Why is the UFC glove...?

Question

Why is the UFC glove so small on the fighters hands. It doesn't even come up to the second joint from the finger tips. Is that normal or do they choose that. Also do they tape their hands?

Answer 1

they are small on the hand for grappling ever tried to grab anything with full boxing gloves on? the exposed fingers and thumb enable submissions....yes they tape their hands and get them signed just like in boxing

Answer 2

I recall that the UFC actually began bare-knuckle.  During that time, rules were few, to non-existent, with the primary goal of making the fight as real as possible.  Unfortunately, bare-knuckle fighting leads to broken hands.  For this reason, fighters began using open-fingered bag gloves.  It's my understanding, though I may be misinformed, that these gloves were fashioned after a design created by Bruce Lee (see "Enter the Dragon" and his MMA-style fight with Sammo Hung).  In that the primary purpose of these gloves were merely to protect the hand while hitting hard punching bags/focus mitts/etc, the padding was very light.  The gloves also featured unbound fingers, which allowed for grappling.

As the sport progressed, the gloves became mandatory in order to protect both fighters (a puncher's hand and also the opponents face) and, it seems, also to allow for the sport to grow (UFC, at the time, was banned in a great majority of the states for its violence).  The padding remained light to maintain the "realism" of the fight.

Yes, MMA fighters tape their hands.  It is very much different from a boxer's or kickboxer's taping, but serves the same purpose--to provide further protection for the fighters hand.

Answer 3

Well, there is different sizes....

Answer 4

Yes they tape their hands.  The UFC glove is a 4 ounce glove.

Whereas a professional boxing glove is 10 ounces.  Amateur boxing gloves are 12 or 15 ounces.  That is one of the reasons there are so many more knockouts in MMA than in boxing.  Less padding in the MMA glove makes defense more difficult and offense more devastating.

James

Answer 5

They tape their hands like boxers.  The glove is small, so grapplers can grip their opponents effectively.