The UFC has announced a major wardrobe change ahead of UFC 309 this weekend.
The penultimate PPV event of the year goes down on Saturday night, headlined by a heavyweight title bout between champion Jon Jones and legend Stipe Miocic.
However, there will be one noticeable difference for all fighters on the card, as the promotion has decided to revert back to the old style of fight gloves instead of the new style introduced earlier this year.
Seasoned MMA journalist Ariel Helwani was the first to report the news, although the reason for the change is still unknown.
The new gloves were introduced in April in a bid to reduce hand injuries and eye pokes (which happened every 14 fights with an average delay of 50 seconds), while maintaining dexterity and not affecting performance.
“We have been working on these gloves over the past few years with the best designers, engineers, and athletes in the world,” said UFC CEO and President Dana White at the time.
“This redesign will truly be a game changer for the entire sport of MMA. These gloves will feel lighter, fit fighters’ hands better, prevent injuries, and provide maximum flexibility during the fights. You’ll start to see these in competition this summer.”
The 4oz weight of the gloves was kept but updates were made to the seams, padding, wristband, and finger holes. They also came in five different colors, with gold gloves with an octagon trim being used for championship fights and main event bouts.
A few athletes were critical of the new gloves when they first introduced at UFC 302 in New Jersey, including lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and former middleweight champ Sean Strickland.
“They absolutely suck,” Strickland said before his UFC 302 fight. “UFC, you dropped the ball on that one.”
Some fans speculated that the rate of knockouts dropped since the introduction of the new style of gloves.
Many assumed that was pure conjecture, but according to MMA Junkie, there is some merit to that theory.
According to data they’ve collected, the UFC knockout rate has dropped from around the 31-34 per cent range to 22.9 per cent since the advent of the new gloves.
During that same span, the decision rate of fight has reportedly increased by 11.5 per cent.
In the last three weeks, there have been only three knockouts, including Ilia Topuira’s devastating finish of Max Holloway – bad news for a business looking to make big bucks off flashy KOs.
Others speculated that ‘Bones’ himself may have had a hand in the glove change.
The 37-year-old MMA legend has a long history of eye-pokes inside the octagon.
Jones would often use his reach advantage and lean into his opponent with his outstretched arm and hand, inadvertently poking their eyes.
The former two-time Light Heavyweight champion once joked it was his ‘favorite technique’ but later admitted it was just a coincidence and he ‘doesn’t train to poke people in the eyes’.
Nevertheless, fight fans have joked Jones is responsible for the reintroduction of the old style of gloves for UFC 309.
“They want Jones to have every opportunity to poke Stipe in the eyes,” one fan cheekily posted.
“Jon needs em for old times sake,” added another, along with a photo of Jones poking Glover Teixeira in the eye.
“It’s not a Jon Jones fight without an egregious number of eye pokes, added a third.
Jones returns to the cage over a year after stepping up to heavyweight at UFC 285 and submitting Ciryl Gane to capture the vacant heavyweight strap.
His career-defining bout with Miocic was initially booked for UFC 295 in November 2023, but fell apart when Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle in training.
Now, ‘Bones’ is back for the legacy bout which takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 16.