Following years of criticizm and a call for a revamp design, it appears the UFC are set to debut a new glove design at this weekend’s UFC 287 pay-per-view event in Miami, Florida – in a bid to reduce unintentional eye pokes and fouls.
Slated to return to the ‘Sunshine State’ this weekend, the Octagon is slated to feature an undisputed middleweight championship rematch between current division kingpin, Alex Pereira, and former champion, Israel Adesanya – in a re-run of their bitter championship fight back in November of last year at Madison Square Garden.
In the event’s co-headliner, one-time welterweight title challenger, Gilbert Burns makes his second outing of the annum already, taking on former two-time title chaser, Jorge Masvidal – with the latter attempting to rebound to the winner’s enclosure for the first time since 2019 in front of a partisan hometown crowd.
Gilbert Burns backs new glove design ahead of UFC 287
And during fight week, Rio de Janeiro native, Burns displayed what appear to be new mixed martial arts gloves set to be donned by fighters at UFC 287 this weekend in the promotion’s flagship event, in a bid to help reduce the occurrence of eye pokes.
“I love it, because people don’t see, but it kind of makes your fingers go down, so less eye pokes,” Gilbert Burns said during UFC 287 Countdown about apparent new gloves. “So, I like it, see my hands are relaxed – [the fingers] don’t stay here [outstrected]. Way better for no eye pokes. I like these new gloves.”
Attempting to avenge a knockout loss to Pereira back in November of last year, Adesanya will feature at UFC 287, in search of a return to winning ways at the middleweight limit for the first time in his mixed martial arts career.
And sporting non-champion shorts for the first time since 2019 in the UFC 287 headliner, Adesanya has opted to don a pair of blue-colored compression shorts for this weekend’s Miami-Dade Center main event.