Why so few elbows?

[cfr]

I am by no means an MMA authority or expert of any sort, so please forgive my ignorance.


I've been wathing a lot of UFC's lately and I really dont see much use of elbows. This is shocking as MA's like Muay Thai and Krav Maga frequently boast about the impact this tool can have on an opponent. Even when two fighters are standing in the clinch up against the cage, relatively few are thrown. Any thoughts as to why this is?

 

[Andrew Green]

There are lots of elbows... on the ground

They do get thrown in the clinch, but not as often. If you're not careful bringing your elbow out of position like that can get you thrown. Clinch work in MMA is rather different then it is in Muay Thai.

 

[cfr]

There are lots of elbows... on the ground

Good point.... I should have qualified this with "standing elbows".

 

[Jagermeister]

I think Green hit the nail on the head.

 

[DavidCC]

I would like to see a rule change regarding elbows to the head. It seems that cutting with the elbows has become a strategy for winning the fight. Maybe some mandatory pad on the elbow to prevent the cuts while still allowing the strikes? ... it just seems like a "cheap" win. Elbows hurt enough without the cutting!

 

[Andrew Green]

The downside in that would being on the bottom of guard would not be anywhere near as big of a threat anymore.

A cut in the wrong place is a fight ending blow, once blood gets into the eye you can't see, and once you can't see it's all over.

 

[7starmantis]

I think Andrew has a good point about being thrown, but there are elbows thrown quite often. I think its just the intensity of the fighting doesn't allow for much repeat techniques. I good fighter will catch on quick if I do the same thing over and over...that could land me on the ground or knocked out.

7sm