Just five months after the UFC debuted a new design for gloves used in fights, the promotion is returning to the previous version moving forward.
Ahead of UFC 309 on Saturday, fighters were informed that they would be using the older version of the gloves but it was unclear at the time if that was a one-time move or something more permanent. UFC CEO Dana White then announced during the pre-fight press conference on Thursday that it was actually his decision to return to old gloves after discovering that many fighters were not happy with the new design.
“Because there were a lot of complaints,” White said about the gloves. “We originally created these gloves to stop eye pokes and we had good intentions with them. They didn’t work out. People weren’t happy with them.
“So I actually made the decision. Called our chief operating officer Lawrence [Epstein] and said I’m switching the gloves, I want …