fight press conference, but at the time, the promotion didn't reveal what the code of conduct actually was.

But the promotion today (April 10, 2013) unveiled the five page document, which features standards for all contracted fighters to live by, opening with similar language to the NFL code of conduct.

"Fighters shall conduct themselves in accordance with commonly accepted standards of decency, social convention, and morals, and fighters will not commit any act or become involved in any situation or occurrence or make any statement which will reflect negatively upon or bring disrepute, contempt, scandal, ridicule or disdain to the fighter or the UFC."

The code of conduct couldn't have been released at a better time as the promotion is currently dealing with one of it's first suspension after Matt Mitrione's ill-advised rant about transgender fighter Fallon Fox created some serious controversy in the media.

Meathead failed to comply with one of the key examples of behavior to avoid in the Code of Conduct:

"Derogatory or offensive conduct, including without limitation insulting language, symbols, or actions about a person's ethnic background, heritage, color, race, national origin, age, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation."

Included in the Code of Conduct is also an appeals process for fighters. If Mitrione feels he's been treated unfairly, he can notify the UFC legal department and apply for arbitration via a neutral party, which would make a ruling on the matter.

Gone are the days where UFC had to pick and choose punishments for fighters, which meant Rashad Evans had no punishment for making light of Phil Davis and the Penn State child abuse scandal while Miguel Torres was cut for making rape jokes on Twitter.

This should potentially go a long way for the promotion in dishing out even-handed rulings now that everything has actually been put to paper and everyone knows what they can and can't get away with.

Take a look at the complete UFC Fighter Conduct Policy below.