At what point does a longer reach become a disadvantage?

[WeirdFacts]

So we have all seen it, before every fight if someone has a longer reach, the announcers will of course declare it as a reach advantage. The reason is clear as well, easier to keep your opponent at bay, maintain safe distance and land blows from outside of the opponent's reach.

When does this become a disadvantage though? Is a lanky guy easier to tie up on the ground? Those long arms must be quite hard to get free if your opponent has them pinned down well. Also the leverages will make it very strenuous to your muscles.

What about if your reach is considerable longer than your opponent's and the shorter reach opponent keeps fighting in the pocket? You couldn't throw any meaningful shots if you are cramped up like an NBA player in a smart car.

 

[jojoRed]

When you cant use it like Struve.

A longer reach is almost always preferred unless in the pocket in boxing. In MMA however, you can use elbows like Jon Jones or like Ortega did against Frankie.

 

[cevo]

People with extremely long reach are usually built like stick figures (Neil Magny, Cole Miller etc) which is awful when grappling. That's the biggest problem I think.

 

[AimedWithV]

People with extremely long reach are usually built like stick figures (Neil Magny, Cole Miller etc) which is awful when grappling. That's the biggest problem I think.

You mentioned two good grapplers. One wrestler and one BJJ player.

 

[jonathan274]

So we have all seen it, before every fight if someone has a longer reach, the announcers will of course declare it as a reach advantage. The reason is clear as well, easier to keep your opponent at bay, maintain safe distance and land blows from outside of the opponent's reach.

When does this become a disadvantage though? Is a lanky guy easier to tie up on the ground? Those long arms must be quite hard to get free if your opponent has them pinned down well. Also the leverages will make it very strenuous to your muscles.

What about if your reach is considerable longer than your opponent's and the shorter reach opponent keeps fighting in the pocket? You couldn't throw any meaningful shots if you are cramped up like an NBA player in a smart car.

If your opponent closes the gap - in the clinch, etc

 

[cevo]

You mentioned two good grapplers. One wrestler and one BJJ player.

Watch Neil's fight against RDA. Even RDA himself mentioned how easy it is to control tall and lanky guys afterwards. Maybe I should have said wrestling instead, because playing from your back in MMA is worthless if you're not the very elite in jiujutsu.

So my answer to the question in the topic is that longer reach itself rarely is a disadvantage, but being too thin is (which correlates with longer arms and legs obviously).

 

[Fight Professor]

When your arms are so long you have trouble lifting them up.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

People with extremely long reach are usually built like stick figures (Neil Magny, Cole Miller etc) which is awful when grappling. That's the biggest problem I think.

I tend to disagree, I think reach is very useful grappling especially in the Jitz dept.

Long legs snatch triangles a lot easier because you are able to lock it behind the knee instead of having to assist with the hands to make the same figure-4 lock.

Long arms are awesome in the front headlock position as you can go from guillotines right into anacondas and darces pretty easy also making the figure-4 lock rather easily.

Takedowns are not really seen with the lanky guys except for Bones, and when he does hit them all the wrestlers cannot do anything about it and say his length gives them problems and gives him leverage.

Super long athletes start to get uncoordinated like centers in the NBA. Other tall\lanky dudes just dont favor the wrestling, Neil Magney will wrestle though.

 

[quantiqus]

You mentioned two good grapplers. One wrestler and one BJJ player.

When you cant use it like Struve.

A longer reach is almost always preferred unless in the pocket in boxing. In MMA however, you can use elbows like Jon Jones or like Ortega did against Frankie.

Well, Struve is in UFC because he is very tall and because he has a very long reach.
Without these two attributes, he would be fighter in a smaller org. No, not Bellator.

 

[Ghost in the Dark]

It depends on your body type and fighting style. Longer reach is only an advantage if those match up well. Even if they do match up well at some point you will be so skinny that you won't have enough power and speed to be effective.

 

[CleverNameEh]

L

So we have all seen it, before every fight if someone has a longer reach, the announcers will of course declare it as a reach advantage. The reason is clear as well, easier to keep your opponent at bay, maintain safe distance and land blows from outside of the opponent's reach.

When does this become a disadvantage though? Is a lanky guy easier to tie up on the ground? Those long arms must be quite hard to get free if your opponent has them pinned down well. Also the leverages will make it very strenuous to your muscles.

What about if your reach is considerable longer than your opponent's and the shorter reach opponent keeps fighting in the pocket? You couldn't throw any meaningful shots if you are cramped up like an NBA player in a smart car.

Long reach is a huge advantage if you are skilled at keeping them at your ideal range.

It becomes a huge disadvantage if you let them inside your range, up close.

 

[cevo]

I tend to disagree, I think reach is very useful grappling especially in the Jitz dept.

Long legs snatch triangles a lot easier because you are able to lock it behind the knee instead of having to assist with the hands to make the same figure-4 lock.

Long arms are awesome in the front headlock position as you can go from guillotines right into anacondas and darces pretty easy also making the figure-4 lock rather easily.

Takedowns are not really seen with the lanky guys except for Bones, and when he does hit them all the wrestlers cannot do anything about it and say his length gives them problems and gives him leverage.

Super long athletes start to get uncoordinated like centers in the NBA. Other tall\lanky dudes just dont favor the wrestling, Neil Magney will wrestle though.

Jones would have been an amazing wrestling regardless of height, this thing about his "leverage" is exaggerated in my opinion. Also he is a lot thicker than guys like Magny, and extremely strong despite having chicken legs.

Long limbs is useful in jiujutsu yes, but submissions is not something most fighters can rely on, on the highest level. Being able to stuff takedowns and getting up from your back is much more important. So for that reason it's better to not be extremely tall for your division.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

During inside fighting.

The longer your reach the longer it takes for your punch to return after throwing it.

 

[Mr. Hammer]

Only when the person doesn't know how to adequately use it ie Struve.

 

[Shaddows]

So we have all seen it, before every fight if someone has a longer reach, the announcers will of course declare it as a reach advantage. The reason is clear as well, easier to keep your opponent at bay, maintain safe distance and land blows from outside of the opponent's reach.

When does this become a disadvantage though? Is a lanky guy easier to tie up on the ground? Those long arms must be quite hard to get free if your opponent has them pinned down well. Also the leverages will make it very strenuous to your muscles.

What about if your reach is considerable longer than your opponent's and the shorter reach opponent keeps fighting in the pocket? You couldn't throw any meaningful shots if you are cramped up like an NBA player in a smart car.

It all depends how good you are at using it.
Just look at Jon Jones and how he uses his reach and Struve, how he fucks it up

 

[LastingEffect]

People with extremely long reach are usually built like stick figures (Neil Magny, Cole Miller etc) which is awful when grappling. That's the biggest problem I think.

Long legs bad for grappling?

 

[LastingEffect]

NBA player in a smart car.

I see what you did there.

 

[WeirdFacts]

I see what you did there.

What did I do? Just thought an NBA player would look funny in a small car with their knees up to their mouth while driving. Is there some joke there that I'm not seeing?

 

[IGotAHugePeckah]

Reach is only an advantage if the fighter is skilled enough and chooses to use it. Look at guys like Struve and Overeem, they never had any clue how to use it.

 

[JackSchtotll]

At Struve's point.