The new UFC gloves are now the old UFC gloves.
In April, the promotion announced that it would premiere a new and improved glove that would “feel lighter, fit fighters’ hands better, prevent injuries, and provide maximum flexibility during the fights.” Coined the 3Eight and the 5Eight, the new gloves made their Octagon debut in June, marking the first time the UFC had updated its design since implementing the use of gloves in 1997.
Five months later, the new gloves are officially scrapped. Ahead of the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden on November 16, it was revealed that the UFC would be going back to its original — or classic — gloves.
“The new gloves are now the old gloves,” CEO Dana White said in a surprise announcement ahead of UFC 309 last 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 were not impressed with the UFC’s re-designed glove
White offered little detail on what led the UFC to scrap the new handwear entirely, abysmal reviews from members of the UFC roster likely played a big role in the decision.
“The shape, the curve in your hands, they’re very uncomfortable for me,” Jon Jones said in New York ahead 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?’”
Once the news hit social media, fight fans immediately started pointing the finger at Jones, suggesting that he single-handedly killed the new gloves.
In reality, multiple UFC fighters expressed frustration over the new gloves, including 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 said. “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 provided a much more Strickland-esque assessment of the gloves not long after they were unveiled.
“Yeah, they suck dude,” the ex-middleweight champion said. “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.’”
Also potentially playing into the decision was an 8.5% drop in knockouts between June 1 and November 9 according to Nate Latshaw, a data scientist with a focus on quantitative analysis in MMA.
“I continue to caution against drawing any particularly strong conclusions from the data,” Latshaw told 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.”