7 Illegal Moves MMA Fighters Always Get Away With

The 12 to 6 elbow isn't a move that fighters get away with as much as it is a technique that is so poorly defined in the ruleset that it becomes extremely hard for officials to enforce.

According to Joe Rogan, the story goes that when the athletic commissions convened to draw up the initial ruleset for the sport of MMA, a commissioner remarked that he had seen a karate practitioner break bricks using a downward elbow and was worried that similar techniques could cause lasting damage if implemented in a fight.

Now, as most combat sports fans are aware, there are multiple elbow strikes that are more practically effective that are not banned in MMA competition, but when drawing the rules up Big John was aware that he was going to have to make certain concessions in order to get the ruleset passed and the 12 to 6 elbow was ultimately one of them.

Even still, 12-6 elbows are rarely penalised as a fighter only has to make a slight arc in the trajectory of their strike to render it legal.

That doesn't mean that the rule hasn't ever been enforced, however. Current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones suffered his only MMA loss to-date after being disqualified for rendering Matt Hamill unable to continue with the illegal strikes.