Reddit mentions of Fight Like a Physicist: The Incredible Science Behind Martial Arts (Marial Science)

I'm not a WC practitioner, just find the topic interesting. But I recently read a book about the physics of martial arts that made an interesting point about gloves.

It said there are two ways to do strikes: by emphasizing momentum, or by emphasizing energy (i.e. physical energy, not woowoo "energy").

Momentum is mass velocity. A momentum strike has a lot of mass behind it but doesn't necessarily have to move super fast. The point of it is to transfer momentum to your opponent, moving their body. It's how you knock people out, by rotating their head. Gloves don't reduce the effect of momentum strikes.

Energy is mass the square of velocity. Since velocity is squared but mass isn't, an energy strike emphasizes high speed over getting a lot of weight behind the strike. The point of an energy strike is to do local tissue damage. Gloves dramatically reduce the effectiveness of energy strikes, by spreading out the area and time of impact.

My impression as an outsider is that WC strikes are more on the energy side of the spectrum; if that's true, then maybe the glove objection would have some validity. Boxing and muay thai are heavily momentum-based, which explains why competitors with gloves always end up using those types of strikes.

(Feel free to call me the worst neckbeard, here I am talking about geeky physics and I don't even practice WC.)