UFC president Dana White has commented on the ongoing problem the UFC faces with eye-pokes, due to gloves forcing fingers to stick out.
UFC 159 was one of the most gruesome events in UFC history, including Jon Jones' broken toe, two technical decisions following eye pokes, and some other nasty injuries. Two fights were stopped as the result of the accidental eye-pokes, including a co-main event between middleweight fighters Michael Bisping and Alan Belcher. The fight went to decision after Belcher was poked and was unable to continue fighting.
Dana White, UFC president, spoke about the promotions solution to the problem.
"We actually have started to work on a new glove that actually curves your hand," UFC President Dana White said. "Like the glove is curved like a 'U,' so you can still open your hand, but your fingers don't point straight out."
"Let's say you had gloves with fingers on them, you could still poke people in the eye with them," he said. "With a boxing glove, they used to have problems back in the 70's and maybe early 80's with guys getting thumbed in the eye. Those old Everlast gloves used to look like a lobster claw, and guys used to get thumbed all the time, then they made the attached thumb to it. I just don't know how you would do it in MMA with the grappling."
Although many look to the gloves as the problem, White has insisted that the fault is in the fighters themselves.
"Guys need to keep their damn hands closed," he said. "You can't reach out toward the face with the hands open in a fight. You can't do it."
The UFC has admitted the process is in the early stages, but actions are being taken against the eye-poking problem the sport faces.
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