The 12-to-6 downward elbow strike is officially legal in MMA.
A collective sigh of relief was let out by the MMA community when it was announced this past July that 12-to-6 elbows will no longer result in a foul in the Unified Rules of MMA. As of November 1, MMA fighters can unleash ground-and-pound elbows â or standing elbows if youâre creative enough â from all angles.
If it werenât for one infamous moment in MMA history, the rule change might not have been as notable as it is. Unfortunately for two-division UFC champion Jon Jones, his only career loss came thanks to the strikeâs delivery in his 2009 clash with Matt Hamill.
The loss happened in Las Vegas under the Nevada Athletic Commission, which Jones has fought under several times in his UFC career. California also hosted some of Jonesâ final light heavyweight tilts before he jumped up a division and became UFC heavyweight champion, and while the Hamill bout wasnât under the watch of California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster, he reflected on the situation and rule change on âThe Ariel Helwani Showâ on Tuesday.
Foster admits heâs never one too in favor of rule changes, but in the case of Jones, heâs surprisingly supportive of the idea that the loss should get overturned to a no contest.
âThe rule is what it was then, itâs different now,â Foster said. "It would be hard to go back. Iâd be actually supportive of getting rid of that but itâs not my decision.
"I didnât like the way it was enforced back then, but thatâs 14 years ago. I think there were â look, weâre talking about 14 years later. At the time, I thought there were other ways you could handle that situation rather than flat giving the guy a loss.
âDisqualification should be the last resort a referee goes to,â he continued. âThat should be after youâve used all the tools in your toolbox. We train these guys and we teach them ad nauseam. Thereâs a lot of things you can go to and look at. Letâs do that before we disqualify people. Herb Dean, probably the gold standard referee in the world right now, youâll see him and heâll methodically go through everything before â I donât know if Iâve seen Herb Dean disqualify somebody. Iâm sure I have, but I canât think of one right off the top of my head. Very good at going through a lot of different things.â
Jon Jones and Dana White want to see the UFC heavyweight championâs lone loss overturned. (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Ultimately, Jones is out of luck for the time being â heâll head into his Nov. 16 return fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 with a 27-1 (1 NC) record. The event will coincidentally be the promotionâs first pay-per-view to operate with 12-to-6 elbows.
UFC Edmonton formally kicked off the rule changes in the Octagon this past Saturday and a glimpse of the differences was already seen; Foster highlighted a moment from Cody Gibsonâs unanimous decision win over Chad Anheliger.
While the 12-to-6 change was newsworthy, the biggest aspects of the recent updates to MMAâs unified ruleset were long-needed adjustments to the definition of a grounded fighter. Fighters are no longer able to âgame the system,â which Foster admits was previously sensible to exploit. Instead of the confusion involving hands and palms to avoid kicks or knees to the head, a grounded fighter is now only considered grounded if any part of the body besides hands or feet is in contact with the ground.
âThe change with the grounded fighter, thatâs a real change,â Foster said. We didnât see the [system gaming] this weekend and I think weâll get rid of that.
âIâm not going to sit here and say itâs safer, but its more clear so I think athletes will probably become safer because they wonât stick their hand down on the ground without knowing they can be smashed. And if they get hit, theyâre probably not going to do it again.â
Tweaks have been made on a state-by-state basis over the years regarding what was and wasnât a downed fighter. Whether it was two hands down, one hand, fingertips or a palm, two palms, the rule has generally been a mess. Thankfully, that worry is gone, but Foster says it wasnât without some resistance from the ABC â unlike the 12-to-6 elbow rule, which was effortless to remove.
âI had just had enough with it because it happened in the Contender [Series] not too long before that,â Foster said of the downed fighter controversy. "It was just causing a problem; every three events, youâd have one of these issues. Thatâs the kind of thing where regulation needs to fix this. We can fix this through a rule.
"Itâs really hard to officiate that too. The referees were having a hard time. Youâd get a different interpretation from a different referee. Now, itâs very clear. If a kneeâs on the ground [or] something else is on the ground, youâre down. [If] itâs not, youâre not. Itâs less restrictive, so the fighters probably feel better about it as well.
âWith the grounded fighter [rule], it took a little bit of discussion because we tried something back in 2015 or '16, whenever it was, and that didnât work out as well because it didnât take away enough restrictions,â he continued. âThis just ended it. Either your knees down or itâs not.â
Getting everyone on the same page was smooth sailing outside of the regulators, according to Foster. Perhaps more surprisingly, the doctors and medical assistants had no issues or concerns.
âAny time the referee has to get involved and tell the top fighter if the [below] fighterâs down or not, thatâs not great,â Foster said. âWe donât need referees having those levels of discussions with fighters.â
Promotions based outside of Asia still have some catching up to do with overall versatility in ground strike violence. Soccer kicks and knees to fully grounded opponents are still alive and well in organizations like RIZIN in Japan. Foster has stated that he could see himself getting swayed to go that far with changes one day. Heâs not quite there yet, remaining hesitant after the memories of what dominant wrestlers were capable of in the PRIDE FC days.
Unfortunately, there are still some less-than-exciting rule issues to be figured out in MMA. One of the issues recently seen has been that of stalling or warnings that never result in fouls. Both are arguably the most frustrating to see not enforced as a viewer, and Foster boils it down to a referee problem.
âThatâs a training issue and something we have talked about,â Foster said. "The refs are micâd up so the first thing is if itâs not worth a warning, donât open your mouth. Sometimes youâll just have incidental contact and the fighter didnât need the warning. If you have to discuss a warning with somebody, thereâs soft warnings and hard warnings. If you give somebody a hard warning once, probably the next time a point needs to come off. If youâre not using your toolbox then we really need to find somebody else that will, because this idea of âwarning, warning, warning,â itâs a service to the other fighter.
âI think we should use the timidity foul more than we do. ⌠Look, this is sports entertainment in some respects. I know weâre regulating a sport but part of it is sports entertainment. We have to keep this thing moving along. I donât think just stalling somebody down, riding out the clock, trying to get the 10 [score] and the other person gets nine so you can win is the idea of what weâre doing here. So, letâs move it along. Weâve got to fight. Itâs martial arts, youâve got to fight.â
Ideally, Foster wants to see officials target a window of about 30 seconds for the benefit of the doubt in allowing potential stalling moments in fights. He knows they can only do much, but you have to set some precedent.
As problematic as those issues have been in MMA, theyâre not the worst.
Extreme weight cutting, Foster still contends, is âthe biggest problem in mixed martial arts.â
âThereâs no question about it,â he said. âHere in California, we kind of get a lot of fighters [competing]. Iâm not saying everyone, but we have a lot of notes and stuff on all these different athletes. So, weâre trying to get ahead of it. We check and almost annoy people because we do weight checks with them on a periodic basis.â
Foster and the CSAC have consistently made it a priority to manage weight-cutting properly. Early morning weigh-ins and second-day rehydration checks have become staples of California-based fights.
Weight cutting is not a science that has been perfected and it may never be. But from Fosterâs chair, heâs willing to try new things.
âAnother thing that Iâve been doing is â a couple weeks ago, I had to cancel the fight,â Foster said. âOne of the fighters gained about 30 pounds and the other fighter lost weight from the weigh-in. Thatâs not OK, so we werenât able to move forward with that fight.â
Dude must be gagging on Danaâs cock.
Andy Foster is the best Exec Director in combat sports. Heâs also fought before and doesnât get bogged down in beuracratic nonsense like we often see in Nevada.
It was illegal when he did it. Doesnât matter what todayâs rules are now. They gonna overturn every knee to a downed opponent?
He was already wanted the failed drug tests overturned because they now allow trace elements of steroids for some reason.
Andy is a good ol boy from Georgia and tough as nails. Great dude
I think the details of this fight call the DQ under question. I think itâs too late to make a change but it couldâve been corrected at the time.
Jon threw 2 illegal elbows after destroying Matt on the ground. Maz initially took a point from Jon. Then Maz asked Matt, who is deaf and had his eyes closed, if he was done. Matt had no idea he was being asked a question and the fight was called. No one knew Jon was DQâd until Buffer announced it.
