Where can you not hit in MMA?
A · Advanced · Fouls · 1 of 4The back of the head, the spine, the throat and the groin may not be attacked. The back of the head is a strip an inch either side of the centre line, from the crown to the nape of the neck, and the ban carries on down the spine. The straight downward elbow, long banned, is legal in the 2024 rules.
How it works
- Back of the head: starts at the crown, one inch either side of the centre line, down to the occipital junction.
- The neck: at the nape the banned area widens to the whole width of the neck.
- The spine: one inch either side of its centre line, down to and including the tailbone.
- The throat: no directed strikes, and no gouging the fingers or thumb into the neck or windpipe.
- A stray shot: a strike thrown in a standing exchange that happens to land on the throat is clean and legal.
- The groin: any attack, including striking, grabbing, pinching or twisting, for men and women alike.
- The side of the head and the ears: legal targets.
- The downward elbow: the straight up-and-down elbow strike was removed from the fouls in 2024.
The glossary has the back of the head, the 12-6 elbow, the foul, the strike, the intentional foul and the accidental foul.
Tricky cases
A fighter turns their head as a punch comes and it lands behind the ear. Is that a foul?
It depends on where it lands and on the referee's view. The banned strip is an inch either side of the centre line. A strike outside that strip is legal.
Is a choke an attack on the throat?
No. The foul is striking the throat on purpose and gouging fingers or thumb into the neck or windpipe. Chokes applied with the arms or legs are submission holds.
Is a straight downward elbow still a foul?
Not under the 2024 text, which removed it. An event run by a commission that has not adopted that text may still treat it as one.
Are kidney strikes with the heel legal?
Yes, by these rules. Neither the 2018 list nor the 2024 list has an entry for them.
Why the rule exists
The base of the skull and the spine protect the brain stem and the spinal cord, and a blow there can do harm that no amount of toughness prevents. The downward elbow went the other way: the ban was hard to apply, since any slight arc made the same strike legal, and the commissions voted to drop it.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Back of the head | One inch either side of the centre line | ABC Foul 7 |
| Nape of the neck | The full width | ABC Foul 7 |
| Throat | No directed strikes or gouging | ABC Foul 8 |
| Downward elbow, 2018 rules | Foul | ABC Unified Rules 2018 |
| Downward elbow, 2024 rules | Legal | ABC Fouls; commission memo |
From the rule book
Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports, Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts (as amended 23 July 2024; California State Athletic Commission copy), fouls 7, 8 and 10, with the commission's covering memo. Compared with the same association's text as amended 1 August 2018. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: the association's Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts (adopted commission by commission).