Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe that the recent move to legalise 12-6 elbow strikes in mixed martial arts benefits the sport.

In November, and per a recent ruling by the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC), so-called 12-6 elbows (downward strikes resembling the 12 and 6 numbers on a clock) will be permitted in the Unified Rules of MMA — so long as each individual state regulation committee approves the change.

The most widely known instance of 12-6 elbows being used in a fight were the strikes thrown by Jon Jones against Matt Hamill in their bout in 2009 which led to Jones’ disqualification. To date, it is the only loss on Jones’ career ledger.

And former two-weight world champion Cormier isn’t a fan of the change, and says that it reverts the sport to an era from which the sport had to extricate itself from in order to secure mainstream acceptance.

“I don’t like that,” he said of the change on the ‘Funky and the Champ‘ podcast with Ben Askren, as noted by MMA Junkie.

“I don’t like 12-to-6 elbows, and I don’t like soccer kicks. I do not want to see soccer kicks,” Cormier added. “Here’s my thought: When I was fighting ‘Rumble’ Johnson, you couldn’t [use a 12-6 elbow], but if you do a little bit of an arch, it’s OK. So, I was able to cut ‘Rumble’ with an arching elbow, but it really did come straight down. It was very little in terms of not being straight up and down.

“I just don’t want anything that makes fighting look like a street fight. That’s it. John McCain, before he passed, was against fighting because he said ‘it’s human cockfighting.’ Then they would show these videos of gang fights, people running around and people on the ground, and they would kick them in the face. If we get to soccer kicks, it starts to look like that again, and that’s not good.

“I don’t care as much about 12-6 elbows, but I think the moment we start opening those rules again, then it’s going to be more and more and more, and ultimately we’ll get back to soccer kicks.”