Yep that's correct. However, under Appendix E of the MCC laws the blade cannot protrude more than 2.5" into the bound handle area and only 2.75" of the blade can be covered in grip.
To circumvent this law you have to slice through the the 'ears' (where the blade meets the handle) at a certain point. This is why the Mongoose had a large covering of grip tape (which is actually deemed a sticker within the MCC laws) so the cut is actually made closer to 3" from the base of the splice.
The design may have changed, this is the design up until 2011/12.