MMA – Mixed Martial Arts – is growing day by day and outnumbering all other sports. We see different fighters competing against each other, but a lot of dream bouts do not take place because of the weight difference.
For example, Khabib is number one in the UFC Pound for Pound list, and Jon Bones Jones is second in the same category, but due to weight difference, we can never see a match between them even Khabib comes out of retirement. Before continuing take a look here What is Reach in UFC?
This is because the extra weight is one of the biggest advantages a fighter can have on the other. Does the situation is the same for reach and height differences?
So we got two questions from this discussion:
Does height matter in MMA? And Does reach matter in MMA?I say there are tangibly no reach and height advantages of height and reach in MMA. Why? The answer is in the name of the sports; Mixed Martial Arts. If we only talk about boxing, kickboxing, or other combat sports where grappling is not allowed, height and reach advantages matter. But in Mixed Martial Arts, one has more weapons in the arsenal to counter with different stages where the situation is not in the favor.
Kickboxing and Boxing: The sports where height and reach advantages really matter.
For example: In boxing, and Kickboxing, a fighter having long legs and arms can throw strikes from a safe distance while staying out of the danger zone.
For example, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua both hide behind their jabs and keep opponents away from them, and then they throw a devastating right hand when the opponent tries to come inside their reach.
Even in these sports, when a fighter comes inside the reach and forces for an inside fight, the reach advantage is zero, and here starts the game of uppercuts, body shots, and devastating hooks.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Wrestling: The greatest techniques to neutralize the Height and Reach Advantages.
Since grappling and wrestling are allowed in MMA, a fighter can grapple, clinch, wrestle, and even choke the opponent by using different techniques of wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
BJJ is a martial arts designed to neutralize the reach and height advantages of an opponent. Because once the fighters are on the ground, there are no reach or height advantages, there is only one thing, and that is called, Ground and Pound. Means hitting the opponents while both are on the ground.
During a street fight, we see all the fights end at the grounds where there is no height and reach advantages but only skills that how one fighter tackles the opponent on the ground.
Does height and Reach Matter In MMA?
In MMA, we see a lot of fighters beating those who have reach and height advantages.
Let us start from the Greatest of All Time in Mixed Martial Arts, none other than Khabib the Eagle.
Khabib, who is considered the best grappler and fight technician on the earth, defeated everyone he faced.
He won by dominating in each and every round of the bouts.
How all this happened, he mixed wrestling with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and choked anyone he faced. He is famous to drop his opponents at will.
I think no one can disagree with the statement, “When Khabib wants to take you down, you are already down”.
From his outstanding and matchless professional profile of 29 – 0, I want to discuss three fighters who had reach or height advantages but could not touch him like they were doing against the others.
Khabib The Eagle: Just Nothing Matters.
1-Khabib vs. Conor McGregor. Reach does not Matter
Conor has arguably the longest reach in the division, which is 188 cm.
By using this, he can throw punches from a safe distance and knocks his opponents out. But when he faced Khabib, whose reach is 177.8 cm, Conor had no answer for everything Khabib did against him.
The Eagle not only dropped him down with a jaw cracking right hand but also scored many takedowns with his grappling skills.
And in the end, Conor had no way other than quitting to get rid of the humiliation. Khabib finished him with a neck crank. So the reach advantage of more than 11 cm did not go in the favor of the trash-talking Irishman.
2-Khabib vs. Justin Gaethje. Height does not matter.
In his last professional fight, Khabib faced the UFC lightweight interim champion in Justin Gaethje whose height is 1.8 meters.
Khabib stands at 1.78 meters. The pair met the last October at the UFC 254 event for the UFC lightweight Championship in Abu Dhabi.
In the very first round, the pair started throwing punches from the distance, and then, in the second round, Khabib made it a short night by choking the American with a Triangle choke, which sent him to unconsciousness because the referee failed to see when Gaethje was tapping.
3-Khabib vs. Dustin Poirier. Reach does not matter; at all.
Dustin’s reach is almost 183 cm. Despite the long arms of the opponent, Khabib finished him in the third round to defend his UFC lightweight title in Abu Dhabi. Khabib forced Poirier to quit by a rear-naked choke.
So we came to know when a fighter is a good grappler or wrestler, the height or reach doest not matter in MMA.
I describe three UFC events where Khabib successfully defended his title. Let us have a look at another fighter who surpassed the reach advantages of the opponents in Mixed Martial Arts.
George St- Pierre: If you are good at BJJ and Karate, reach and height does not matter.
Before the Khabib era, Conor Notorious McGregor and George St- Pierre reigned in Mixed Martial Arts and remained in limelight for a long time.
GSP was a real deal and is considered the only fighter who can give a little tough time to Khabib before losing in the fourth or fifth round.
GSP had only two defeats at his profile, and he avenged both the losses before calling it a day.
He has been considered the second-best wrestler in MMA after Khabib.
Despite having a short height of 1.78 meters, he won 26 fights and earned UFC titles in the UFC Welterweight and Middleweight divisions.
He defended his UFC Welterweight belt for a record nine times before vacating it after his retirement in 2013.
In 2017, he came back for a single fight and won the UFC Middleweight title from Michael Bisping at UFC 217, and retired again. GSP is a First Degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt holder along with three Dan Black Belt in Karate, and that’s why the reach and height advantages rarely worked against him.
Are The Reach and Height Advantages not important in Mixed Martial Arts?
No!! If used wisely, the reach and height advantages are good to have during a fight.
Jon Jones is one of the few fighters who are good at utilizing these advantages.
The point is having reach and height with a good grappling and wrestling ability is good.
But these advantages are less or not effective when you are facing a good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter or a wrestler like Khabib, GSP, and Anderson Spider Silva.
Same as Jon Jones, Silva has a good reach and height.
And he mixed these advantages with his outstanding grappling skills and stayed as the king of Ultimate Fighting Championship and Mixed Martial Arts for a long time.
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Conclusion
I hope that this article was depth enough to make you understand that in mma the height and reach can be an advantage, but at the same time if you are good in BJJ and wrestling, everything is nulled.
If you are interested check : Best martial arts for short guys