A man's fighting ability is written in his face
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A man's fighting ability is written in his face
1–10 of 29 posts
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#2From a survival perspective, there is also research published this month suggesting that a greater face width-length ratio may be part of a facial structure evolved for resistance to punches.
I suspected that might be part of it. It's always amazed me that some people can take incredible punishment (in the form of punches) and not be knocked out. Maurício "Shogun" Rua to name one.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#3My theory is that the more you get hit in the face, the wider your face gets.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#4So my pet theory is that most skills in life come from a bit of early talent + lots of opportunity to practice. From this perspective, a thin-faced fighter with some natural talent and great resources could break this mold and be extremely successful. This to me looks similar to when people started discovering that left-handed pitchers tend to confuse things in baseball.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#5So my pet theory is that most skills in life come from a bit of early talent + lots of opportunity to practice. From this perspective, a thin-faced fighter with some natural talent and great resources could break this mold and be extremely successful. This to me looks similar to when people started discovering that left-handed pitchers tend to confuse things in baseball.
You should pick up a copy of David Epstein's "The sports gene". It covers a lot of the research on talent vs training.
In some sports, like running, it looks like genetic talent accounts for pretty much all of performance.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#6A better title for this research would have been "Steroids seem to help people win fights"
As an MMA coach, I think a more likely explanation is the wider faces correlate to high testosterone, including steroid use, which in turn correlates with more wins in the Octagon due to strength and stamina, not necessarily "fighting ability".
If you want to look at raw fighting ability, take a look at any member of the Gracie family, the best family of martial artists this last century and you will find they generally have skinnier faces.
http://www.bjjee.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/rener-ryron....
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#7My theory is that the more you get hit in the face, the wider your face gets.
While you're probably joking you make a good point. While improbable, maybe the more experienced fighters started earlier in life while their faces were still growing and were shaped accordingly.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#8From a survival perspective, there is also research published this month suggesting that a greater face width-length ratio may be part of a facial structure evolved for resistance to punches. I suspected that might be part of it. It's always amazed me that some people can take incredible punishment (in the form of punches) and not be knocked out. Maurício "Shogun" Rua to name one.
When I read that I immediately thought of BJ Penn. He has a rather wide face for his size. He's never been knocked out, although he was TKO'd by Hughes when held down in the crucifix position in their second fight, but I consider that different than being completely knocked out.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#9It's not mentioned in the article, but Composite A is rotated in a chin-up direction compared to Composite B. The difference is subtle yet distinct. Composite A's head angle appears to project a winning attitude, while Composite B's head angle appears comparatively submissive.
Re: A man's fighting ability is written in his face
#10Seems like they didn't account for weight cutting? Sadly, a lot of efficacy in the ufc today comes down to who can cut more weight and be the bigger fighter. Maybe wide faced people are better at cutting.