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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.
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.