UFC 315: Athletic commission bans rarely seen technique for MMA card

If foot stomps were an important part of Belal Muhammad or Jack Della Maddalena’s UFC 315 game plan, they’re going to be disappointed.

UFC 315 goes down this Saturday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Australian striking specialist Della Maddalena will challenge Palestinian-American welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in the main event.

The card will be sanctioned by the Quebec Athletic Commission. The commission, which is among the busiest combat sports regulators in Canada, will be using the Unified Rules of MMA — with one small adjustment.

Foot stomps will not be allowed.

Canadian MMA journalist Aaron Bronsteter broke the the situation down on X.

“I’m told that the Quebec Athletic Commission will be utilizing the unified rules of MMA for UFC 315 with one notable exception,” he wrote. “Foot stomps will not be permitted.

“They’ve been banned in Quebec since they have regulated the sport for some reason,” he added.

It’s definitely a bit strange that that foot stomps will not be allowed at UFC 315. The technique is quite ineffective in terms of causing damage, and is used more as a way to annoy or deter a rival fighter in clinch situations. The good news is that its ineffectiveness also makes it very uncommon. We seldom ever see foot stomps in the Octagon. That means that it’s very unlikely anybody on the UFC 315 bill was actually planning on using the technique. That said, it will be considered a foul if anybody slips up and does so. Not that fouls are taken very seriously in MMA…

See the full UFC 315 fight card below:

UFC 315 Main Card | 10 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+

170 lbs.: Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena (UFC welterweight championship)
125 lbs.: Valentina Shevchenko vs. Manon Fiorot (UFC flyweight championship)
145 lbs.: Jose Aldo vs. Aiemann Zahabi
155 lbs.: Benoit Saint-Denis vs. Kyle Prepolec
125 lbs.: Alex Grasso vs. Natalia Silva

UFC 315 Prelims  | 8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+

170 lbs.: Mike Malott vs. Charlie Radtke
125 lbs.: Jessica Andrade vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
205 lbs.: Modestas Bukauskas vs. Ion Cutelaba
205 lbs.: Navajo Stirling vs. Ivan Erslan
185 lbs.: Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Bruno Silva
145 lbs.: Daniel Santos vs. Jeong Yeong Lee
135 lbs.: Brad Katona vs. Bekzat Almakhan