Media UFC gloves lead to more eyepokes study says.

[Crazy Librarian]

Eye pokes in MMA were discussed at the 2022 Association of Ringside Physicians in Las Vegas recently (per Combat Sports Law). During that discussion data was presented showing how the rate of pokes differed based on the gloves being worn at the time.

The study that was shared at the conference was presented by ARP President Dr. John Neidecker, who is a ringside physician. The study included research by Neidecker, Jared Bukowski, Vijay Kurup and Bobby O’Donnell.

For their study, the researchers analyzed fights in the UFC, Bellator and PFL (all of which have different glove designs). The researchers looked at fights through January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022 and counted the amount of eye pokes that happened in the bouts.

The study found that the rate of eye pokes in the UFC was considerably higher than the rate calculated in Bellator. PFL’s was slightly higher than the UFC’s.

The eye poke rate in the UFC was 23 in 233 bouts, which translates to one per ten bouts. The PFL rate was 6 in 46 (one in every eight bouts). The Bellator rate was 2 in 87 bouts (one in every 44 bouts).

Dr. John Neidecker
The findings aren’t a great shock, considering that Bellator announced a substantial change in their glove design in 2014 with the express purpose of reducing eye pokes. Their glove design includes stiffer finger sections which force an athletes fingers to curl inwards. UFC gloves have no such mechanism, which allows fights to measure distance with their fingers pointing straight out, which often leads to eye pokes.


Neidecker said online that his plan is to continue his study for the remainder of the year. Neidecker also said he would expand his research, looking to see if eye poke rates are affected by which fighters are competing or which official is refereeing the fight.


full article: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2022/10...red-to-other-promotions-bellator-pfl-mma-news







Interesting article. This has been speculated for years by MMA fans. DC said he poked Stipe 20+ times in their fights because the UFC gloves is uncomfortable.


timestamped.



I think the UFC def needs better glove design. What do my sherbros think? Does anyone thinks eyepoke in fight makes it more interesting and adds more random factor in a fight?

 

[Sasha]

The result are indeed not surprising, but the idea behind the ufc glove design is to avoid hindering grappling, IIRC ? I have no clue if that's a viable point in practice, though.

 

[TIMELESS TRUTH]

Well... duh!!!

 

[ExitLUPin]

We've been saying this for over a decade. PRIDE was right on damn near everything MMA as far as rules, scoring, environment and equipment. Extremely rare you'd ever see an eyepoke on a PRIDE card.

 

[geardo]

Shouldn’t the UFC own the pride glove design?

 

[PurpleStorm]

We've been saying this for over a decade. PRIDE was right on damn near everything MMA as far as rules, scoring, environment and equipment. Extremely rare you'd ever see an eyepoke on a PRIDE card.

Why hasn’t.t the UFC adopted Pride type gloves? Serious question. Do the hinder grappling?

 

[StonedLemur]

Eye pokes in MMA were discussed at the 2022 Association of Ringside Physicians in Las Vegas recently (per Combat Sports Law). During that discussion data was presented showing how the rate of pokes differed based on the gloves being worn at the time.

The study that was shared at the conference was presented by ARP President Dr. John Neidecker, who is a ringside physician. The study included research by Neidecker, Jared Bukowski, Vijay Kurup and Bobby O’Donnell.

For their study, the researchers analyzed fights in the UFC, Bellator and PFL (all of which have different glove designs). The researchers looked at fights through January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022 and counted the amount of eye pokes that happened in the bouts.

The study found that the rate of eye pokes in the UFC was considerably higher than the rate calculated in Bellator. PFL’s was slightly higher than the UFC’s.

The eye poke rate in the UFC was 23 in 233 bouts, which translates to one per ten bouts. The PFL rate was 6 in 46 (one in every eight bouts). The Bellator rate was 2 in 87 bouts (one in every 44 bouts).

Dr. John Neidecker
The findings aren’t a great shock, considering that Bellator announced a substantial change in their glove design in 2014 with the express purpose of reducing eye pokes. Their glove design includes stiffer finger sections which force an athletes fingers to curl inwards. UFC gloves have no such mechanism, which allows fights to measure distance with their fingers pointing straight out, which often leads to eye pokes.


Neidecker said online that his plan is to continue his study for the remainder of the year. Neidecker also said he would expand his research, looking to see if eye poke rates are affected by which fighters are competing or which official is refereeing the fight.


full article: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2022/10...red-to-other-promotions-bellator-pfl-mma-news







Interesting article. This has been speculated for years by MMA fans. DC said he poked Stipe 20+ times in their fights because the UFC gloves is uncomfortable.


timestamped.



I think the UFC def needs better glove design. What do my sherbros think? Does anyone thinks eyepoke in fight makes it more interesting and adds more random factor in a fight?

They literally own the rights to PRIDES glove design and refuse to use it.
That makes me believe they're ok with all the eye pokes sir.

 

[StonedLemur]

Why hasn’t.t the UFC adopted Pride type gloves? Serious question. Do the hinder grappling?

They never hindered grappling in PRIDE.
They own they rights to the design, so they could use it free and clear.

Makes me think they're fine with everyone's eyes getting fucked up.

 

[StonedLemur]

The result are indeed not surprising, but the idea behind the ufc glove design is to avoid hindering grappling, IIRC ? I have no clue if that's a viable point in practice, though.

You ever watch PRIDE sir?
I never seen an issue with the grappling.

 

[Sakurabaism]

Old news. I tried putting those gloves and it's pretty hard to make a fist compared to my PRIDE gloves from 2007. You can see the difference without even putting them on. PRIDE and Bellator gloves make your fingers curving down, easier for grabbing or throwing a punch even in a relaxed state while UFC gloves made your hands in a relatively open palm position.

 

[Striker33]

Didn't Trevor Wittman try sell his Glove design to the UFC but they weren't interested ?

 

[Sakurabaism]

Didn't Trevor Wittman try sell his Glove design to the UFC but they weren't interested ?

Dana wanted the trademark for the design, not just buying the finished product from Trevor. It's a silly demand.

 

[Reign009]

We've known this for years and they haven't done Jack shit about it when there are already gloves that push the fingers downwards. The equipment to instantly reduce this issue already exists. It has existed for a very long time.

In the meantime, we got uniforms, new clocks, and now VR.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Amazing it takes a long, detailed, and expensive study to prove something everybody already knows.

The only question is if its going to be used to leverage a change in the UFC's gloves now, or after eyepokes have a serious negative change in a main event.

Well, Jon Jones is about to return to fight at Heavyweight, so I bet we're gonna find out.

 

[Mr Dilkington]

Someone reach out to the Rock. He was able to sort the UFC warriors out with the best shoes in the business, so why not gloves?

 

[corrupted]

They do things their way. As soon as someone else suggests something they close ranks. Very common business practice in some places. Centred around the principle that if you bow to the person below they will expect it to happen every time they ask you to. So, while it is someone else's idea. Nothing about the gloves will change.

Infact, if they could make them worse they would.

 

[corrupted]

Someone reach out to the Rock. He was able to sort the UFC warriors out with the best shoes in the business, so why not gloves?

 

[Karelinator]

Amazing it takes a long, detailed, and expensive study to prove something everybody already knows.

.

It doesn't seem that there was much of a study, let alone expensive and detailed one.

Somebody watched bunch of tape and counted the eyepokes. Only thing one needs is FightPass/torrent and lots of time.

More detailed, interesting study could include analysis of this fights - how much time of those fight got actually spent striking at the punching/kicking distance, where vast majority of eye pokes occur, for example.

 

[m249viking]

Oh yes blame the gloves. They should watch a Jones fight. If the UFC refs are not going to call the constant jabs with fingers extended you will have more eye pokes.

 

[Iroh]

Yup, UFC gloves naturally want to open your hand up. They already knew this, but it's a rights issue I believe that has stopped them from changing it up