It appears like no person was a fan of the UFC’s new and “improved” gloves.
After being introduced in April 2024, the promotion’s 3Eight and 5Eight gloves have been formally deserted, as introduced by play-by-play man John Gooden as Saturday’s combat card in Las Vegas went reside.
“One note starting tonight and moving forward, all fighters will return to using the old gloves, not the ones recently introduced,” Gooden confirmed.
The UFC revealed plans to return to the previous gloves in 2025, however that didn’t go into full impact till lately when manufacturing was in a position to produce sufficient of the previous gloves for use in any respect occasions. Earlier than that, the UFC had been using the previous gloves on pay-per-view occasions, however utilizing the newer design for Battle Evening playing cards.
The brand new gloves had been first utilized in June at UFC 302. 5 months later, their destiny was sealed by UFC CEO Dana White.
“Because there were a lot of complaints,” White stated concerning the new gloves in November. “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 I’m switching the gloves, I want the old gloves back.”
Josh Barnett suggests one other glove design for the UFC that’s already been confirmed to work fairly properly
The choice to return to the previous gloves obtained a lot fanfare from UFC fighters new and previous. Just lately, former heavyweight champion Josh Barnett supplied his tackle the debacle, suggesting that the promotion ought to look to design a glove just like the kind utilized in PRIDE.
“Maybe they’ll start on developing a PRIDE styled glove and have something truly top class,” Barnett wrote on X. “Even the standard gloves that they’ve been using for so long have a lot that can be improved. I know when I fought in them I didn’t really like them. The OG Boxergenics glove I felt were better.”
