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I need some expert´s support for doing a piece of fiction. I am working on a scene between two fighters, fighting each other about a matter of honour. They are both trained in mixed martial arts and agreed on a fight without any weapons, but before the fight starts, one of them is discovered to have brass knuckles with him, hidden somewhere under his clothes. I need the other one to ask for some kind of compensation (the brass knuckles will be taken away anyway) and was wondering if handwrappings make only sense if you´re going to wear boxing gloves in addition or if they would allow him to hit harder with less risk for the fighter and give him an advantage by that. I´ve been taking Wing Tsun lessons for a while,but I have no experience with full contact fighting without any protection gear or boxing. Can anyone assist ?

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    Hand wrappings are commonly used to practice hitting a bag. The goal is to strenghten the wrist and protect the knuckles. However, they could reduce the mobility of the wrists and fingers, which might in turn impair a wearer that intended to perform grappling manoeuvers, as is often the case in MMA. But yes, they would allow for stronger hits because of the wrist protection they offer.
    – Dungarth
    Commented Jan 5, 2013 at 4:29

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The hands are taped in both boxing and MMA to protect the hand/wrist. A fighter might hold back and not use his/her full striking power when not using handwrappings in order to avoid injury.

So if the fight was agreed to be bareknuckle without tape, being allowed to use tape would be advantageous.

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    I would suggest that this is because of a crucial difference between boxers/MMA fighters and traditional martial artists - while boxers & MMA fighters spend a lot of time hitting a bag they don't spend a lot of time conditioning the knuckles like traditionalists do (maybe some of the old school MMA fighters do, but only because they come from a traditional background).
    – slugster ♦
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 11:37
  • Its probably because boxers and mixed martial artists spend a lot of time ACTUALLY HITTING PEOPLE in the head, unlike "traditionalists". The tape is there not to prevent skin lacerations on the knuckles, but to stop wrist fractures from punches that hit the head with the ring/pinkie knuckles instead of the pointer/index.
    – GHP
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 19:52

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