The "Pillow Fisted" Myth

[Druken_Vovchanchyn]

Name 5 ( no WMMA)

jake shields
ben askren
matt hughes
forest griffin
clay guida.

5 guys off the top of my head literally without even thinking about it. Pillow fists are real but the term is kind of lame lol

 

[Metallicalabran]

What da fuck are you talking about

In every combat sport there are fighters who can produce a fucking lot of power in almost every punch who can KO fighters from almost nothing

And you have fighters who can land a lot of hard punches, putting all his weight on it, and you can see they are trying to KO his opponent but they just can't

Boxing is much better to look at this, you can see a lot of interviews to some boxing legends and trainer, they always talk how some fighters hit you like a sledgehammer without even trying or without even putting so much weight behind it, some others can't produce any KO power.

Look at Ernie Shavers, Francis Ngannou, John Dodson, Johnny Hendricks, etc

In the right place, at the right moment anyone can KO anyone (Diaz vs Lawler, Bisping vs Rockhold), but everyone knows there are fighters that are consistently harder punchers

 

[Thenewguysnm1]

Just accept that even at featherweight Zabit is pillow fisted

 

[X^flottigliaMAS]

Go do some sparring and come back to us. I once sparred a fat guy (I’m 70 kg and he was around 100 kg) who was trying Muay Thai to lose weight. He had no technique but his shots were heavy! Trust me

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

Assuming a normal distribution (which is an assumption), roughly half of pro fighters will have below-average power, normed to the professional level of MMA and their weight class.

Probably about 16 percent will have noticeably less power (one SD worth) than their peers.

Some guys are legit pillow-fisted, just like some guys have weak TDD, or non-threatening guards, etc...

 

[Marc A]

jake shields
ben askren
matt hughes
forest griffin
clay guida.

5 guys off the top of my head literally without even thinking about it. Pillow fists are real but the term is kind of lame lol

Khabib is also pilllow fisted but very good at what he does

 

[Druken_Vovchanchyn]

Khabib is also pilllow fisted but very good at what he does

i would agree but he blasted conor who i feel has a pretty good chin..the other guys i cant eve remeber dropping ANYONE. i was trying to pick 5 that couldnt be disputed lol. Khabib even has 1 punch KTFO's on his record.

 

[Marc A]

i would agree but he blasted conor who i feel has a pretty good chin..the other guys i cant eve remeber dropping ANYONE. i was trying to pick 5 that couldnt be disputed lol. Khabib even has 1 punch KTFO's on his record.

Even Paulie knocked out a dude

And that punch had all the force yet didn't ko Conor
Which shows he lacks Ko power
I would add El Cucuy in there too

2 cardio guys with pillow fists

 

[fightfan70]

some guys throw heat (stephens)

some guys throw volume, or pillows. (zabit)

I have watched boxing all my life and have heard many times.

power cant be taught, you have it or you dont

 

[Marc A]

some guys throw heat (stephens)

some guys throw volume, or pillows. (zabit)

I have watched boxing all my life and have heard many times.

power cant be taught, you have it or you dont

Pretty much, but pillow fisted fighters can be very successful at the highest levels of the sport

 

[fightfan70]

Pretty much, but pillow fisted fighters can be very successful at the highest levels of the sport

absolutely.

doesn't make them a bad fighter, just not a knock out specialist.

look at holyfield vs Tyson.

or colin vs kabob.

 

[MPD-Psycho]

But but...precision beats power?

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

The problem is if you don't sit down on your punchers and be flat footed, then its very hard to knock guys out. People in MMA move a lot with the kicks and everything, and its difficult to knock people out like that. That was always Bisping's problem, he was always moving bouncing on the toes and he couldn't know people out, at the end of his career he was much more flat footed and was able to knock guys out because of it. IF Ngannou was bouncing on his toes or balls of his feet I bet he would struggle much more to knock guys out. you need to really plant your feet to get a great power on it.

 

[bambammccoy]

I'm 6'1, 180 lbs of muscle. I could probably take 3-5 good punches from Zabit, and I'm not a professional mma fighter. He could probably take me down to the ground quickly and submit me, but that's besides the point. Give me one clean punch on him and it's lights out. If it's a clean counter punch and he rolls against it, good luck waking him up before the morning cartoons tomorrow.

Jeremy Stephens on the other hand... 1 punch would send me flying. Don't see how Zabit pulls this off. He should curse his parents for giving him pillows for fists.

I'm 180 at 5'11 and I'm not a big guy. Been training for years and Zabit would smoke the both of us.

 

[0-1]

If a fighter you think is " pillow fisted" was trying to land a bomb to KO you flush and they landed it clean , you would be asleep.
.

ill just leave this hear timestamped.

 

[Cole train]

It's a real thing but is very over used. Hell I remember after the Kongo fight people were saying Cain had no power for years. Obviously silly and stupid. But there are guys like say Forrest Griffin that seem to have next to no power. In the Rashad fight He whooped his ass for 2 rounds but Shad just walked thru everything he threw until he managed to land a hard shot.

I still give forrest credit for even making in to top 10 back in those days.

Dude didnt have any physical talents but cardio and iron will (when hes heart was in it)

Also he was hilarious

 

[Shindig44]

Actually, that is not entirely true. Everybody who trains and has good technique has the ability to knock anyone out, but sometimes people just do not hit THAT hard and some people do. Some people also can take a shot a lot easier than others, so power is really subjective.

I am no professional fighter (I have trained boxing, Muy Thai and Jiu-jitsu for over 10 years now), but I would not be the least bit intimidated to throw strikes with Jake Shields.

 

[TheGreatA]

Some fighters cannot punch, it has been proven in boxing. There are 6'3+, 230+ lb heavyweights who have had 0 KO's, even over "tomato cans", despite being trained boxers. They just cannot produce any kind of fight-ending power whatsoever.

Check this guy out for example:

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/15802

This is relatively rare though. The average trained fighter will be able to produce enough power to hurt you.

Some fighters have very fragile hands though, so they refrain from using too much power.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

These guys call everyone pillowfisted because they have never been into a fight and took a punch to the face.

End thread

 

[Vil7]

Hmm how does that work? I'm interested. But what do I get out of it?

Coke & hookers.