i read an article recently in mma worldwide about the effect of reach in mma and it was pretty interesting.

the article compared the reach of an average person who would have the same reach as their height and used that as the base. they determined that the average boxer has at least one extra inch of reach to become a pro. the average mma fighter though would have 1.4 inches extra reach. this doesnt seem so strange except that the higher a person bigger achievements a person has in boxing and mma the longer their reach tends to be.

in the research an mma champion had at least 2 inches extra reach and a "super" champ (guys like gsp silva and fedor) had 3. it seemed to follow the same trend except for a few exceptions like tyson and marciano who had short arms. in mma there were no exceptions.

what do you guys think about this? i have noticed that the guys i train with who have longer arms tend to do better at grappling as well as doing better standing when they learn how to use it.

sean sherk

It seems to me that guys with shorter limbs tend to be better grapplers

guys with longer limps tend to be better strikers

having long limps gives you further reaching weapons if you are a striker but on the mat you have higher center of gravity and more length from the center which can make you less agile I guess you could say, longer limbs are also easier to grab

Look at Semmy Schilt

amazing striker but his height makes him sorta awkward in the grappling

Tyson I think used his compact build get inside and generate explosive power. If a guy like that gets inside your reach it takes you an extra second to get out of that danger zone because of your limbs but in most cases your reach will give you an advantage.

So yeah I think in boxing added reach will mostly help but in MMA it can both help and hurt.

Fedor has long reach?

Look at your average wrestling team now many many guys are tall?

you might have one of two and those guys have to get super strong to be able to compete

even look at submission grappling, how many guys are tall and lanky?

practically none

striking though you have a huge advantage from being lanky or just tall

you have boxers like Valuev and kickboxers like Semmy Schilt

reach is decptive i think cause look at guys like hughes who have sort of compact bodies but then they have really long arms. fedor, gsp and silva all have really long arms as well. as far as pure wrestling compact guys do have an advantage but in submission grappling look at roger gracie, xande, and jacare all have long limbs. mike fowler used to train at my gym and i noticed that even though the guy is real short he has these really long arms that seem to help in jiu jitsu. you should check out the magazine article. its in mma worldwide this month.

reach is decptive i think cause look at guys like hughes who have sort of compact bodies but then they have really long arms. fedor, gsp and silva all have really long arms as well. as far as pure wrestling compact guys do have an advantage but in submission grappling look at roger gracie, xande, and jacare all have long limbs. mike fowler used to train at my gym and i noticed that even though the guy is real short he has these really long arms that seem to help in jiu jitsu. you should check out the magazine article. its in mma worldwide this month.

its probably does help who knows

I was just saying it seems like theres not very many tall grapplers

as a professional shorter reach having guy i can tell you from experience, you guys with long arms are the luckiest sons of bitches in the world