Ive heard alot of mixed ideas about this, and I have heard people saying that strikes behind the ear are illegal, which is totally wrong. I jusqt listened to a new podcast of Eddie Bravo Radio and the guest was Big John Mcarthy. He knows the rules better than anyone obviously. He said that when it comes to the back of the head, many people actually dont know whats legal/illegal. The best way to describe it is if you take the soft spot on the top of your head towards the back of the skull and draw a line from there, straight down to the base of the spine, that line with about an inch on each side is illegal, everything else is fair game. So basically a line the width of a piece of duct tape.
Don't know about the 12-6, closer to 1-7 I thought but the one that actually KDed Gonzaga was the first one Browne threw that was in the illegal zone, that was not the worst of though it was that he continued to throw 3 more illegal ones after the first.
don't think people realize how small of a window an actual 12-6 elbow is...........hell same goes with the back of the head rule. So much leeway either way. Add in quick strikes like what browne showed and quick finishes it is really hard to tell, especially for the ref.
mabrown45 said:
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Who made this? Because its not right acording to Big John, and I trust him over this picture. Unless its coming from someone in the athletic commisions I wouldnt trust it.
Ok I found the article on bloody elbow that says this picture was from the ABC 2008 MMA
Unified Rules Report. So it must be legit. But it is 5 years old, it may have changed. I just figured hearing it from Big Johnit must be right. Seems like no one would know the rules better than him, hell he made up half of the rules himself in the early days. Im just going by what he said on the podcast.
mabrown45 said:
don't think people realize how small of a window an actual 12-6 elbow is...........hell same goes with the back of the head rule. So much leeway either way. Add in quick strikes like what browne showed and quick finishes it is really hard to tell, especially for the ref.
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Yeah, when it's happening in real time like that, it's really hard to see exactly where those elbows are landing. I'm not too mad about it though, you see stuff like that happen a lot. So, it's dumb to get mad only when it happens to the guy you like, when it happens to a lot of guys.
The way the refs I see work, a strike (not elbow, but punch) is legal as long as part of the hand touches the ear. So you can punch behind the ear, for example, but part of your hand needs to actually *hit* the ear.
mabrown45 said:
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On the right picture,.... To me.... I think its a little wider at the top and a little smaller at the bottom.... Not to much for either thou.....
I would like to Add....
They should start warning one fighter immediatly about penalty, but the other fighter should be warned if he does that again to defend himself, he'll stop the fight....
So being able to catch shots to the back of the head on TV makes everyone smarter than the ref in the octagon in the middle of the action where there are so many variables to not being able to see them?! Face it, Gonzaga was done no matter what! It was not the shots that looked to people on TV that caught the back of the head in the very small area that is illegal. Get over it and move on.
The rule about strikes to the back of the head changes per state.
One State considers a blow to the back of the head on top.
We see a ton of fighters get KO'd hit in the exact same place by over hand rights and lefts get clipped right behind the ear.
