Illegal Knee/Kick Rule Hurting Sport

Once again the issue of kneeing the head to a grounded opponent reared it’s ugly head again in UFC 125 in the Dong Hyun Kim vs Nate Diaz fight. In the 3rd round it is clear from the replays that Nate Diaz kneed Dong Hyun Kim’s head while he had three limbs on the ground. What also seems clear to me from the replays is that Dong Hyun Kim purposely placed his hand to the ground knowing it would cause him to be in a down position. This is a tactic that is used by Josh Koscheck famously and other fighters in the past as well.

While I would love to delve into the fact that Kim was in fact not hurt by the knee strike. (He looked at the referee, realized he got hit by an illegal knee, then proceeded to flop soccer style onto the mat) However, I feel as though there is a bigger issue at hand. The way in which the rule that makes knees/kicking to the head is causing a detriment to the sport by undermining and diminishing the practice of good fighting skill.

There are and will continue be arguments that the kicks to the head to a downed opponent are too detrimental to the health of the fighters and should be barred for safety reasons.
The opponents will talk about the age old adage of UFC should be as real as it gets, etc etc. I am not going to dive into that.

Instead, what bothers me is the fact that the current rules not only allow tactics like this to survive, but they reward it. However, if the issue is fairness, then there is no question that purposely touching the ground to make yourself a “grounded opponent” is acting with the intentional misuse of the rule.

MMA fighters fundamentally want to learn good position. No other sport can truly simulate how badly you don't want to be in a bad position. On the basketball court you get scored on. In the octagon, you get your face rearranged (except for this here example). In BJJ, boxing, wrestling, judo, and every aspect fighters bring into the octagon agree on one thing: good positioning is vital. Giving someone your back is detrimental to a fighter and in turn he gets punished for it, by body triangles, chokes, strikes, etc. Get side mounted or full mounted, punished by strikes and submissions.

Why is it that fighters are not punished for being in the position of being a down opponent and facing forward? Why benefit a fighter just because he is faced the wrong direction? Why enable the fighter to not be concerned about strikes that should reasonably occur under those circumstances in an “as real as it gets” cage match?

Also the question of putting the hand down in creating a down position. Would a person do that in a boxing, BJJ, or judo match? Put his hand on the ground instead of protecting his face or grabbing the opponents hand? They don’t teach you that in wrestling. They don’t teach you that in BJJ. They don’t teach you that in any good martial art school. Even more obvious is the question: would a fighter do this action in a real fight?

Also, shouldn’t the ref’s and the judges take into account the position in which the action occurs? Sure, if the guy is down and there is NO question a fighter kicked another in the skull, no problem. However, in last night’s fight’s case there was no such clear distinction. (I am happy that a point was not deducted)

However, because of the foul, and the blatant acting afterwards it saddens me that we did not get to see a real finish to a 3rd round that had the chance at some great action. I think this is a great time to use a replay. Recently, when Koscheck infamously faked being struck by a knee, the referee was able to see from the replays that there was no actual contact. This should be installed officially. A point deduction should also occur for stalling if this was ruled a fake.

It also saddens me to watch fighters purposely use the rules to put them in positions that are only good in the UFC octagon, not in anything else. Making the sport not only more watchable but more fair is fundamental.

Just like touching the ground to become a grounded opponent? Good fundamentals Dong and Josh!


SW