Despite being the premier MMA promotion, the UFC has its fair share of problems. But one issue the promotion could address almost immediately is the persistent eye-poke problem. There have been countless examples over the years, but UFC 321 sticks out the most. Ciryl Gane accidentally poked Tom Aspinall in the eye. And the bout was ruled a no-contest, leaving the ‘Honey Badger’ sidelined and in recovery. There is, however, a solution.

Justin Gaethje‘s coach, Trevor Wittman, designed a pair of MMA gloves that address the eye-poke issue. And according to veteran UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, they’re the perfect answer to the problem. Frustrated that the promotion has yet to adopt them, the podcaster called the delay “criminal” during a recent podcast episode. But since then, UFC CEO Dana White revealed why it hasn’t happened yet.

“We’ve been talking to Trevor for years,” White said. “Rashad Evans, whom I love and respect, came to me and said, ‘Hey, listen. I’m invested in this thing. We think that we have a great product here. And I would love to introduce our glove to the Trevor built.’ So we looked at [it]. I literally told my finance team, ‘Get this deal done. Don’t care what it takes.’” 

UFC Hall of Famer Rashad Evans is closely involved with ONX Sports. He has been a key part of the development and testing of their fight gloves. While the company was founded and primarily designed by Trevor Wittman, Evans served as a key tester and prominent ambassador for the brand’s innovative X-Factor gloves. And he was the one who initially introduced the gloves to Joe Rogan as well in 2020 on Rogan’s podcast. 

The main difference between UFC’s current gloves and Wittman’s ONX Sports-branded gloves is that the design promotes a natural fist position, which can reduce eye pokes and improve hand/wrist safety. Around 2021, UFC had expressed interest in acquiring the rights or the brand, but it never actually happened. So, it begs the question, what went wrong?

“They wanted like 100 million dollars for the glove,” White added. “How many f–king gloves [do] you [have] to sell to make 100 million dollars? It’s impossible. So the deal never happened… Denny, the girl who runs that department… she came back to me like cross-eyed, like, ‘I can’t get a deal done with these guys.’ So… that deal should have been done a few years ago. I wanted to do that for Rashad. So we’ll see… 

“I am not confident at all [whether the deal happens]. We’ll fight in the Colosseum before that deal gets done. It’s almost the same money.”

With the “Colosseum” remark, Dana White is referring to a bout he was trying to set up between Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Colosseum. But the venue demanded $150 million to make it happen. In any case, it wasn’t like despite the failure of the deal with Wittman, the UFC didn’t try new things with the gloves. 

UFC’s failed bid to get new gloves and fighter criticism

In 2024, the UFC introduced a redesigned pair of gloves in an effort to address longstanding concerns. However, it did little to alter the negative perception fighters already had of the gloves. Current middleweight champion Sean Strickland, for one, absolutely hated the gloves. 

During a 2024 press conference, he not only criticized the gloves but also the people who designed them. So, just months later, the promotion reverted to its original design, effectively abandoning the new model. At the same time, however, praise for Wittman’s gloves has never stopped coming in. 

For Rogan’s regular podcast viewers, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that he is a big fan of the design. However, he is not the only one.  In 2024, UFC welterweight Sean Brady appeared on Rogan’s podcast and praised Wittman’s overall MMA collection, but singled out the gloves. He claimed that Wittman’s gloves were far superior to the ones UFC uses. 

The matter is simple: UFC has some subpar gloves at the moment. While they want to adopt Wittman’s design, the coach is demanding a $100 million payday for it. This leaves us in a peculiar position. But at the end of the day, the gloves problem isn’t going to stop their events from happening, so if Wittman doesn’t come down, the deal will never happen.