Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen floated the idea of a rule change after a slam KO at UFC Vegas 109.
Toshiomi Kazama fell to 1-3 in the Octagon after he went for a triangle choke on bantamweight prospect Elijah Smith on Saturday.
Smith, the 22-year-old son of former UFC fighter Gilbert Smith, picked up and slammed Kazama on his head for a brutal knockout, then proceeded to unload two more punches on his already unconscious opponent.
Kazama was out for several minutes and finally got up onto his stool after the post-fight interview began. He was later hospitalized, and his CT scans came back negative.
Following the knockout, there has been talk in the MMA world on whether or not slams should be allowed since strikes to the back of the head are illegal.
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Daniel Cormier addresses if slams should be banned from UFC
Former title challenger Sonnen mentioned that slams are illegal in jiu-jitsu competitions across California because the action of a head hitting a canvas is ruled a ‘blow’.
Former UFC double-champion Cormier says he wouldn’t be mad if the UFC banned slams after last weekend.
“There are very few rules that you have to follow, right?” Cormier said on Good Guy / Bad Guy.
“One is you can’t hit him behind the head. You hit him behind the head, that’s the biggest no-no. But if you slam him, what hits first, Chael? The back of the head.
“So there’s a reason we don’t get the punch behind the back of the head. So if I’m being honest, like, I don’t know that I would be opposed to that being done away with, especially in that fashion,” Cormier continued.
“It was like the Undertaker, Kevin Nash, Big Daddy Cool, Diesel, The Razor’s Edge. It was every finishing move you’ve ever seen, all in one. So, while slamming the person right down on their head is legal, I would probably say I would not be too mad if they did away with that.
“The impact on the back of the head is crazy. In most cases, that becomes the story of the night,” Cormier said of slam knockouts like Elijah Smith’s.
How Elijah Smith felt after slamming Toshiomi Kazama for KO
Smith let out a scream and said ‘I told y’all’ after knocking out Kazama at the UFC Apex.
After the fight, Smith showed sympathy for Kazama, who was ‘glad to be alive’.
“I was so hype and everything. And [then] I was like, damn, he hasn’t moved in a second. Maybe I should calm down,” Smith said on the Ariel Helwani Show.
“Even Dylan, my corner man, he was trying to tell me to calm down because he was still down. I was like, yeah, you’re right. Let me give him his, his time and space. [Like] this is definitely starting to get concerning.
“But once I saw that he was breathing and he was up, I was like, okay, now I can go back to having a good time.
“I’m happy that I saw that,” Smith said of the picture of Kazama eating at a Five Guys restaurant.
“When I got back to the hotel room, I was thinking to myself, I was starting to feel a little bit bad.
I was like, damn, that was, that was crazy. Sometimes I scare myself, man. Some of the things I do in the cage, but it’s just part of my job. And I told everybody I’m trying to get that 50k bonus, and I got it…”