My petition to allow gloveless MMA in PA to reduce brain trauma

[Spaghetta]

Hey all,

I'm trying to promote a petition I started to have the PA State Athletic Commission allow a gloveless MMA promotion and pave the way for that change. I'm doing this with the goal of fighter safety. Any support or criticism is appreciated, the petition isn't entirely complete and I'm open to wording changes. Thanks

https://www.change.org/p/pa-state-a...to-allow-gloveless-mma-to-reduce-brain-injury

 

[FKA]

Dumb idea.....

More broken hands and worse facial cuts still brain trauma regardless it' a contact sport.

Gloves are a part of fighter safety.

 

[Spaghetta]

Dumb idea.....

More broken hands and worse facial cuts still brain trauma regardless it' a contact sport.

Gloves are a part of fighter safety.

You absolutely have reduced rates of brain trauma without gloves, agreed you will have an increase in superficial cuts, but that is less of a problem than permanent brain injury.

 

[Koniradi98]

I am not sure if I get the Idea behind this, so you think that without gloves fighters would grapple more because hitting someone would hurt ?

Wouldn't this be just some kind of grappling competition then? or it would end in bareknuckle boxing (what would be even worse when it goes about brain damage).

 

[Phrozenspite]

I am not sure if I get the Idea behind this, so you think that without gloves fighters would grapple more because hitting someone would hurt ?

Wouldn't this be just some kind of grappling competition then? or it would end in bareknuckle boxing (what would be even worse when it goes about brain damage).

I'm guessing OP is thinking it might be like old pancrase, or some TMA type competitions where people can't throw as many full strength blows due to the risk of obliterating their hand.

On topic, i think you should pursue the idea as something else other than calling it MMA, Bare knuckle is going to seem barbaric to the commissions image wise and dredge up that whole debate

 

[MaxMMA]

I like where you're going with this, but I highly doubt any athletic commission anywhere is going to sanction MMA with no gloves. Your petition needs some more data and the history of boxing gloves would probably help as well.

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

The irony is that you're probably right, TS (that gloveless MMA would do less significant long-term damage), but the problem is most people will perceive it the opposite way, and think you'd be trying to make it more violent / primitive (since bareknuckle is a more brutal presentation on surface).

 

[Reality]

Never liked gloves and wrist taping from a competition perspective, it gives an advantage to strikers and a disadvantage to grapplers. Remember gloves were not originally worn for safety, Tank Abbott started wearing gloves because it helped him hit harder. Other people followed and it became the standard with strikers, and eventually the standard for MMA.

The wrist is flexible, and restricting that flexibility with wrist tape and gloves takes a lot less technique to achieve maximum effect. Also the protection of gloves allows a person to punch ad nauseam, without the natural restrictions of the human body. In other words its a performance enhancer.

Any restriction of gloves, even from a safety concern, is going to be opposed by MMA orgs. Gloves allow Ground and Pound to be possible, and Ground and Pound is popular. We would get a lot more submissions and ground work, which is less popular. And it would reduce knock outs and so called "stand up wars". Many champions would not be champions, and people would have to fundamentally change their styles to compete. Even though would be more, realistic, safe, and sporting - Not going to happen. Hope it works out.

 

[leto1776]

Brain damage occurs from taking thousands of blows to the head. The "C" in CTE stands for CHRONIC, meaning happening repeatedly over a long period of time. Fighters may get hit pretty hard during fights, but the real damage occurs from thousands of rounds of sparring in the gym.

 

[Phrozenspite]

Never liked gloves and wrist taping from a competition perspective, it gives an advantage to strikers and a disadvantage to grapplers. Remember gloves were not originally worn for safety, Tank Abbott started wearing gloves because it helped him hit harder. Other people followed and it became the standard with strikers, and eventually the standard for MMA.

The wrist is flexible, and restricting that flexibility with wrist tape and gloves takes a lot less technique to achieve maximum effect. Also the protection of gloves allows a person to punch ad nauseam, without the natural restrictions of the human body. In other words its a performance enhancer.

Any restriction of gloves, even from a safety concern, is going to be opposed by MMA orgs. Gloves allow Ground and Pound to be possible, and Ground and Pound is popular. We would get a lot more submissions and ground work, which is less popular. And it would reduce knock outs and so called "stand up wars". Many champions would not be champions, and people would have to fundamentally change their styles to compete. Even though would be more, realistic, safe, and sporting - Not going to happen. Hope it works out.

this, the ancestor to the modern MMA and boxing glove is the Cestus which was considered a weapon.

I'd also add to the OP's theory about reducing brain trauma. I'd be curious to see the research for TBI, because my understanding is that it isn't necessarily the concussions in the NFL but the repeated blows to the head. I guess what I'm getting at is that if people aren't punching as often at full strength there may be less concussive force which produces KO or knockdowns, but that might lead to more palm strikes and lighter punches with numbers like a nick diaz fight that could be worse for something like CTE

 

[tekkenfan]

Dumb idea.....

More broken hands and worse facial cuts still brain trauma regardless it' a contact sport.

Gloves are a part of fighter safety.

this.. as a professional fighter we just need better gloves pride gloves were amazing who ever broke there hands n pride? gloveless mma helps grapplers alot which is good but youll see crazy eye pokes deadly eye gouging would ensue not a good idea man

 

[tekkenfan]

Brain damage occurs from taking thousands of blows to the head. The "C" in CTE stands for CHRONIC, meaning happening repeatedly over a long period of time. Fighters may get hit pretty hard during fights, but the real damage occurs from thousands of rounds of sparring in the gym.

if training right u dont get hurt n gym iv never been koed in the gym i wear winning head gear and gloves it helps alottttt

 

[Gerald Ford]

Hey all,

I'm trying to promote a petition I started to have the PA State Athletic Commission allow a gloveless MMA promotion and pave the way for that change. I'm doing this with the goal of fighter safety. Any support or criticism is appreciated, the petition isn't entirely complete and I'm open to wording changes. Thanks

https://www.change.org/p/pa-state-a...to-allow-gloveless-mma-to-reduce-brain-injury

. This interesting cause I’ve been hearing a lot about this stuff lately, Joe Rogan has a podcast where they talk about how with a glove you can pound someone’s skull in and not stop til someone stops you, but if your bare knuckle you will limit your striking cause of your hand being hurt.

 

[teddy078]

This needs an additional rule: Only open hand strikes are allowed to the head.

Otherwise, gloveless will introduce more cuts in return makes the fight looks more barbarous.

Those commissions care how fights looks more than safety of fighters.

 

[Phrozenspite]

. This interesting cause I’ve been hearing a lot about this stuff lately, Joe Rogan has a podcast where they talk about how with a glove you can pound someone’s skull in and not stop til someone stops you, but if your bare knuckle you will limit your striking cause of your hand being hurt.

Yeah. most of the bones in your hand are really fragile. The wraps help to brace the form and distribute the impact, the same with the glove. It's kind of like how a bed of nails works, because the weight is distributed when someone lies on it there isn't any injury that occurs.

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Dude, you need to get educated on combat sports before you attempt such a petition.

 

[Spaghetta]

Dude, you need to get educated on combat sports before you attempt such a petition.

Educate me then.

 

[Spaghetta]

I'm guessing OP is thinking it might be like old pancrase, or some TMA type competitions where people can't throw as many full strength blows due to the risk of obliterating their hand.

On topic, i think you should pursue the idea as something else other than calling it MMA, Bare knuckle is going to seem barbaric to the commissions image wise and dredge up that whole debate

Yea I called "Gloveless" for that reason, bare-knuckle sounds bad. Any suggestions on the image issue?

I like where you're going with this, but I highly doubt any athletic commission anywhere is going to sanction MMA with no gloves. Your petition needs some more data and the history of boxing gloves would probably help as well.

I have data available, I'm trying to compile it in a more appealing way.

The irony is that you're probably right, TS (that gloveless MMA would do less significant long-term damage), but the problem is most people will perceive it the opposite way, and think you'd be trying to make it more violent / primitive (since bareknuckle is a more brutal presentation on surface).

Hopefully data on the subject will change the perception.

Brain damage occurs from taking thousands of blows to the head. The "C" in CTE stands for CHRONIC, meaning happening repeatedly over a long period of time. Fighters may get hit pretty hard during fights, but the real damage occurs from thousands of rounds of sparring in the gym.

You won't be getting hit nearly as hard without a glove. Knuckle on skull doesn't encourage hard hits

This needs an additional rule: Only open hand strikes are allowed to the head.

Otherwise, gloveless will introduce more cuts in return makes the fight looks more barbarous.

Those commissions care how fights looks more than safety of fighters.

That's pretty close to Combat Jiu Jitsu but you're probably right

Yeah. most of the bones in your hand are really fragile. The wraps help to brace the form and distribute the impact, the same with the glove. It's kind of like how a bed of nails works, because the weight is distributed when someone lies on it there isn't any injury that occurs.

Exactly, you won't see many full force punches to the head, the risk of breaking your hand should be enough to discourage that.

 

[TheFakeMacoy]

You're probably right TS, in that you definitely can't punch full force wildly at someone without gloves. However, the catch would be that it would look more barbarous to the public, and fights would change drastically. Striking would be more deliberate, and you wouldn't see the same action.

 

[Spaghetta]

You're probably right TS, in that you definitely can't punch full force wildly at someone without gloves. However, the catch would be that it would look more barbarous to the public, and fights would change drastically. Striking would be more deliberate, and you wouldn't see the same action.

I certainly agree it would be more niche, but I think for people who really appreciate the sport it would be a good change. Having the option at least is what's important, I think fighters should be able to choose what they think it right for them.