Question for grapplers about mma gloves

[Borass]

Hello everyone,

Question about mma gloves in grappling. Do you think wearing mma gloves prevent you from having 100% efficienty in your grappling ?

Do you think that MMA bareknuckled would make bjj prevail again ?

 

[EGDM]

I think removing gloves would favor grappling in general because strikers would be less likely to headhunt at the cost of breaking their hands. We'd probably see a bump in RNC finishes. As far as why it seems like "BJJ is not prevailing", a few thoughts:

It IS dominant. EVERYONE knowns submission and submission defense. Those who don't, get subbed. This isn't the 90's where a sizeable fraction of the competitors were ignorant of submissions. The world knows that submissions are deadly. But offense is harder than defense, everyone knows defense, so we see less terminal offense. This doesn't mean that sub grappling isn't dominant, just that the playing field is more level.

The far larger problem is the wrestling/takedown deficiency in submission grapplers. If you can't take your opponent down, a guy with good defensive wrestling and decent submission defense can keep the fight playing out on the feet. I don't think gloves do much here.

 

[Normot]

Gloves absolutely make my grappling worse. Hard to sneak in an RNC for example when there is all this extra padding around your hands.

 

[randomg1t]

gloves change the game and make it more difficult to perform certain techniques in much the same way that rolling with a gi does.

it's a lot harder to land a nice clean RNC in gi than it is in nogi... but you can still get good at it, and people do win gi matches via RNC.

as for BJJ not prevailing... every MMA fighter at the top has a good ground game, or they eventually get put to sleep by someone who does. last week's title fight is a very nice demonstration of that.

 

[Borass]

Thanks for your answers ! Egdm, i was talking about grappling in general ( clinch, takedown, trips etc... )not only submissions and ground. Don t you think mma gloves also prevent wrestlers from being more efficient ?

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Gloves change the game, rnc with gloves is quite hard to pull it up not hitting it in a transition, if the guy who’s defending knows what he’s doing... in return, gloves make Armbars from guard much easy to pull it off.

 

[Dece]

Not just the gloves, also the handwrapping makes the gripping harder.

 

[RemyR]

It’s harder if you’re just grappling. As mentioned sinking a RNC among other stuff can be difficult. To make this easier throw some punches. Use strikes to set up subs. You start striking someone and they’re going to react. Try to capitalize on it.

 

[Whitebeltatlife]

MMA gloves are also one of the few reasons why wrist locks aren't seen more in MMA - even toeholds are harder due to the curve.

 

[The Half Blood Prince]

I think removing gloves would favor grappling in general because strikers would be less likely to headhunt at the cost of breaking their hands. We'd probably see a bump in RNC finishes. As far as why it seems like "BJJ is not prevailing", a few thoughts:

It IS dominant. EVERYONE knowns submission and submission defense. Those who don't, get subbed. This isn't the 90's where a sizeable fraction of the competitors were ignorant of submissions. The world knows that submissions are deadly. But offense is harder than defense, everyone knows defense, so we see less terminal offense. This doesn't mean that sub grappling isn't dominant, just that the playing field is more level.

The far larger problem is the wrestling/takedown deficiency in submission grapplers. If you can't take your opponent down, a guy with good defensive wrestling and decent submission defense can keep the fight playing out on the feet. I don't think gloves do much here.

Also in the UFC 5 minute rounds, ref stand ups and automatic stand up of fights after each round reduces the chances of submissions

 

[DoctorTaco]

I’ve got a kid I used to corner who didn’t want his gloves taped up tight bc you’re allowed to grab your own gloves and he was hoping for the chance to hit a Ezekiel choke in one of his fights

 

[Normot]

Thanks for your answers ! Egdm, i was talking about grappling in general ( clinch, takedown, trips etc... )not only submissions and ground. Don t you think mma gloves also prevent wrestlers from being more efficient ?

Yes. They all things grip related are affected to some extend. However cage wrestling without gloves is surprisingly fucking awful on the back of your hands.