What's the best way to protect against eye injury?

[MyEyeOw]

Since MMA fighters use gloves with exposed fingers, eye pokes and scratches are bound to happen. I'm wondering what can be done to stop/reduce the likelihood of this?

Soft fingertip pads? Some sort of unobtrusive eye shield?

This is a challenge since any solutions need to keep the fingers free and keep sensitivity, as well as not causing impaired vision or big, clunky, shatter-able, hand hurting and head hurting goggles.

I've heard of jacking up the penalty for eye strikes, but accidents do happen and I'm sure that knowing that your opponent will lose 40% of his purse doesn't help too much if it's painful to blink.

Anyone with more experience have any ideas?

 

[musicrocks9393]

I dont know if it is truly possible unless you change the mma fight glove!

 

[nomilkforsanta]

The current gloves make it impossible, because:

1) they have exposed fingers
2) they are designed to keep your hand open
3) wrestlers like to feel with their fingers for distance and not with a jab.


I always wished they would try bag mitts, I think it would reduce a lot of finger pokes and not really effect grappling.

A design like this, filled with horse hair and laces:

http://store.titleboxing.com/fairtex-advanced-bag-gloves.html

 

[TylerRyan]

The current gloves make it impossible, because:

1) they have exposed fingers
2) they are designed to keep your hand open
3) wrestlers like to feel with their fingers for distance and not with a jab.


I always wished they would try bag mitts, I think it would reduce a lot of finger pokes and not really effect grappling.

A design like this, filled with horse hair and laces:

http://store.titleboxing.com/fairtex-advanced-bag-gloves.html

Have to agree here. The density of the padding is different compared to most mma gloves, but I don't see that being an obstacle. I would certainly be almost as comfortable grappling in bag gloves as I am in most mma gloves.

 

[Tone C]

don't train.

 

[Sloth]

I wrote a series of blog posts about goggles for grappling a while back (after an eye injury). While not MMA, might be of help to you:
http://joshvogelart.blogspot.com/2011/11/grappling-goggles-day-one-by-josh-vogel.html

http://joshvogelart.blogspot.com/2011/12/goggles-for-grappling-part-deux.html


http://joshvogelart.blogspot.com/2011/12/goggles-for-grappling-part-three.html