The UFC’s new fight gloves debut at UFC 302, and the lightweight champion has mixed feelings about the complete re-design.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has mixed emotions about the new fight gloves being debuted at UFC 302.
Makhachev is set to defend his title against Dustin Poirier in New Jersey on June 1st, and the event will mark the debut of a new glove the UFC has been working on for months. The re-design was revealed during UFC 300 fight week, and now Makhachev will wear the first golden pair of gloves as befits the champ.
But Islam has some not-so-complimentary thoughts about the new equipment after receiving a pair to train in.
“The new gloves are very stiff,” he said in an interview with Sport 24. “They will cause more cuts, as the previous UFC gloves were softer. These are stiffer. They don’t let you fully open your hand just to make sure the fingers don’t extend straight forward.”
Islam Makhachev is confident that he will keep the belt. He also wants to frame it together with the new gold gloves.
: Sport 24 (YT) pic.twitter.com/Su3xvtaGoq
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 25, 2024
Many fans had hoped the new design would gently curve a fighter’s fingers down to lessen the chance of eye pokes. Now we have Makhachev suggesting these gloves do that too much! He’s also not the first fighter to note that there seems to be extra fabric around the finger holes that could cause more cuts.
“But overall they are pretty much the same,” he concluded. “I am going to frame them next to the belt as the first golden gloves in the UFC. I believe that means a lot.”
We’ll see how the new gloves work out at UFC 302, but we’re not going into this blind. At the end of 2023 the gloves were being tested in training by many UFC fighters, and thus far there’s been nothing but positive reviews regarding the re-design.
But if we witness a bad cut during Makhachev vs. Poirier … well, to say that would cause some drama would be an understatement.