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Topics: UFC, MMA, Dana White
Chris Byfield
UFC light heavyweight star Khalil Rountree Jr. explained why the promotion abandoned their new glove design after just seven months.
Between April and November 2024 fighters were donning new constructed UFC gloves, that were designed in the hope of reducing eye pokes and hand injuries.
However, within months the UFC reverted back to the old design, with it having been rumoured that Jon Jones had pushed the promotion to get rid of the new gloves. Others suggested the abrupt change had come due to a sudden reduction in knock outs.
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But Rountree revealed that the redesigned gloves were dismissed due to one significant issue - logos were peeling off of them.
While seemingly innocuous, Rountree explained the chipped logos were a hazard to fighters.
“The main thing was that because of the leather, the logos weren’t sticking,” Rountree said on The Joe Rogan Experience. “So the logos were peeling off, peeling off, peeling off.
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“I’m telling you, we tried hundreds of different ways to get the UFC logo printed on the gloves so that they will not come off in the octagon.
“From me testing it on the canvas, doing live situations, sparring, rubbing it in the cage, it just wouldn’t [stay on].
“It has nothing to do with the knockouts. It’s that every time when the fighters come to return a pair of gloves or whatever or even in the fight, it’s peeling off or chipping off and that’s a hazard if it gets in your eye.
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“It’s more about the safety of the fighters, not like, ‘We need more knockouts, change the gloves.’
“It’s more that the logo wasn’t adhered to and it doesn’t look professional to have these guys fighting a championship fight and then here’s this guy raising his hand and there’s no UFC logo on the glove. It all gets worn off.”