In a recent demonstration, referee Mike Beltran, along with veteran competitor Urijah Faber, showcased the upcoming modifications to the Unified Rules of MMA, set to take effect on November 1, 2024.
Beltran, a licensed referee for the California State Athletic Commission, highlighted two significant changes to the ruleset. The first alteration concerns strikes to the head of a grounded opponent. Under the new regulations, it will be permissible to kick or knee the head of an opponent who has only one hand touching the ground. This marks a departure from the current rules, which offer more protection to fighters in such positions.
“As of November 1st, now what’s going to be considered to be legal is going to be the grounded opponent with one hand placing down,” Beltran explained. “If Sczar decides to kick or knee him to the head, that is going to be legal on November 1st per the unified rules.”
However, Beltran emphasized that strikes to the head of an opponent who is on one knee, sitting, or has any other part of their body besides their feet touching the ground (such as their forearm or back) will still be considered illegal.
The second major change involves the removal of the “12 to 6 o’clock” rule in north-south positions. This modification will allow competitors to deliver elbow strikes from a top north-south position, which were previously prohibited.
To illustrate this change, Urijah Faber demonstrated the technique. “That’s a north south elbow. As of November 1st, that is going to be a legal blow,” Beltran clarified. He added that these strikes would be permitted to both the head and body, as long as they target legal areas.
These rule changes aim to evolve the sport and provide clearer guidelines for competitors and officials alike. As the MMA community prepares for these adjustments, fighters and coaches will need to adapt their strategies and training methods accordingly.
The implementation of these new rules on November 1, 2024, represents a significant step in the ongoing development of mixed martial arts as a regulated sport. It reflects the continuous efforts of governing bodies like the ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions) to refine and improve the competitive framework of MMA.
“Big” John McCarthy has explained that the reason behind the ban on 12-to-6 elbows (elbows thrown straight down) goes back to the early days of the sport. According to him, the initial concern was based more on perception than proven danger. When early regulators were looking at techniques to allow or ban, they watched demonstrations where martial artists would break bricks, boards, and even blocks of ice using this type of elbow strike. This made them believe that the downward elbow was particularly dangerous.
McCarthy has clarified that this belief wasn’t backed by evidence that a 12-to-6 elbow is more dangerous than other types of elbow strikes allowed in MMA. He even noted that from a referee’s perspective, elbows thrown from other angles—like horizontal or diagonal strikes—can actually generate just as much, if not more, force and still be legal. But because of these early misconceptions, the 12-to-6 rule became part of MMA regulations and has stayed largely due to tradition and the challenges of rewriting unified rules.
The idea is that the impact of a 12-6 elbow can be more devastating due to lack of space in which the head can move to evade it and the inevitable impact to the back of the head when the head comes into contact with the canvas.
Numerous promotions witth lack or regulations have proven time and time again that these elbows could be quite vicious.
