Rules, rules, and more rules − which do you like and which do you hate? Which are better: knees on the ground or elbow strikes? Is this a fighter safety issue that has been ignored by the athletic commissions? Before reading any further, ask yourself a question. When Pride was going full force, how many fights have you seen end prematurely due to knees to the head? But how many fights have you seen stopped early because of a cut due to an elbow?

The old Pride allowed knees on the ground to the head and head stomps. Was this brutal? In my opinion, no. I would even go so far as to say that knees are good for the sport. As far as the infamous Pride head stomps, I could definitely do without those. But even then, how many times did you see a fighter’s head get stomped on? I watch a lot of fights and I’d have to say “not many.” This is because the fighters are smart and they know the rules. You never saw a fighter in Pride turtle on the ground and stall. Why? Because they would get kneed or kicked in the head. They knew not to turtle and so they did not. So in my opinion I feel knees make the fights more active and exciting.

Looking back, I’m not going to say that there have never been some scary knees. For instance, Mark Coleman vs. Allan Goes in Pride 13 was one to remember. Also Silva vs. Sakuraba 1; Silva was well-known in Pride as a fighter who liked to take advantage of knees and stomps.

Now for question number two: how many times have you seen a fight stopped because of a cut from an elbow? I can name many and I’m sure you can too. Do I blame fighters for using elbows as a weapon? Absolutely not. The commissions have made them legal and so any blame has to go to them.

Elbow strikes are allowed by the commissions, but when I watch any fight using unified rules, I see many fighters get inside guard position and start throwing elbows with only one thing in mind: cut their opponent so the fight will be stopped via a TKO. “Slice and survive” is replacing “ground and pound” as the fight strategy de jour. The bad thing for the sport is that with the current ruling of allowing elbows, the best fighter does not always win the match.

Cutting an opponent to end a fight does not demonstrate technical superiority. Furthermore, as more and more mediocre fighters see this strategy working against better fighters, “slice and survive” will become more popular. MMA will become a bloodsport because of the commissions. If it gets too bloody, with bad cuts happening in nearly every match, I guarantee you will see action to step in and regulate the sport because the commissions have failed to protect the fighters.

So how should the sport deal with this? I have an idea. I know some hardcore fans will not like it, but it is in the interest of the sport to have exciting fights with clear cut winners. My first suggestion is to force fighters to wear elbow pads. Boxers have to wear gloves so it just makes sense that cagefighters should have to wear elbow pads. This way elbows can still be used as a weapon but will not cause horrendous cuts. Secondly, bring knees back even if you mandate the use of knee pads. This will force fighters to get up and not turtle on the ground waiting for a referee stand-up. Plus the commissions will see that knees are really a lot less dangerous then elbows.