Abstract
Performers with a left-orientation have a greater likelihood of obtaining elite levels of performance in many interactive sports. This study examined whether combat stance orientation was related to skill and success in Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Data were extracted for 1468 mixed martial artists from a reliable and valid online data source. Measures included fighting stance, win percentage and an ordinal measure of skill based on number of fights. The overall analysis revealed that the fraction of fighters using a southpaw stance was greater than the fraction of left-handers in the general population, but the relationship between stance and hand-preference is not well-understood. Furthermore, t-tests found no statistically significant relationship between laterality and winning percentage, although there was a significant difference between stances for number of fights. Southpaw fighters had a greater number of fights than those using an orthodox stance. These results contribute to an expanding database on the influence of laterality on sport performance and a relatively limited database on variables associated with success in mixed martial arts.
Highlights
Laterality refers to a preference for one side of the body over the other, most commonly reflected in right- or left-handedness
The negative perceptual frequency hypothesis proposes that these players have an advantage in sports where athletes must rapidly respond to dynamic environments, such as tennis and fencing, because the decision-making heuristics athletes use to anticipate their opponent’s actions are based on an extensive duration of training and competition against righthanders with comparatively less exposure to left-handers [4,5,6]. Support for this proposed mechanism comes from reviews showing that laterality effects are restricted to sports where performers are required to interact with opponents and not in non-interactive sports
We consider whether laterality as represented by fighting stance varied with skill level and influenced performance outcomes in mixed martial arts (MMA), a combat sport that integrates grappling sports like wrestling, jui-jitsu and judo with striking sports like boxing, karate, taekwondo, and kick-boxing
Summary
Laterality refers to a preference for one side of the body over the other, most commonly reflected in right- or left-handedness. The negative perceptual frequency hypothesis proposes that these players have an advantage in sports where athletes must rapidly respond to dynamic environments, such as tennis and fencing, because the decision-making heuristics athletes use to anticipate their opponent’s actions are based on an extensive duration of training and competition against righthanders with comparatively less exposure to left-handers [4,5,6] Support for this proposed mechanism comes from reviews showing that laterality effects are restricted to sports where performers are required to interact with opponents (e.g., tennis and ice hockey) and not in non-interactive sports (e.g., swimming, gymnastics and archery [1]). Given the greater success of left-oriented performers in many sports, we hypothesized that left-oriented fighters would have higher winning percentages than right-oriented fighters
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