This week in Louisville Kentucky the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports held their annual conference. Two changes were voted in for MMA’s ‘unified rules’.
In short the 12-6 Elbow was removed as a foul and the ‘grounded fighter’ definition has been changed clarifying the circumstances when a fighter can still be kneed or kicked to the head.
These rule changes don’t come into force until November 1, 2024. This will give fighters and officials time to be familiar with them and for jurisdictions to make the necessary changes to bring their rules / regulations up to date.
While the ‘unified rules’ are the most commonly used ruleset for MMA not all jurisdictions default to these. There will remain jurisdictions who are slow to adopt these changes or outright will not. However for all jurisdictions that do use the unified rules these changes will be in force soon.
Below is a short video explanation of these changes along with the full wording of the new rules.
Combat Sports Law 
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