Origins of the Downward Elbow Rule

[Clint]

Downward elbow strike was banned in UFC MMA because of Karate and brick and board breaking

So, during UFC 79's Tony DeSouza vs Roan Jucao Carneiro fight, Carneiro was throwing a downward pointed elbow strikes from the bottom of guard at Tony DeSouza's head. He wasn't using them as viciously as Jared Rollins used them on Jon WarMachine Koopenhaver during Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale, but it brought up a quick discussion regarding downward elbows with the tip of the elbow.

Joe Rogan and Goldberg were discussing the fact a lot of people were wondering why downward elbows were ok to throw from the bottom, from the guard for example, but not from any of top positions. Rogan said that he spoke about this to "Big" John McCarthy, the UFC ref till he recently retired. According to McCarthy when the state athletic commissions were reviewing various strikes during making of the rules for MMA, they, specifically banned them due to strong impressions from Karate and other Traditional Martial Arts (TMAs) "effectiveness" of downward elbows for brick and board breaking. Just like most of us, the state athletic commissions thought that if that's what martial artists could do to a bunch of bricks, what kinds of terribly injuries could happen to a fighter getting with with one from the top. Damn brick and board breakin! How devastating! To think how many millions of people are deceived and misdirected by TMAs still in this day and age. But that's a topic for another post.
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[jokerthief]

[Gmunit]

if they were legal i think we'd see less RNC's and a lot more TKO's

[rivethead]

Very interesting.

rh

[jlruthven84]

"Boards...(wags finger)...don't hit back."

[jokerthief]

Originally Posted by Gmunit

if they were legal i think we'd see less RNC's and a lot more TKO's

There would also be a lot less decisions.

[Clint]

There are times where I understand why downward elbows should be illegal but that is some dumb reasoning to enact the rule.