Joe Rogan has called for the UFC to legalise 'rabbit punching' claiming that 'it doesn't make any sense' as to why the act has been banned by the competition.
Rogan - who works as a colour commentator for the UFC - made the bold claim in a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Whilst in conversation with Welterweight favourite Jorge Masvidal, Rogan claimed that the UFC should consider legalising shots to the back of the head - known as rabbit punching - stating that 'it doesn't make much sense' as to why they aren't allowed:
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"I don't even know if we should stop hitting people in the back of the head, it doesn't make any sense to me because a lot of knockouts, like high kicks, they wrap around the back of the shoulder and they go right to the back of you're head and they are legal, the guy get's KO'd."
Masvidal pitches in by saying: "There's a lot of times where a guys f***ing half way knocked out.
"Perfect example Dustin Poirier versus Conor [McGregor], he hit him three times in the back of the head solid and then he goes limp. "What the f**k? Is it the referees discretion now [as to] who can hit in the back of the head and who can't?"
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Rogan agrees with Masvidal, before referencing the Junior Dos Santos' defeat to Ciryl Gane at UFC 256, a fight which ended in controversy after Gane appeared to strike Dos Santos in the back of the head en route to a second-round knockout.
"Like Ciryl Gane and Junior Dos Santos, he kind of hit him with an elbow in the back of the head. It should be legal, I don't understand why it's not legal.
"People say you're more vulnerable there, then don't f***ing get hit there."
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"Eddie Bravo's talked about this all the time, the old days of MMA when a guy got on someones back they would just drop elbows down on his head, back of the head.
"If you have his back and the head is there then all this punching just to the side is not realistic."
The act of rabbit punching is illegal, not only in the UFC, but in all combat sports due to the high-risk factor involved.
Shots to the back of the head leave the opponent at a much greater risk of serious potentially life-altering injuries to the brain and/or the spine.
Topics: Joe Rogan, UFC, Jorge Masvidal
Tom Young