Heavy Slaps and Open Palm Strikes

[Ian]

How many of you use heavy slaps and open palm strikes as much as punches?

Also, why are these so uncommon in modern MMA? They aren't illegal as far as I can tell.

[dragontigerpalm]

When I'm hitting the bag I alternate between palm strikes and fists.

[yusuf]

Bas used to KO people with the palm strike..

[middleway]

bas had a badass palm strike fo sho!

i would say its a case of palm when palm is needed, punch when punch is needed. Its about appropriate action or response rather than game plan for me. Certainly i would say that both are as effective as each other in different ways.

Strongest punch (by quite some way i might add) was from Serge Augier, Strongest Slap from his student Alex Kozma. Both were not nice at all ...

chris

[Ian]

Bas used to KO people with the palm strike..

yeah but he was fighting with old pancrase rules. I'm surprised you don't see more open handed hitting in modern MMA.

[middleway]

yeah but he was fighting with old pancrase rules. I'm surprised you don't see more open handed hitting in modern MMA.

I think the issue is that there are not many people in the MMA world who can teach really good palm striking because it is quite different to punching. With the Muay thai/boxing based striking most modern MMA guys have there is no contact with really good palm work. If there was someone that had good xing yi or ba gua(i mean really good ... not your average teacher) in contact with some of the MMA fighters they may well get some really good slap/palm work to incorporate. I think this is part of the reason we dont see too much variation in MMA ... its not simply a case of sticking to what works, but also a case of sticking to whats available at a high level.

Cheers
Chris

[Andy_S]

Bas did indeed KO peeps with the palm, but his mechanics were boxing: He was essentially crossing and certainly not slapping.

Moreover, if your knuckles are protected (ie you are wearing a glove of some sort) are boxing strikes not the most effective hand strikes available?

This is not a facetious question: I train palm strikes, but - I suspect like a lot of peeps - I don't spar with them.

And what Middleway said, above.

[Ian]

Bas did indeed KO peeps with the palm, but his mechanics were boxing: He was essentially crossing and certainly not slapping.

Nothing wrong with that IMO. Just one of many open palm strikes available.

Moreover, if your knuckles are protected (ie you are wearing a glove of some sort) are boxing strikes not the most effective hand strikes available?

Well if you're wearing MMA gloves then hard slaps and palm strikes are definitely an option. Hell, even with boxing gloves you can still catch someone with the heel of the palm, which is harder than a padded fist. I don't think that's allowed though.


Chris, care to share what those strikes felt like?

[yusuf]

hey

the second clip is worth looking at for the angles.. very interesting stuff

thanks dude...

yusuf

[Bao]

"How many of you use heavy slaps and open palm strikes as much as punches?"

I love these techniques! I have 4 different slapping techniques I really like, 2 forehands and 2 backhands. I use them with palms, fists or with the bones of the underarms.

"I think the issue is that there are not many people in the MMA world who can teach really good palm striking because it is quite different to punching."

Well, there we have quite different opinions. There are a lot of IMA people around with excellent slapping/palm skills and would like to teach it. The trouble as always is that most people practicing IMA do it for other reasons than learning to fight.

[middleway]

Bao i said people in the MMA world ... not the IMA world

Chris, care to share what those strikes felt like?

The punch was heavy and exploded inside ... best way i can describe it, only person i felt similar from was Lou De Xiou, but it wasnt the same. It was like a strike (where you think .. boy that was heavy but i am ok, similar to what i felt from Mikhail) then a pause then an explosion inside (where you want to die/think your gonna!) ... very strange. The slap was to my spine and put me out of action for about 10 minutes, but i also took one to the body from alex another time that really shook my energy about and left me sort of jumpy and shaking.

like i said ... neither were very nice at all to experience. But at the same time it was nice to know what such strikes were like. I am pretty good at taking hits but both of these left me in a strange way.

cheers
Chris

[eddie mush]

then a pause then an explosion inside (where you want to die/think your gonna!)

And he produces very interesting blue marks also with that exploding thing...

great stuff!

[yusuf]

then a pause then an explosion inside (where you want to die/think your gonna!)

And he produces very interesting blue marks also with that exploding thing...

great stuff!

i still hav marks on my shin from three years ago

[DeusTrismegistus]

lots of bas palm strikes and palm kos in this vid.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/48638/bas_rutten/

I don't use them as much as punches but I do use them and I am starting to use them more. When inside straight punch range when you are still in hooking range you can still use straight palms with a lot of power.

I tried on some MMA gloves because I was curious about them allowing for palm strikes. By themselves you can do just about any hand technique you want. I have never used hand wraps but I am pretty sure that you wouldn't have the wrist mobility to get your hand in the proper position for most palm strikes with the wraps on.

[Peacedog]

The reason for not seeing them in MMA is that a block using the palm when held high easily turns into an eye gouge. An eye gouge in the current UFC format can result in a forfeit. I saw this happen about a year ago with a fighter who had damaged his hand, from a lack of hand conditioning, and could no longer punch with a closed fist. He transitioned to a palm strike. He also jabbed his opponent in the eye really well at least once while blocking with the open hand and came close to doing it at least a few more times in the match. I think he lost on points.

Peacedog