Dumb Beginner Sparring Question

JimRustle1 · Posted On: 7/24/2012 4:51pm

:happy: Real new to mma, we were doing some light sparring wearing 16oz gloves and I was finding it pretty hard to get any control or dominant positions in the clinch. is this just a given with boxing gloves where you have no fingers to use?

**huge** · Posted On: 7/24/2012 5:10pm

What kind of dominant positions are you talking about? I've never done MMA sparring.

In MT we would basically just try to get the Thai clinch, with some trapping thrown in. For us, that was the dominant position in clinch.

**Fuzzy** · Posted On: 7/24/2012 5:30pm

Do you mean underhooks? They're a huge pain in the bum to get with boxing gloves, at least for my noob ass.

JimRustle1 · Posted On: 7/24/2012 5:55pm

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Do you mean underhooks? They're a huge pain in the bum to get with boxing gloves, at least for my noob ass.

yeah seem difficult for me today, usually i'll be trying for underhooks clamping down on the deltoid or hand fighting, arm drags or trying to control them with collar tie and elbow. I guess i will have more techniques open to me in general once I get more experience.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 7/24/2012 6:18pm

Originally Posted by JimRustle1

:happy: Real new to mma, we were doing some light sparring wearing 16oz gloves and I was finding it pretty hard to get any control or dominant positions in the clinch. is this just a given with boxing gloves where you have no fingers to use?

It's not so much that you don't have fingers to use, since your finger control/grip isn't generally what's giving you the dominant position. But it can be trickier to get an underhook since your enlarged hand has to navigate through a fairly small area to get there. A Thai clinch may not feel as secure because you can't get the palm to back of hand geometry that you'd like, but Thai boxers manage to control and knee the hell out of each other while wearing gloves.

In FMA, particularly stickfighting competitions, I've heard lots of excuses being blamed on a fighter's gear- their gloves wouldn't let them do that thing they like, etc. I've heard this from TMA people who don't normally wear gloves but use them in a comp ("yeah, we normally train bareknuckle, but we have to use pads here so it threw me off"). In both instances, it sounds like a lame excuse for poor performance, so I try not to attribute my failures to my gear. Not that I'm saying you're doing that, or that gear problems are never legit.

I remember at a Dog Brothers gathering, I was trying to access my training knife during a clinch, and it was in my front waistband area. Well, somehow my shirt went over it in a way that made it impossible for me to get to it, until eventually I fumbled it entirely and it fell on the ground (this one ended with me on the ground being stabbed in the ass ice-pick style). A good opportunity for a gear excuse, but instead I took it as a personal screw-up and practiced the draw, many times, with either hand, while kneeling, on the ground etc.

Similarly, you could clinch-wrestle with your gloves on until you kinda work out the kinks. At least then if you get caught in glove issues, they won't flummox you so much. It's probably helpful anyway to learn to get your positions without using your fingers to grip. Professional fighters learn to control other committed professional fighters while wearing gloves.

**jkcobra** · Posted On: 7/31/2012 11:30pm

When clinching you aren't holding them in place with your hands, they are adding control and changing the position of your opponents head. You should hold them in place and move their body by squeezing your forearms tight into their neck. You can get away with using your hands more with smaller gloves but squeezing the neck like this is something that always helps and becomes very important with larger gloves. Hope this helps

**PointyShinyBurn** · Posted On: 8/01/2012 3:52am

Personally I think sparring MMA in 16 ounce gloves is fairly pointless. Use MMA sparring gloves.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 8/01/2012 4:04am

Because you were going light. I think the point of the 16 is to get used to banging without getting killed.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php...type=2&theater

Look I am no great shakes and there are issues. But MMA with 16s is doable. Just keep the shots simple. Single leg double leg and so on.

(edit)

Actually what we are doing is closer to shoot boxing.