There's is no 'Thu'um code' and Ulfric obviously does not follow the Way of the Voice. Thu'um meanwhile is thoroughly ingrained in Nord tradition, and you can bet it's a part of traditional Nord duels. The claim that he 'cheated' because he had thu'um and Torygg did not is ludicrous to me.
It seems highly unlikely to me someone without thu'um would've been able to become Jarl in the old days of Skyrim, let alone High King. If Ulfric intends to hearken back to those days he proved his point exactly by using his thu'um, despite Torygg not standing a chance regardless.
He learned with the Greybeards, but left them when the Great War started. Then again, there's nothing against using the Thu'um in duels, ancient nords used to practice It, It's like forbidding magic to fight.
Then again, Ulfric out of the two leaders is the only one who fights to death and asks you to kill him. Tullius hides and tries to forfeit.