Paddy Pimblett has said he would like the UFC to permit fighters to kick and knee the head of opponents on the ground.
Pimblett (23-3) — who will fight Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title on Jan. 24 — said he doesn’t want to see stomping the head allowed, but explained how kicking and using the knee in a certain way should be permitted.
“I don’t agree with stomping because your head has got nowhere to go,” Pimblett said on Tom Aspinall’s YouTube channel.
“But a soccer kick? Where someone is sitting in guard, and you can move their legs and kick them?
“Or knees to the head of a grounded opponent, when someone shoots a sloppy takedown just to get a break? You should be able to knee them in the head, Mark Kerr-style.”
Soccer kicks were permitted in the UFC until they were banned in 2000. In 2024, the ban on 12-6 elbows — when a fighter uses a straight up and down elbow strike on an opponent — was lifted.
Pimblett, who is considered one of the strongest grapplers in the UFC, said he likes the new rule where a grounded opponent is now defined as someone who has “any part of their body other than hands or feet” on the canvas, however he admitted he was still getting to grips with it.
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“I like the new rule where, if your hands are down, you can still knee. It’s still a bit confusing if the person puts their knee down,” Pimblett said in discussion with UFC interim heavyweight champion Aspinall.
“We’ve been training and working that. In certain positions, I’m kicking people in the face! I’m kneeing people in the face and volleying them up the middle!
“A few people [in the gym] have caught them. When I’ve got knee pads on, I am just kneeing and elbowing constantly.
“They are a game-changer, wearing knees and elbows pads, throwing little elbows and knees up the middle.”