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After Edmen Shahbazyan complained mid-fight at UFC 331 about his opponent's legal knee-targeting side kicks, California's top combat-sports regulator Andy Foster is now pushing to reclassify "oblique kicks" as fouls — even though they're legal under the current unified rules and typically only banned in gyms during sparring. Foster wants to sort fouls into "incidental, reckless, or malicious" categories instead of today's intent-based system. Overdue protection for fighters' knees, or a rule change chasing one fighter's in-cage complaint?

The technique is currently legal in competition even though most gyms ban it in sparring.