Lateral Knee Kicks Could Be Banned as UFC Rulebook Faces Overhaul

The engine room of MMA regulation is turning over again, and three proposed changes could reshape what fighters can and can't do inside the cage. The headline item: lateral knee kicks, a technique that's crept into the modern game, may be added to the list of fouls. It's one of several ideas Foster wants on the table for discussion.

The most structural change concerns how fouls are classified. Right now the unified rules split infractions into two buckets — intentional and unintentional. Foster wants a three-tier system instead: incidental, reckless, and malicious. That extra layer matters because it changes how referees and judges assign blame and penalties.

Why the Foul Tiers Matter

The reasoning is practical. Foster believes a reckless category — sitting between an honest accident and a deliberate cheat — would push fighters to keep their hands closed rather than fingers extended toward an opponent's face. If it works, the payoff is obvious: fewer eye pokes, one of the sport's most persistent and fight-ruining problems.

It's a nudge as much as a rule. Under the current binary, a poke from splayed fingers often gets waved off as unintentional, no matter how careless the hand position. A dedicated reckless tier removes that easy exit and makes carelessness its own offense.

The Peptide Question

The third item is the trickiest. Foster wants to open talks with medical professionals about a specific peptide that helps close cuts but isn't classed as performance-enhancing. If experts sign off, it could be made legal — a potentially significant shift for fighters who lose bouts to doctor stoppages on lacerations rather than to genuine damage.

None of this is settled. These are discussion points headed for the rule-makers' table, not signed legislation. But taken together — a banned technique, a redrawn foul system, and a possible medical green light — they'd represent one of the more meaningful updates to the unified rules in years. Fighters, cornermen, and referees will all be watching how the conversation lands.