Dustin Poirier is one of the few Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters to speak positively about the organization’s new gloves so far.
UFC introduced new gloves at UFC 302 on June 1. The gloves are designed to reduce eye pokes, which are rampant in the sport, among other issues.
Poirier liked his new gloves because he felt he could clench his fists better than he had before. However, he pointed out that the padding was thinner, as he still showed off badly bruised knuckles nine days after his fight with Islam Makhachev. Poirier also reflected that despite landing 178 significant punches in his 2019 interim lightweight title win over Max Holloway, his knuckles were not as damaged as they were when he only landed 74 punches against Makhachev. Poirier shared his thoughts about his new gloves during an appearance on “The MMA Hour.”
“I like them. My hands are a little sore,” Poirier said. “They’re thin and my hands aren’t healed yet, but I like them because I can make a good fist. It was really hard to make a fist with my other gloves…I got a lot of wear on my knuckles against Max because of all the balls he threw, but I’ve never had any cuts this deep…it’s different.” [the gold color]I don’t care. I see people talking bad about it. To each their own. I liked it and thought it was cool.”
