For 23 years, the 12-6 elbow was the strangest foul in mixed martial arts. It cost Jon Jones the only loss on his record, it confused fighters, referees, and commentators alike, and nobody could ever fully explain why it existed.
Then, quietly, it stopped being a foul at all.
Are 12-6 Elbows Legal In the UFC?
Yes. 12-6 elbows are legal in the UFC, and have been since 1 November 2024. The Association of Boxing Commissions voted unanimously on 23 July 2024 to remove the downward elbow strike from the list of fouls in the Unified Rules of MMA. It no longer appears in the rulebook at all.
A 12-6 elbow is a downward elbow strike thrown on a straight vertical line — from twelve o’clock on an imaginary clock face down to six o’clock. The clock analogy came from referee John McCarthy, who used it to explain a foul that had been written so vaguely that nobody could apply it consistently.
Any deviation from that straight vertical line — any arc, any angle — always made the strike legal. Which meant a fighter could throw a near-identical elbow from an inch off the vertical and be perfectly within the rules.
When Did 12-6 Elbows Become Legal In the UFC?
12-6 elbows became legal in the UFC on 1 November 2024, when the ABC’s rule change took effect. They made their UFC debut at UFC Edmonton the following night, on 2 November 2024.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Unified Rules of MMA approved. Downward elbow strikes are listed as a foul |
| 5 Dec 2009 | Jon Jones is disqualified against Matt Hamill at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale |
| 2016 | ABC discusses removing the foul. It survives |
| 23 Jul 2024 | ABC votes unanimously to delete the foul from the Unified Rules |
| 1 Nov 2024 | The rule change takes effect |
| 2 Nov 2024 | New rules make their UFC debut at UFC Edmonton |
| 2026 | 12-6 elbows are a normal, legal strike |
The July 2024 ABC vote also rewrote the grounded fighter rule. Both changes went live together.
The committee that pushed the change through was not a fringe group. It included California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster, Nevada’s Jeff Mullen, and veteran officials John McCarthy, Herb Dean and Marc Goddard.
Why Were 12-6 Elbows Banned In the UFC?
12-6 elbows were banned in the UFC because of a medical objection raised when the Unified Rules were first drafted — not for the reason you have probably heard. The popular version, repeated for years on commentary, is that commissioners watched martial artists breaking bricks and blocks of ice with downward elbows and decided the strike must be lethal.
That version has been publicly dismissed as revisionist history by former Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer.
The likelier account is more mundane. When the Unified Rules were drafted, doctors raised concerns after seeing downward elbows landed on the back of an opponent’s head in an early event. One physician refused to sanction a ruleset that permitted them. John McCarthy argued that strikes to the back of the head were already banned and that the elbow itself was not the problem — but the foul went into the rulebook anyway, written broadly enough that it caused trouble for the next two decades.
By 2024, the consensus among officials and analysts had shifted: a downward elbow does roughly the same damage as an angled one. The distinction was never medically meaningful — it was just very hard to referee.
Did Jon Jones Get His DQ Loss Overturned After 12-6 Elbows Were Legalized?
No. Jon Jones did not get his DQ loss overturned, and the rule change is not retroactive. His disqualification against Matt Hamill on 5 December 2009 still stands on his official record, and it remains the only loss of his career.
Jones was dominating the fight when referee Steve Mazzagatti ruled that his downward elbows were illegal and disqualified him. Overturning a result from 2009 would be a matter for the commission that sanctioned it, not the ABC — and no commission has moved to do so.
Jones’ own response to the rule change, posted within hours of the vote, was that he was undefeated then and undefeated now. The record book disagrees.
What Elbow Strikes Are Still Illegal In the UFC?
Elbows to the back of the head, the spine and the throat are still illegal in the UFC, and using an elbow to gouge the eye remains a foul. Legalising the 12-6 elbow did not open the floodgates — the strike is now judged on where it lands, exactly like every other.
| Elbow strike | Legal? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 12-6 elbow to the face or head | Legal | No longer a foul as of Nov 2024 |
| 12-6 elbow to a grounded opponent’s head | Legal | Elbows are not knees or kicks |
| 12-6 elbow to the body or legs | Legal | Always was |
| Elbow to the back of the head | Illegal | Illegal target, regardless of angle |
| Elbow to the spine | Illegal | Illegal target |
| Elbow to the throat | Illegal | Directed throat strikes are banned |
| Elbow used to gouge the eye | Illegal | Eye gouging by finger, chin or elbow is a foul |
The angle of the elbow no longer matters. The target still does.
Has Anyone Landed a Legal 12-6 Elbow In the UFC?
Yes. The first legal 12-6 elbows in UFC competition landed within weeks of the rule change in November 2024, with Gillian Robertson among the first fighters to use one.
Why Don’t UFC Fighters Use 12-6 Elbows More Often?
UFC fighters don’t use 12-6 elbows more often because the strike was never especially good. A straight vertical elbow is easy to see coming and hard to generate torque on.
Are 12-6 Elbows Legal In Every State?
Not automatically. The ABC writes the Unified Rules, but each athletic commission adopts them individually. Most major commissions, including Nevada, signed off before the rules went live in November 2024.
Are 12-6 Elbows More Dangerous Than Angled Elbows?
No. 12-6 elbows are not more dangerous than angled elbows, and that was the entire basis of the rule change. The officials and physicians who reviewed it concluded the damage potential is comparable to an angled elbow.
FAQs
What is a 12-6 elbow in the UFC/MMA?
A 12-6 elbow is a downward elbow strike thrown on a straight vertical path — from twelve o’clock to six o’clock on an imaginary clock face. Any arc or angle in the strike made it a legal elbow even before the rule change.
Are 12-6 elbows legal in the UFC in 2026?
Yes. They have been legal since 1 November 2024 and are no longer listed as a foul.
Was Jon Jones’ DQ loss overturned?
No. Jon Jones’ DQ loss was not overturned. It still stands, and it is still the only loss on his record.
Can you throw a 12-6 elbow at a downed opponent?
Yes. You can throw a 12-6 elbow at a downed opponent in the UFC. The rule protecting grounded fighters only bans knees and kicks to the head.
Are elbows legal in boxing?
No. Elbows are not legal in boxing. The sport permits punches only, and elbow strikes of every kind are fouls.
To Conclude
The 12-6 elbow ban is gone, and it’s not coming back. Since 1 November 2024 the strike has been fully legal, judged like any other technique on where it lands rather than the angle it travels on.
What has not changed is Jon Jones’ record. The rule that produced the most famous disqualification in UFC history no longer exists, but the loss it caused is permanent.
For more, see our complete UFC and MMA rule change timeline, our guide to illegal moves in the UFC, and our breakdown of the most crucial techniques in MMA. If you want to understand who enforces all this in real time, read our piece on UFC referees.
