Why can’t I spar with MMA gloves?

Q&A with the coach. Shanghai based MMA coach and Kunlun Fight ringside commentator Ramsey Dewey answers questions from the viewers. A viewer has feels comfortable sparring in boxing gloves, but when doing MMA sparring, feels he cannot realistically train while controlling his power while wearing MMA gloves.

[BWater-yqjx]

Surely if you're training for MMA, at some point you have to train with MMA gloves?
And if you're training for self-defence, the blocking and covering is going to be more realistic with MMA gloves, compared to 16oz boxing gloves.
So why deprive yourself of that benefit?

🤜💥😵
Oh that's why, lol.

But still, some training with light gloves is gonna be valuable, if not essential.

[junjustjun.]

In the gym we always spar in mma gloves since we were encouraged to practice wrist locks and throws. I got bruises and almost broke my fingers a couple of times but in the end pain is the best teacher.

[unclepoutdoors]

I've found (and I'm no expert) that you need a sparring partner you can trust as in put the shot on semi power if I'm open for it so I learn I'm open for it as opposed to fear or ego driven wild hands being thrown

[unchainedverse]

Youtube rabbit-hole has led me to this. 1 AM in the morning here. I don't do any martial arts at all, but...I enjoy the content!

[mathieup.]

Our MMA teacher almost always makes us spar with MMA gloves. As a result we either punch very very lightly or take it to the ground very quickly to avoid bad exchanges, and it sucks a bit.

[PhantomSavage]

That is kind of interesting that, psychologically speaking, when we wear gloves we instinctualy feel its safer to hit harder, not only for what we perceive as safety for the other person but also ourselves in the padding it gives your hand, however minimal. When you spar with bare knuckles the opposite tends to occur, because our hands are naked and punching something at full force hurts, as does getting punched, and we instinctualy want to hit less hard. The interesting thing is that the padding a big boxing glove gives you might have just enough padding to mitigate some of the damage of the additional force we tend to throw behind the punches, but an MMA gloves gives us that same feeling of safety and freedom the boxing gloves do with much, much less padding.

In short... it seems its easier to hurt yourself or someone else sparring with MMA gloves than it is even in bare handed sparring. It gives you a false sense of security in thinking your punches aren't hurting as badly as you think they are, when in truth the opposite is true.

[murlocchieftain]

This is kinda reminding me of last night's sparring I had. Shoulder Sparring session (You have to tap the guy's shoulder and he does a burpee) and we are wiggling around, and my partner friggin bitch-slaps me through the face on accident due to instinct.


 It was gold, man. I was barely standing from how much I was laughing, my partner was apologizing like he kicked my pet puppy, everyone else is confused cuz there's a six foot guy laughing his ass off with the coaches and a 5' 11' national champ just apologizing profusely.

[adammma]

I much prefer striking in MMA gloves, it’s easier. We never spar real hard so I can’t speak on hard sparing in MMA gloves. I think it comes down to being a good partner and having trust you won’t get lit up on hard. Like you said it’s also about pulling the shot last minute. I also think the MMA gloves are better for brain damage as the big gloves are huge and really fill up your face

[Sharikacat]

There is nothing wrong with the flinch response in general. From a self-defense standpoint, it's actually pretty great. Not flinching means you stand there and get hit in the face. Why would I want that? The flinch response is to get small, move, cover, and defend- hunch down, move away, and cover your face. If someone wants to hit me, isn't that more or less what you want to do? Get low, step off the center line, bring up your hands, and block. The key here is *training* your flinch response to be productive, not getting rid of it. Take your natural response and turn it into something more combative.

[eclecticcerebro]

When i was a kid and had just started boxing, my trainer made me spar with 16 ounce gloves.. I actually loved it because the punches didnt hurt eachother, at that age and eventually, i completely lost the fear of getting hit in the face lol

[ElijahLoganmaztrpeacofficial]

The joke is that my karate training actually set up the ability to have complete control of every strike you throw so that the main part was to practice technique which made it possible to spar with guys way bigger(sometimes 80lb differences) and as a Nidan it would be tons of push ups if even a spinning kick or strike couldn't be chambered within a foot of your partner's face.

[NaturesKings]

Hey Ramsey Dewey, I always see this talked about and it seems to be a universally accepted fact that MMA gloves do more damage than boxing gloves. I've been hit w/ both a decent amount of times, I have to disagree. I think MMA gloves certainly do more facial damage, as you mentioned, but I believe the weight/surface area of boxing gloves transfer all that damage/shock straight to the brain which otherwise would have gone mainly to the face w/ a bare fist or an MMA glove, thus creating the illusion that they do less damage. It seems straight on shots especially with boxing gloves seem to rock the head back heavily, whereas MMA gloves would break the face, not rock the head as hard.


I do think there's one exception however, a flush hit to the chin. The MMA glove is a price point which tips the chin whereas a boxing glove would not be as efficient at doing such.

What do you think?

[blockmasterscott]

Not only MMA but traditional martial arts too. We use regulation UFC gloves in our Choy Li Fut school all the time.

They’re great because you can do the spear hand and knuckle strikes in addition to all the MMA stuff in sparring.

[Docinaplane]

Good to hear this! That's exactly the way I do it when I wear the MMA gloves. With my original point-fighting training back in the day, I can go hard and not hit my opponent in the face. With body shots, I make more contact.

[thenickhood]

I think sparring mma has to happen to really help you transition from one art to the other well, there’s something more menacing about it though then say just rolling or just boxing, I think the thought of getting caught while looking for a takedown or getting caught moving into the clinch is what scares people, even with control when you move into a hit it’s gonna suck but that’s the inevitability of the sport. Keep training and it gets less menacing but also except that fighting, even just light sparring is always somewhat scary.

[stillnessinmovement]

well said. the safety and control is so important to be able to work properly with mma gloves. and it's not taught much.
for really learning martial arts, so much of it is learning how to practice dangerous things safely.
having a relaxed/flow type of sparring practice you can do with training partners you trust can be the best training you can get.
"first thing is to not hurt your partner. next thing is to also not get hurt"

[blockaderunner]

I've noticed Anthony Pettis flinches a lot. Just an observation.

[UpxSetter]

Start with Head Gear until you learn how to pull your punches.
Or start with body shots then learn how to target the head...

[bartekwojcik]

I love you play lists especialy the bjj ones

[oboroshogun]

You can spar with mma gloves and should. You can spar with control at speed with a bit of practice. Light quick technical sparring should be the bulk of your sparring. Wailing on each other with hard shots regularly is stupid even with boxing gloves.