The brand new UFC gloves at the moment are the previous UFC gloves.
In April, the promotion introduced that it might premiere a brand new and improved glove that may “feel lighter, fit fighters’ hands better, prevent injuries, and provide maximum flexibility during the fights.” Coined the 3Eight and the 5Eight, the brand new gloves made their Octagon debut in June, marking the primary time the UFC had up to date its design since implementing the usage of gloves in 1997.
5 months later, the brand new gloves are formally scrapped. Forward of the promotion’s return to Madison Sq. Backyard on November 16, it was revealed that the UFC could be going again to its unique — or traditional — gloves.
“The new gloves are now the old gloves,” CEO Dana White stated in a shock announcement forward of UFC 309 final weekend. “You know what, there were good intentions with the new gloves. We spent a lot of time, energy, and money on them. … It didn’t work out and it is what it is” (h/t ESPN).
A slew of UFC fighters weren’t impressed with the UFC’s re-designed glove
White supplied little element on what led the UFC to scrap the brand new handwear totally, abysmal critiques from members of the UFC roster seemingly performed a giant function within the determination.
“The shape, the curve in your hands, they’re very uncomfortable for me,” Jon Jones stated in New York forward of his heavyweight headliner with Stipe Miocic. “I was actually really stressed thinking, ‘How am I going to go into fight week wearing these gloves that I don’t even really want to train in?’”
In actuality, a number of UFC fighters expressed frustration over the brand new gloves, together with No. 3 ranked flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield.
“I wasn’t opposed to the new gloves when they announced they were coming, but when I saw them, I didn’t like how they looked,” Blanchfield stated. “I didn’t like the design, and the colors looked tacky and cheap. They looked like something you can buy from a sporting goods store.”
Sean Strickland offered a way more Strickland-esque evaluation of the gloves not lengthy after they had been unveiled.
“Yeah, they suck dude,” the ex-middleweight champion stated. “I don’t know who, like can we talk to the person who designed these gloves; have you ever been in a fight in your f*cking life? It’s like you get these f*cking dorks that have no idea [and] they’re like ‘Oh this sounds like a good idea, and they make it.’”
Additionally probably enjoying into the choice was an 8.5% drop in knockouts between June 1 and November 9 in accordance with Nate Latshaw, an information scientist with a concentrate on quantitative evaluation in MMA.
UFC glove information replace previous to #UFC309
This determine compares KO/TKO and knockdown charges between the previous gloves (going again to the start of 2023) and new gloves (the final ~5 months) each total and by weight class.
The outcomes don’t look nice for followers of KO/TKOs and… pic.twitter.com/4Tka0oFO7Y
— Nate Latshaw (@NateLatshaw) November 14, 2024
“I continue to caution against drawing any particularly strong conclusions from the data,” Latshaw instructed ESPN. “I’m looking at all knockdowns and all knockouts, which is really not a good way to study the impact of the gloves because I’m including knockouts and knockdowns that come from head kicks, elbows, knees, things like that where the gloves aren’t impactful.”
