Why do MMA fighters not take body shots?

Question

I've been watching a lot of MMA fights recently and have noticed that in the stand-up game or "ground and pound", most fighters swing for the head and rarely throw punches to the body. Why is this ? It would make sense for them to throw some body punches to wear down an opponent or force them to defend those shots thus opening up more opportunities to hit the oppenent in the head. Why don't they use this strategy and always go for the head ?

Answer 1

watch Gideon Ray vs Luasso. Ray throws two hard beautiful body shots a left and right. because of it he gets put in the thai clinch and kneed in the face. but you see a lot of kicks to the body. how ever I think as mma evolves more you will see better body punches. plus I can tell you three or four fights were a guy lands a body shot hurts his opponent only to get to excited and rush in and get ko'd for hurting his opponent

Answer 2

I have seen some fights where one opponent will throw body shots usually when they are down on the mat.  Their are a couple of reasons why you don't see a lot of them though.  In the stand-up game it exposes your head and face so much as well as makes it easier for your opponent to clinch and follow up with elbows to the face and head and knees to your face if you then duck down to avoid them.  It also puts your face very close for knees just by themselves to be landed on you so it is somewhat of a bad trade for the person that overly relies on them.

As for the ground game the throwing of elbows to the face or knock out your opponent or cut him and end the fight really makes it more desirable to expend your energy and focus your attack using them.  You still see body shots used and employed for this but the energy and risk involved in using them really makes them a low value technique to rely on as opposed to other techniques that a fighter can use to win or end the fight.

Answer 3

My guess is that they don't want to end up in a clinch.  You have to be closer to your opponent to do damage with body punches as compared to head punches, so your opponent could grab your head for a Muay Thai clinch or wrap you up and go for a Greco-style takedown.  

Answer 4

Because usually a half way decent coach will be reminding his team just before a fight to throw "mid-section" kicks as well as thigh kicks.  The side kick and spinning back and spinning side kicks are always effective to the body in MMA .... you must be watching the wrong shows or just seeing some really crappy coaching for the fighters you watch.  There's a big difference as well "from the coaching aspect" if you get tape on your "student's" opponent before they fight.  If you see that your student's opponent likes to stand and "bang" then you'll have your guy looking for "complete package striking" against his opponent and if you see the opponenet's love for the ground game on tape before they fight then you'll foresake the striking and have your guy school him on the ground .... that's if you're worth two spits as a coach that is.

Other coaches believe that an opponent's strong ground game should be countered with effective striking ( including tons of body shots ) as well as in the same token if the opponent has stronger striking than your guy, and you know it, then you'll have your guy beat him with the ground game .... doesn't always work for all coaches I'm sure, but it's all in the "match-matics" dude.

Then again you could just be watching "Independent fighters" ( nice lable for a "streetfighter" with the so-called puncher's chance  ) who are fighting in these matches that you're watching.  These types usually just go in with no formal training and throw wild punches hoping to land .... they get lucky from time to time.  These are usually just the "Target the head only types" and more than likely what you're seeing in the cage man.

Answer 5

Because in MMA there isn't really that many great strikers.. The guys who come from prominent striking backgrounds go to the body.

Its also more of a kickboxing type of standup rather then a boxing type of standup. In kickboxing, they don't punch to the body nearly as much as in boxing. You will see alot of low kicks and mid kicks in MMA, similar to Kickboxing styles.

With that being said, there are some guys who go to the body pretty good in almost all their bouts.

Answer 6

its because when u throw a punch period if ur oponent is faster than u they have a chance of knocking u out becuz u have just opened urself up.  plus body shots dont do that much damage really unless u kick or use a knee and with a kick u have a chance of being ankle locked/ heel hooked or even a knee bar of any kind.  the best way to do damage there is to go for a clench and throw knees into the ribs. and really the only kick that does a lot of damage is a spinning back kick to the ribs. the reason we really go for the head is because its the quickest way to knock a guy out is the temple or chin. and its run to mess a guys face up a bit.