Meet the new
Ultimate Fighting Championship gloves, same as the old
gloves.
Jones vs Miocic. Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order
Now!
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During the UFC
309 press
conference, UFC chief Dana White
confirmed that the newly designed gloves launched earlier this
year will no longer be in use at this event. Taking it a step
further, White then noted these gloves designed by equipment
company Dyaco would not be worn going forward. The promotion,
effective Saturday, will revert back to the original glove design
it has used for years.
Currently heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones
complained about the new gloves at media day,
stating that they were uncomfortable and required him to go up
several sizes. He later expressed relief that the UFC had gone back
to the original set. During the presser, The Mac Life asked why the
UFC planned on switching back to its previous model at this
event.
“Because…there were a lot of complaints about them,” White
remarked, “we originally created these gloves to stop eye pokes,
and we had good intentions with them. They didn’t work out; people
weren’t happy with them. So, I actually made the decision, called
our Chief Operating Officer Lawrence [Epstein] and said, ‘we’re
switching the gloves. I want the old gloves back.’”
He continued, after responding in the affirmative that this switch
is permanent, “The new gloves are now the old gloves.”
The new gloves first appeared at UFC 302 on June 1, with the goal
to cut down on eye pokes and potentially reduce cranial trauma with
less padding. They also changed the design to put the seam of the
glove on a different location, and altered the wrist attachment as
well in hopes of preventing inadvertent harm from the gloves
themselves.
In a limited sample size of 252 bouts spanning from UFC 302 to UFC
Fight Night 247, victorious fighters knocked out their opponent in
about 22.6% of their bouts. This percentage is well off the UFC
average where roughly 32% of matches end by knockout or technical
knockout. In comparison, the first 213 UFC fights in 2024 saw a
knockout rate slightly under 32%, while plummeting after the new
gloves went into effect. It is unclear if the organization is
leaving these gloves behind because of lower finish rates, an
uncalculated change in eye pokes or another reason.