For years people have been calling for UFC to fix its flawed glove design. According to Gilbert Burns, the new gear finally stops extending your fingers outward.
After years of complaints, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is finally modifying its official fight glove design … ever so slightly.
During the new Countdown to UFC 287 special (watch it here), cameras caught Gilbert Burns trying on the new glove, which curves slightly at the knuckle and encourages a fighter’s fingers to rest in a half-open position. It’s a similar design that many other mixed martial arts (MMA) gloves have utilized for years to keep fingers from resting out-stretched, where they often end up in an opponent’s eyes.
“I love it because people don’t see, but it kind of makes your fingers go down, so less eye pokes,” Burns said, modeling the new gear. “So I like it, see my hands are relaxed, [the fingers] don’t stay here. Way better for no eye poke. I like these new gloves.”
Indeed, each time a UFC fight has been marred because of serious eye pokes, social media has come alive with fans and fighters questioning why the promotion continued to use the same stiff leather gloves that actually pulled fighters’ fingers into an out-stretched position. It only took years and years of complaints for UFC to address the issue and make the minor change so the glove curves to stop this.
While a glove redesign has been well overdue, it’s unfortunate that UFC hasn’t switched to an even better glove that already exists. Coach Trevor Wittman developed a special MMA glove that not only has a curved knuckle, but a bunch of other bells and whistles that provide much more protection for the hand and wrists.
Every MMA fighter who has used the glove seems to rave about it.
Unfortunately, UFC reportedly isn’t interested in using the glove unless it can own the design. So, for now, we’ll have to live with this very slight change in the curvature of the old gloves.
Progress, right?
The new gear will make its debut at UFC 287 this weekend (Sat., April 8, 2023) inside Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Florida. Gilbert Burns takes on Jorge Masvidal in the pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, while Israel Adesanya attempts to reclaim his Middleweight title from Alex Pereira in the main event.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 287 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 287: “Pereira vs. Adesanya 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.