A heavyweight giant thinks the UFC would be a lot more fun if they changed the rules.
There are many things fighters and fans would change when it comes to MMA. If it were up to him, Khabib Nurmagomedov said there wouldn’t be multiple rounds, but instead just one long round.
As for Joe Rogan, the UFC commentator suggested points be immediately deducted from fighters who illegally grab the fence or poke their opponents’ eyes.
One of the latest rule changes that occurred in the UFC was the legalization of 12-6 elbows, the strike Jon Jones was disqualified for in 2009 (his only pro loss).
A former UFC star is the latest to weigh in, suggesting one rule change that he’s still not ‘100% convinced’ on.
- READ MORE: 7 ft tall heavyweight slights UFC matchmaker in hilarious retelling of Francis Ngannou fight offer
Stefan Struve ‘really annoyed’ with not being able to knee the head of a grounded opponent
The 7’0″ Stefan Struve says ‘MMA is as close to a real fight as you can get’.
With that said, the retired UFC heavyweight (and the tallest fighter in promotional history) finds it strange that it’s illegal to knee opponents in the head when they’re on the ground.
Struve said that would be the rule he’d change.
“I was always really annoyed with the knee to a downed opponent,” Struve said on the MMA OddsBreaker podcast with Adam Martin and Marcel Dorff.
“But, I think the rules are changing for the better with that.
“It was just always really weird to watch because people would put themselves in positions where they would be vulnerable. And MMA is as close to a real fight as you can get,” Struve explained.
“I would always get really annoyed by the things they would do and not being able to attack with the knees. And I think the rules have improved.
“I’m not sure if they need to go to PRIDE rules with the knees. I’m not 100% convinced about that, but I definitely think those rules have improved and that was pretty much one of the things that I was always really annoyed by.”
PRIDE FC rules allow soccer kicks, stomps, and knees to a grounded opponent.
“It would be a lot more fun to watch,” Struve said of knees to the head being allowed to grounded opponents in UFC.
A knee to a grounded opponent led to the only UFC title win by disqualification
UFC title fight history was made in 2021.
UFC 259 featured three title fights, with one ending by disqualification.
A title fight had never ended in a disqualification before a grounded Aljamain Sterling took an illegal knee from then bantamweight champion Petr Yan.
Sterling had one knee on the canvas and the referee told Yan he was grounded seconds before the Russian landed a knee to Sterling’s head.
Sterling was unable to continue and won the bantamweight belt by disqualification due to the illegal strike.