Joe Rogan has been clamoring for it to happen for years, and coming soon, the UFC will finally introduce leg reach statistics at its events.
Typically, the organization’s pre-fight “Tale of the Tape” has been limited to a fighter’s country of origin, age, height and fingertip-to-fingertip wingspan.
There will be a brand new addition to that list in the near future, though, as the length of a fighter’s legs will be measured and listed, UFC officials confirmed to MMAjunkie.
“I think it’s a real positive for the sport,” FightMetric live statistics producer and research analyst Michael Carroll told MMAjunkie. “It could be a really interesting measurable, and I think it’s long overdue.
“We know what arm reach is, we know what a sizable discrepancy is in arm reach. Jon Jones with his 84.5 versus, say, Dan Henderson with 76. That’s a huge difference. But what’s a huge difference in leg reach? I have no idea. It’s going to take a little while on the analytical side of things to figure out what’s a good length in proportion to what weight class you’re in and what’s a sizable discrepancy. A sizable discrepancy in leg reach might be much smaller than arm reach.”
Leg reach will be measured from the hipbone to the heel. Even though measurements for every fighter still need to be gathered, one noticeable aspect is the fact there’s a much narrower gap in leg reach between two opponents as opposed to the arms.
“You’re not going to find as much discrepancy in these numbers as you see in some of the traditional reaches,” said UFC commentator Jon Anik. “When I looked at them for the first time today, the number that jumped off the page is Jack May at 6-foot-8, and his opponent Shawn Jordan is 5-foot-11, and their leg reach is only two-and-a-half inches different.
“I don’t think you’re going to see as big of discrepancies when it comes to the leg reach. It’s an important statistic, because we know how often knees and kicks are employed in mixed martial arts.”
From a broadcasting perspective, Carroll and Anik believe leg reach statistics will only enhance the viewer experience. It’s not yet known how, if at all, the numbers will impact fighter strategy, but the addition adds one more layer for athletes to think about.
“We’ll see if it makes a difference or not,” Carroll said. “It’s far too early to tell, but if there’s a way a fighter can maximize the way that he lands kicks and minimize the way his opponent lands kicks in any way that has to do with their reach, they’re going to look like absolutely striking geniuses.
“We know how fighters like to move and work to get out of someone’s arm reach or inside of their arm reach, but leg reach is totally different. I feel like now more than ever there are more fighters that are kick-based. You look at Edson Barboza and Daron Cruickshank. Kicks are becoming a larger part of the UFC, especially with finishes.”
In the big picture, MMA as a whole is still in its infancy. Whether or not leg reach makes a significant or minimal impact on the sport remains to be seen, but regardless, the introduction of enhanced fighter stats only helps the sport move forward.
“We all have know for some time that the way reach has been measured is somewhat flawed,” Anik said. “From a broadcasting standpoint, it’s all about information. Some people are going to think it’s advanced and cool, and I think other people will think it’s unnecessary.
“It’s going to be interesting to see some of these super long, lengthy guys who are super long for the division. To me, the more numbers the better.”
http://ift.tt/1uB9WAP
Interesting.
Statistics: Posted by Waftist — Aug 15. 2014, 22:30 — Replies 0 — Views 18
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire