Joe Rogan says it is “f***ing criminal” that Trevor Wittman’s curved MMA gloves are not being used by the UFC, after Wittman revealed on Rogan’s podcast that UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell recently reached out to restart conversations about the design.
Wittman described the outreach during the podcast appearance.
Hunter reached out to me three weeks ago, four weeks ago, and said he wanted to ignite the conversation again so we’ll see where that goes.
Rogan tried the gloves on during the episode and was immediately impressed.
This is so superior to the UFC gloves. I mean the fact that this isn’t being used by the UFC right now is f***ing criminal.
The key difference between Wittman’s design and standard UFC gloves is that they are curved, meaning a fighter’s hand naturally forms a fist rather than having fingers extended — the position that causes most eye pokes. Wittman said the UFC has previously worked with him and incorporated some of his ideas, but he believes they were unable to fully execute his design.
The renewed interest comes in the wake of Tom Aspinall’s title defense being ended by an accidental eye poke at UFC 321 in October, which sidelined the heavyweight champion for months.