{"id":903754,"date":"2026-09-21T06:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903754\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T06:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T06:06:11","slug":"controversial-mma-technique-could-be-banned-following-ufc-331","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/903754\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial MMA technique could be banned following UFC 331"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster<br \/>\nrecently discussed some potential rule changes in mixed martial<br \/>\narts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/events\/UFC-331-Van-vs-Pantoja-113633\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC<br \/>\n331<\/a> went down at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sept. 19.<br \/>\nFoster subsequently discussed some rules at a CSAC debrief,<br \/>\ntouching on oblique kicks, a polarizing and highly effective tool<br \/>\nin MMA, among other subjects.<\/p>\n<p>CSAC&#8217;s Andy Foster wants to discuss banning oblique kicks after<br \/>\nUFC 331<br \/>\n<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Edmen-Shahbazyan-247691\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edmen<br \/>\nShahbazyan<\/a> earned a unanimous decision win in a middleweight<br \/>\nbout against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Brunno-Ferreira-322603\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brunno<br \/>\nFerreira<\/a> at UFC 331. Shahbazyan was complaining to the referee<br \/>\nabout Ferreira throwing side-kicks to the knee, seemingly unaware<br \/>\nthat they are legal.<\/p>\n<p>While kicks to the knee don\u2019t look like much, they can deal<br \/>\ndangerous damage to the knee at certain angles. While it is<br \/>\nconsidered a cheap shot in sparring and banned in most gyms, it is<br \/>\nperfectly legal in pro MMA. However, Foster now wants to discuss<br \/>\nbanning side-kicks to the knee. Foster also wants to discuss<br \/>\nlegalizing the use of a peptide that heals cuts but is not<br \/>\nperformance-enhancing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFoster also wants to discuss making lateral knee kicks a foul and<br \/>\nalso wants to hold discussions with medical professionals and<br \/>\ndetermine whether a specific peptide that heals cuts and are not<br \/>\nperformance-enhancing be made legal,\u201d MMA reporter Aaron<br \/>\nBronsteter, who attended the debrief, posted on X.<\/p>\n<p>Foster also discussed potentially categorizing fouls. While fouls<br \/>\nare now judged on whether they are intentional or unintentional,<br \/>\nFoster is considering classifying them as incidental, reckless or<br \/>\nmalicious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFoster also discussed a potential rule change in the unified rules<br \/>\nthat would classify fouls as being incidental, reckless or<br \/>\nmalicious rather than unintentional and intentional,\u201d Bronsteter<br \/>\nwrote in a follow-up post. \u201cHe believes that will make fighters<br \/>\nkeep their hands closed and reduce eye pokes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Foster also wants to discuss making lateral<br \/>\nknee kicks a foul and also wants to hold discussions with medical<br \/>\nprofessionals and determine whether a specific peptide that heals<br \/>\ncuts and are not performance-enhancing be made legal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aaronbronsteter\/status\/2101540282055479615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\nSeptember 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Foster also discussed a potential rule<br \/>\nchange in the unified rules that would classify fouls as being<br \/>\nincidental, reckless, or malicious rather than unintentional and<br \/>\nintentional. He believes that will make fighters keep their hands<br \/>\nclosed and reduce eye pokes.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aaronbronsteter\/status\/2101539754592371095?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\nSeptember 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster recently discussed some potential rule changes in mixed martial arts.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[1331,49,48,641,45555,638,44,82],"class_list":["post-903754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-article","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-https-www-sherdog-com-news-news-ufc","tag-mma","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}