UFC set to make unprecedented change after Justin Gaethje complaint following White House card

The UFC are in negotiations to make a major change following Justin Gaethje's complaints after his win at the White House.

Nine years after making his UFC debut, veteran fighter Gaethje finally realised his dream of becoming undisputed champion in what is one of the sport's most poetic moments.

Nicknamed the 'human highlight reel' Gaethje quickly established himself as a fan-favourite UFC fighter and a serious contender in the lightweight division, challenging for the title on three occasions.

Although he lost both of his first two attempts at the undisputed belt, the American put in a stellar performance to secure a major upset victory over Ilia Topuria on the historic White House card.

Gaethje used his wealth of experience, impressive striking and cardio to secure the biggest moment of his career, and it appears that this success may partly have been due to the UFC making a slight change to his gloves.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience, Gaethje admitted that the current UFC gloves led to him dealing with 'excruciating pain' in a part of his hand, criticising them for how uncomfortable they were.

But at the White House, either intentionally or not, Gaethje's gloves were different, allowing him to relax more during the fight.

“The gloves I fought in this week were different,” Gaethje told Rogan.

“The leather was different. It was a little bit thicker, I think, and so it was softer. And so every time I’ve ever fought, I’ve had the most excruciating pain in between my hands right here, and I didn’t feel that at all this fight.

"This was looser and it was thicker. It’s weird. Better. Better for comfortability. You have no idea how uncomfortable we are, and you’re constantly pulling on the tongue here, trying to get compression."

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Complaining further about the typical gloves, he added: "The thing is, the gloves we’re fighting in now are f*****g terrible. It’s hard to make a fist.

"You have to use your entire muscle of your arm to make a fist. And so by the time we get to the fight, [your forearm is] exhausted. And then the pressure in between your fingers is, like, something you can’t replicate.”

Explaining how the current gloves are responsible for the current eye poking issue that has plagued the UFC in recent months, Gaethje added: “When I’m relaxed and if my hand can be in this [closed] position when I’m relaxed, then I’m okay.

"Then there’s not gonna be as many eye pokes. But when I relax and it goes [open], you’re never gonna take the human reaction and instinct away to protect yourself. And the instinct to protect yourself is [fingers out]. That is the instinct.”

UFC re-enter talks with Trevor Wittman over using new ONX gloves

Following Gaethje's comments, it appears that the UFC may be listening to their new lightweight champion as it has been revealed that the UFC have started discussions with Wittman, Gaethje's coach, about taking on his specially-designed ONX MMA gloves.

UFC fans have long called for the organisation to adopt the gloves, which were designed with special padding and internal strapping to reportedly make it less likely for fighters to damage their hands while punching.

Additionally, the gloves ensure keeping your hand in a fist is much easier, which would in theory end the eye poke issue.

The UFC has previously held talks with Wittman over using the gloves, but the deal fell apart with the promotion instead choosing to use their own new design, which has since been abandoned.

"We've been speaking to Trevor for years ... They wanted like $100 million for the glove," UFC President and CEO Dana White recently confirmed.

After ditching the new gloves and returning to the old ones that Gaethje had been complaining about, it was not expected that the UFC would be addressing the gloves again any time soon.

But Wittman, who appeared alongside Gaethje on Rogan's podcast, has now revealed that this may not be the case as he is set to re-enter talks with the UFC about using the ONX gloves.

“So Hunter reached out to me three weeks ago, four weeks ago, and said he wanted to ignite the conversation again,” Wittman revealed to Rogan. “So we’ll see where that goes.”