Why do HW UFC fighters have so much shorter reach than Boxers?

[screaminleeman]

We always talk about "reach advantage". I find it interesting that it appears far less necessary than in Boxing.
HW champion boxers have far more reach than UFC HW champs;
Tyson Fury - 85" --------------------------- Brock Lesnar - 81"
Lennox Lewis - 84" ------------------------ Stipe Miocic - 80"
Deontay Wilder - 83" ---------------------- Tim Sylvia - 80"
Hasim Rachman - 82" -------------------- Junior Dos Santos - 77"
Anthony Joshua - 82" --------------------- Fabricio Werdum - 77"
Wladamir K. - 81" -------------------------- Andrei Arlovski - 77"
Vitali K. - 80' --------------------------------- Cain Velasquez - 77"
Joseph Parker - 76" ----------------------- Randy Couture - 75"
Mike Tyson - 71"----------------------------- Daniel Cormier - 72.5"

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Boxers are A level athletes for the most part

 

[LouisBolanos]

Boxing is a highly evolved A/B level sport where the the majority of elites athletes at the top have sport-specific body types - e.g. long limbs.

MMA is a growing C level sport with mostly leftover athletes from other sports, especially at HW. It's not remotely selective enough at the top to funnel sport specific body types through and leave the rest behind.

 

[Sapp]

Boxers are A level athletes for the most part

I think you'd be surprised.

 

[LLD2008]

Cuz UFC fheavyweight have T-rex arms

 

[screaminleeman]

Boxing is a highly evolved A/B level sport where the the majority of elites athletes at the top have sport-specific body types - e.g. long limbs.

MMA is a growing C level sport with mostly leftover athletes from other sports, especially at HW. It's not remotely selective enough at the top to funnel sport specific body types through and leave the rest behind.

I always hated these types of arguments, but I am starting to share that opinion. It makes me wonder even more what a top notch boxer could do in the UFC with a couple years TDD defense.

 

[screaminleeman]

I am curious if reach measurements in Boxing are done the same way they are in MMA. I look at Volkov and I think long arms. I was suprised to see he has only an 80" reach.

 

[jeskola]

because boxing's reach measurements are about as accurate as Pro Wrestling's heights... "The 8-foot tall Andre the Giant!"

 

[LouisBolanos]

I always hated these types of arguments, but I am starting to share that opinion. It makes me wonder even more what a top notch boxer could do in the UFC with a couple years TDD defense.

Sport specific body types is of vital importance if you want to perform well in a highly competitive sport



MMA hasn't reached this level yet and that's why you'll see all body types.

 

[accolyte1022]

Training UFC shortens your arms.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Boxing is a highly evolved A/B level sport where the the majority of elites athletes at the top have sport-specific body types - e.g. long limbs.

MMA is a growing C level sport with mostly leftover athletes from other sports, especially at HW. It's not remotely selective enough at the top to funnel sport specific body types through and leave the rest behind.

Also arm reach is obviously at more of a premium in a sport that is so specific that only the arms are used only to punch (for the most part).

MMA is quite broad of course and there are a host of pros and cons with various body types in areas other than punching, and MMA fighters come from a variety of backgrounds. Guys from wrestling backgrounds etc aren't that limited by arm reach in their original sport, for example.

 

[yeguiza]

no jbj or struve who are 84,5?

 

[bad seed]

I always hated these types of arguments, but I am starting to share that opinion. It makes me wonder even more what a top notch boxer could do in the UFC with a couple years TDD defense.

here's what a journeyman kickboxer accomplished in mma with some TDD

 

[screaminleeman]

Here is the current UFC HW division with at least an 80" reach.
Stefan Struve - 84"
Francis Ngannou - 83"
Justin Willis - 82"
Brock Lesnar - 81"
Curtis Blaydes - 80"
Stipe Miocic - 80"
The Reem - 80"
Alexander Volkov - 80"
Alexey Oleynik - 80"
Ben Rothwell - 80"

 

[Fluffernutter]

Marciano had the shortest reach of any heavyweight champion

 

[DS66]

Well for one, you're picking examples where the boxers are taller...

Tyson Fury is 6'9"/Brock is 6'3"
Lennox Lewis is 6'5"/Stipe is 6'4"
Anthony Joshua is 6'6"/Werdum is 6'4"
Klitschko is 6'8"/Arlovski is 6'3"

Etc. etc.

I mean yeah, elite boxers on average probably have longer reach cause reach is definitely more important in that sport, but you can cherry pick plenty of examples the other way too if you want to....

 

[screaminleeman]

no jbj or struve who are 84,5?

Beat me to it, I see Struve at 84 and Bones at 84.5 but what is a half inch between Sherbros?

 

[Nightwish]

I think you'd be surprised.

People like him like to repeat stupid nonsense. They dont even know how a regular boxer looks like in the ring. They watch some Canelo highlights and think they know about boxing and A level athletes. Then come here and talk about how Cody is the best boxer in the UFC.

 

[WinZip]

Because MMA is not boxing. The body type that's great for boxing might not be great for wrestling or BJJ. It's a different sport with different rules and different approaches.

 

[screaminleeman]

Well for one, you're picking examples where the boxers are taller...

Tyson Fury is 6'9"/Brock is 6'3"
Lennox Lewis is 6'5"/Stipe is 6'4"
Anthony Joshua is 6'6"/Werdum is 6'4"
Klitschko is 6'8"/Arlovski is 6'3"

Etc. etc.

I mean yeah, elite boxers on average probably have longer reach cause reach is definitely more important in that sport, but you can cherry pick plenty of examples the other way too if you want to....

True, but
Tim Sylvia was 6'8"
Volkov is 6'7"
Travis Browne is 6'7" (Oh that thong shot)
Struve is 7', and I quite intentionally did NOT include Boxing HW champion Nicolai Valuev to skew the stats.