From time to time the Association of Ringside Physicians (“ARP”) publish position statements on crucial health and safety issues in combative sports.
Their latest position statement covers all things eye health from pre fight examinations, disqualifying medical conditions and post bout care. In addition to this the statement calls for use of curved MMA gloves. The physicians note as follows:
“Preliminary data presented at the Association of Ringside Physicians’ annual
conference in 2022 looked at eye poke incidence rate between the 3 most common glove types (UFC,
Bellator, and PFL) and found eye poke incidence with Bellator gloves was statistically significantly lower
than both UFC and PFL gloves at the time (p=0.3 and p=0.2 respectively)… it is
safe to assume that eye pokes will continue to occur if fingers are exposed, and further research should be done on glove types that will further reduce the risk of injury.”
The physicians provided the following conclusion on this point “Eye injury prevention measures should include curved-finger MMA glove design to reduce eye pokes“.
The latest position statement is titled “EYE CONDITIONS: POSITION STATEMENT OF THE
ASSOCIATION OF RINGSIDE PHYSICIAN” and can be found here.
Combat Sports Law 