To clear up the confusion of the illegal elbow rule by "Striking downward using the point of the elbow" as it is worded from UFC.com.
The elbow can not be thrown vertically(from ceiling to floor) with the fighter's fist at 12 o'clock and his elbow at 6 o'clock.
Take your own arm and flex your bicep like you would to ask some broad at the beach if she has seen your beach ball. Notice how your fist is at 12 and your elbow is at 6. Now throwing an elbow straight down in this position is illegal.
Take this fight for example that was in Pride. During the Mark Kerr vs Branko Cikatic fight, Branko throws illegal elbows to Kerr's back and neck at about 2:48 of the video.
These elbows are the kind that are illegal.
I hope I cleared this up for some of you.
I wish they'd take elbows out just because 1/2 the mma fan base is too stupid to realize what's legal and what's not.
The 12 to 6 rule is retarded because it is meaningless without a reference axis. Pilots etc. don't use 12 o'clock to mean that at all. All they needed to say is vertical relative to the ground, not vertical relative to the fighter's body. Poor communication skills.