Open palm " jabbing " should be a foul.

For clarification I mean open handed jabs when striking on the feet.

I've noticed many range fighters like to paw out their lead hand with their hand open/fingers extended. This is used to gain a little bit more range and control but is also a constant threat of an eye poke. A large portion the of eye pokes we see in MMA are from a fighter pawing with an open hand and the other guy trying to get inside the reach and running into a finger.

I know refs will warn about it if you make contact on the face but that isn't enough. It's an unfair advantage for the rangier fighter to keep his opponent at an extra distance with the threat of an eye poke.

Another thing with an open hand is it's much harder to get inside of. Unlike a jab you can just hover your hand in front of the opponents face, making it nearly impossible to slip and makes it a huge risk of getting poked in the eye if you come forward.

I know one argument is going to be that no, because eye pokes are already illegal. Problem is since pawing with an open hand is a legal move, eye pokes are almost ALWAYS going to be ruled accidental, even though the the person who eye poked was using it specifically to gain an extra range and distance control advantage.

Just to clarify I'm advocating for it to be a foul for you to put your fingers in someones face period, regardless of whether it results in an eye poke. Also with this way any time an eye poke occurs it's also ruled a foul, because you broke to rules of having an open hand in an opponents face.

 

you also open the hand to grab behind the head.

i think they should wear mittens!

 

Cro cop done this for years but no one really ever talks about it

 

For the clinch? There are some guys in thailand who wear enclosed gloves and they seem to do ok in the clinch.

 

Good well thought out post but no.

You cannot take away an effective move used for distancing just because of accidental circumstances involved with it.

 

I think there's a difference between fighters who paw to gauge their range and fighters who use their range to shove a hand in their face to keep their opponent from closing the distance.

Example of the first would be Gomi. He paws a lot to find range and set up his power punches. Examples of the latter would be Jones, who uses his lengthy arms to keep his opponent from being able to close distance and set up take downs, or get on the inside.

Both are legal IMO. If they accidentally eye gouge, that's on them and they risk being DQ'ed.

 

funny, because i've never seen anybody do this.


now, if you mean posting with an open hand to control distance, then you might be on to something.

 

I have no problem with pawing to find your range, boxers do it all the time. Paw with your damn hand closed though. Otherwise you're creating an unfair advantage with the threat of an eyepoke.

 

No matter what they ban or foul Jones will still win. He's just better than the average fighter. People need to come to terms with that.

 

I think face palming is a bigger problem.

 

wut?

 

It's more than just to find range for punches though. It's also to initiate the clinch.

 

are you saying they should keep closed fist while initiating the plum?

 

It will take a huge fight getting stopped from an eyepoke due to this "technique" that boxers do with boxing gloves before anything will change. But I agree that sticking your fingers in someone's face in an effort to create distance should not be allowed, but good luck on this thread.

 

You don't need your hand open until you are actually at the back of the head. Thai fighters and kick boxers have been able to initiate the clinch just fine since the conception of it without having extended fingers/open hands.

You punch like you normally do and if you are at the back of the head then you grab. It's what thai fighters do. If you're trying to initiate the thai clinch coming in with your hand wide open you're doing it wrong.

 

Jones is the worst offender of this. He puts his go go gadget arms out there with fingers extended right at the other fighters eyes so if they step in to close the gap and throw a punch, they get an "unintentional" eye poke. BS, imo.

 

Yea.. because they dont' wear open fingered gloves.

 

Refs usually warn fighter for sticking their hand forward without holding their fingers together.

 

Because it is only worth mentioning since Jon Jones destroyed all of their favorite PRIDE fighters. Fighters from PRIDE (CroCop) can do this with no backlash.

 

thai fighters and kickboxers are wearing gloves.

mma fighters use their hands. in all kinds of ways to gain advantage. they push your head. they pull your head. they push your face. they grab. it's part of the sport. you can't intentionally poke someone's eye.