At combat sports, such as boxing and mixed martial arts, having a higher index is often perceived to be beneficial. Fighters such as Jon Jones, whose arm span is 21cm greater than his height, and Conor McGregor have a longer arm span than most of their opponents. This potentially allows them to use their arm span to hit their opponents, whereas their opponents could not hit them. They often use this in their game plan, by keeping their distance, allowing them to cover up (as longer arms allow for a greater area of protection around the upper body) or use it to counter punch them. However, research has shown that the ape index has no influence on who wins or loses MMA bouts, an individual's divisional ranking, or whether or not they are successful in their technique use.