Stephen Thompson Says Oblique Kicks Are Ending MMA Careers
Stephen Thompson said the oblique kick is still legal, and that is the problem. The former UFC title challenger told Full Mount the strike ruins knees, parks contenders for years, and belongs back in front of athletic commissions.
Thompson did not call the technique illegal. He said the opposite, then asked why it is still allowed.
“That’s one of the things too, this controversial right now, is that oblique kick,” Thompson said. “I don’t know why they call it the oblique kick, but I think that’s what damaged Shalkat.”
He meant Shavkat Rakhmonov. The undefeated Kazakh welterweight last fought on December 7, 2024, when he beat Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision at UFC 310. Rakhmonov has not been back since. He has said he entered that fight with a damaged knee, then needed multiple surgeries after it. Garry later posted footage of his oblique kicks and claimed he wrecked Rakhmonov’s career. Thompson used that layoff as his exhibit.
“You know, that thing ruins careers,” Thompson said. “I know it’s such a debatable topic.”
He put himself on the receiving end of the same strike and pointed to Darren Till, who has discussed it in recent interviews.
“And being on the receiving end, I think Aaron Till talked about it in one of his interviews here recently,” Thompson said. “I was on the receiving end of it. And I was like, man, they didn’t get rid of this thing because it could end careers. And it’s doing that right now.”
The host brought up Nursulton Ruziboev, who needed knee surgery after taking the kick from Michael Page. He also cited Khalil Rountree Jr. stopping Modestas Bukauskas with a stamp to the knee, an injury that kept Bukauskas out for more than a year. Thompson agreed those are the long-term costs commissions should be weighing.
“Yeah, I mean, as of right now, it’s a legal technique,” Thompson said. “But we got to go back to the drawing board and be like, you know what? Yes, I want to go out there and I want to win this fight, but I don’t want to end guys’ careers.”
That is the line that matters. He is not asking fighters to stop competing. He is asking them, and the people who write the Unified Rules, to stop treating a joint-destroying kick as just another range tool.
“There’s just something sinister about that,” he said.
He returned to Rakhmonov before the clip ended.
“I mean, look at Shavkat Rakhmonov right now,” Thompson said. “Look where he’s at. When’s the last time that he’s fought? I mean, he’s still dealing with these injuries that he had when he fought Ian.”
Rakhmonov is 19-0. He submitted Thompson at UFC 296 in December 2023, then beat Garry a year later and disappeared into rehab. People around him have talked about a possible 2027 return. Thompson’s point was simpler. An unbeaten title threat is on the shelf because of knee damage that the current rules still allow.
“So I think we should go back,” he said. “There should be some state athletic commissions talking about this because you’re going to have more and more people doing it. And you’re going to see more people’s careers ended because or sitting on the sidelines for years to come because of these injuries. I mean, Shavkat could be champion right now, but he can’t because of his injuries.”
Commissions are already in that conversation. California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster said after UFC 331 that he wants lateral knee kicks reviewed as a foul. Dana White said he does not disagree. Foster has argued the kick can wreck the ligaments behind the knee and leave a fighter dealing with it long after the paycheck is gone. Thompson’s interview adds a fighter who has been hit with it and watched a former opponent stall because of it.
Nothing in the clip changes the rulebook tonight. Oblique kicks remain legal. What Thompson put on record is that the people who use them, and the people who regulate them, should stop pretending the damage is theoretical. Rakhmonov’s empty 2025 and 2026 calendar is the argument he wants commissions to hear next.
