Earlier this week, it was announced that the UFC would be ditching their new fight gloves for the upcoming PPV event at Madison Square Garden, just five months after their introduction to the sport.
Due to the fact that the new gloves were originally designed to reduce eye pokes, something that Jon Jones already has a reputation for in the fight game, fans were quick to accuse the UFC of pandering to ‘Bones’ requests.
The old fight gloves return at UFC 309, replacing those designed to reduce eye pokes
Five months after making their debut at UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier, the new fight gloves are being swapped out for the old design for this weekend’s PPV in New York.
“I’m really excited about [using] the old gloves,” said Jones at the UFC 309 pre-fight media day, explaining how he’d had a major issue with the new design as they left his hands feeling tight and in unnatural positions.
“I got sent a pair of the new gloves several weeks ago, I tried them on, and I thought that they were tight [around my hand] … I used to fit into XL and in the new gloves, I had to put on a three XL; the shape and the curve of your hand, they were very uncomfortable for me.
The heavyweight champ admitted he was “actually very stressed thinking about how I am going to go into fight week wearing gloves that I don’t even want to train in,” before revealing his sense of relief when matchmaker Hunter Campbell gave him a call to confirm the change.
“I got a phone call and Hunter said, ‘Everyone on this card are veterans, why put a bunch of vets in the new gloves, let’s give guys what you’re used to’ – that was a major relief to my coach who wraps my hands, it was a major relief to me as well.”
Those comments certainly didn’t sit well with fans, many of whom were quick to accuse the UFC of pandering to Jones’ requests; especially given how the new gloves were designed to reduce eye pokes.
Jon Jones denies requesting that the UFC change gloves for UFC 309
A few hours later, Jones was questioned about whether he’d specifically asked the UFC to use the old design when he faces Stipe Miocic on Saturday evening.
“No, this was not [on] my request, this was brand new news to me just a few days ago [but] I’m glad that he hit me with it – it was relieving.”
If the UFC hasn’t changed the gloves due to Jones’ personal request, then why has the promotion made the switch for UFC 309?
Well, whilst the new gloves were originally designed to reduce cuts, abrasions and eye-pokes; they may have also inadvertently resulted in fewer knockouts being scored.
Data scientist Nate Latshaw recently revealed the results of his statistical analysis, in which he found that KOs were down 8.5% across all UFC weight classes.
The difference was more pronounced in male divisions (-8.6%) compared to female divisions (-7%), although almost every single weight class saw their knockout rate drop.
“The results don’t look great for fans of KO/TKOs and knockdowns,” stated Latshaw, before reminding fans not to take his data as gospel: “I’d still caution against drawing strong conclusions from these comparisons, in part because of small sample sizes.”
UFC 309 goes down on Saturday, November 16 live from Madison Square Garden.