Tyler

Okay, please excuse my ignorance here, but this has my curiosity:

Is punching in the front of the neck illegal? And if not, then why don't fighters do it?

To me, it seems like it'd hurt like hell.. pressing my neck with my first right now, it's so unprotected and hurts...

You'd think it'd be illegal because of crushing one's windpipe with it..

And if it is illegal, how come you don't see more accidental punches there? For example, you see accidental low blows, but not in the neck.. and when guys are aiming for the chin, you'd think it'd be easy to miss and hit the neck..

The Termifedor

That's a good question. I have never seen a rule against it but I would guess that most fighters don't want to risk doing something that (as you pointed out) could crush the windpipe.

JDiggy

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=LearnUFC.Rules

11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.

No idea why you don't see any accidental punches there.

The Termifedor

It must not be illegal in Pride because I watched the fight between Yoshida and Tamura last night and Yoshida hit Tamura flush in the throat and they didn't say anything about it.

Aside from that it is definitely rare to see it happen.

Tyler

Thanks. Yeah, I thought it had to be illegal...

It's kind of scarey though.. because on a street fight if you know how to strike, getting one good blow there can kill somebody by crushing their windpipe... :S

JDiggy

Yea I remember having to do a self defense class in gym and while going over punches the teacher kept telling us to hit them in the throat, cause that'll seriously injure them enough that you can get away or kill them. Then of course he had to do a demonstration and he chose me, I was so scared he'd accidently hit me in the throat as hard as he could and kill me lol.