New UFC Gloves Presentation

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#UFC

working with the best designers
engineers and athletes to introduce a
new revolutionary mixed martial arts
glove this we believe will take the
entire sport of MMA to a new level that
is what we are here to reveal today and
we’ll bring up Duncan French in a few
moments but before we get the details we
have a video that we’d like to show you
to uh get into the process of how this
glove was
created the UFC has always made point to
be first and be at the Forefront of
things then on top of
Technology things have changed so mouth
guards have improved fight shorts have
improved but the glove is the one thing
that has been stagnant for a while
there’s a pretty interesting history
with the glove and it actually goes back
to UFC one and art jerson when he walked
in with a singular boxing glove that
glove is really working against Art
because he can’t grab when UFC started
gloves were optional here they go look
at that K looks totally in control
feeling very confident right
now Melton Bowen was the first person to
feature what we now recognize as a
modern day MMA fingerless glove at UFC 4
the only thing he’s done different from
former boxers is that he’s wearing
gloves that allows you to grab the
gloves became mandatory at ufc1 14 in
1997 in a side mouth aana was the first
official glove technology at the time
was very different for though moo gloves
thick stitching thinner leather thinner
padding poor quality seams and then that
evolved into the glove design that we
have now Dio and Sentry made those
gloves that’s been around for well over
10
[Applause]
years CL it out
here technology has advanced so looking
at the glove we were looking at
everything from the standpoint of where
are we and where do we want to be so can
we reduce eye pokes can we reduce hand
brakes can we reduce lacerations and
cuts make it more comfortable for the
athlete so there was a set of goals
going into this glove redesign when we
started looking for partners we wanted
someone who was not going to be buried
in their preconceived notions of what
the glove should be but would look at it
with an open mind and say what are the
science and data telling us what does
the engineering offer to the glove we
knew we needed to find the right company
to work with us on this project and we
ended up selecting
VIIs Vis is a company that was founded
basically to make a difference in
football by really looking at out of the
box thinking on how we could better
protect head injuries this team in
Seattle is focused on impact mitigation
for football helmets and shoulder pads
and now actually even into baseball
protection UFC had came to us with an
approach of really looking at a glove
really at a start over Point not trying
to evolve the glove they have but really
looking at what would be the best glove
for their Sport and how we could improve
it the current glove that they were
using basically just a chunk of foam a
solid piece wasn’t really developed as a
impact mitigation type of foam it was
just more or less a certain density that
seemed to work well for fighting the
limitation there is you know one how
which it absorbs impact but also it’s
rigid and that was one of probably the
major parts of the glove was that
rigidity wouldn’t allow you to easily
open and close your hand and therefore
you you could have eye pokes or other
just difficulty during fighting so what
we developed was a multi-layer slip
plane system that allowed us to continue
to mitigate those impacts but allow
those slip layers to slide on each other
in use without ever minimizing the
actual offset between your hand and the
outer edge of the glove
it’s a back and forth process with them
to get even to a first sample so does
this technically work does this past
testing what kind of foam do you put in
the foam stack and why and so that back
and forth went on for quite a while it
wasn’t until we got a first sample that
then we started looking at it on
hands we want to be able to test the
glove in reasonable velocities and
forces that it’s actually experienced in
a
fight I can bend my fists wonderfully
and being able to close properly means
that I can get my grapple they’re so
comfortable really I mean compared to
the other gloves one of the biggest
differences is like they already feel
rounded like uh the other gloves felt a
bit stiff we actually went to the UFC
worked with Fighters actually had them
impact load cells and high pressure
systems to basically bring that back to
our lab and correlate that here once
we’ve develop like we had passed the
Laboratory test that we wanted to pass
we had passed the feedback that we had
gotten from the actual UFC team that’s
yeah that’s a lot better than being
stretched we were now able to actually
put together samples with the factory
that could actually be used in a for
real fight we were comfortable that we
had a glove that functioned fit and did
what we wanted to do we then moved into
testing with Contender Series this is
the world’s most exciting job interview
it is Dana White’s Contender series
we used 10 weeks of contender series to
have all athletes fight in the
glove they gave feedback post fight
overall coaches athletes all had great
things to
say so that we were able to then use
that to make any final refinements to
the
glove the final product is something
that we’re extremely excited about it is
a glove that is really going to
revolutionize the MMA fight glove space
some of the changes you’re going to see
on the new glove are there are zero
seams around the hand all of the seams
are on the inside so there’s no place
for a laceration to occur from a seam
the padding and the back of the hand has
been broken into two and essentially the
first pad and that break allow for the
hand to have this movement while the new
layering technology and the main pad
allows for the hands to move and be
flexible ible the layering system inside
Foams are different Foams they allow for
impact dispersion so that you’re not
getting as much impact in a singular
spot on the knuckle so you’re seeing
more uh distribution of the strike
across the hand there’s pads that are on
the bone on the outside of either side
of the hand the new wristband is a
curved ergonomic wristband so it
actually cinches down to the wrist
there’s no more room to put your hand
down in the actual glove and then it’s a
cross function cinch so it also allows
for that tight custom fit to be exactly
how the fighter wants around their wrist
and provides some wrist support the
finger holes used to be cut straight
across the finger we’ve now cut that
down at an angle so that there’s no bulk
under the finger which is allowing you
to close your hands and not fight
against the leather in the hand cool
feature of the new glove is that the
primary glove has gone from black to
gunmetal metallic color and then we have
broken that out into multiple colors
depending on what we’re using it
for the gunmetal that is the primary
that will be in the Octagon for all
fights except for Championship rounds
and in Championship rounds there’s a
brand new gold glove that Gold Glove has
a slight octagon pattern in it and so
elevated and premium for the
championship
rounds there’s also a tough
glove a Dana White Contender series
glove and then a red glove for things
like road to UFC what we wanted to do
with this was create a journey for the
athletes so you might start in the Red
glove you might start in the contender
series glove but until you make it to
the UFC you’re not wearing the UFC glove
as subtle as it may seem to some there
is a lot that has changed in this glove
to improve it for the athletes and make
it more comfortable function for them so
really really excited about
this awesome we are excited indeed great
job by our production team to put that
together and uh Ember Moore to explain
that and just to clarify championship
fights for the gold gloves she mentioned
Championship rounds she meant for all
five rounds of championship fights we’re
going to bring out the senior vice
president of the UFC performance
Institute Duncan French he of course is
uh at the Forefront of MMA technology uh
anything involving our UFC athletes to
the highest level and uh he’ll explain a
little bit more about this exciting
announcement that’s been a project
that’s taken more than five years to
complete so we’re very excited to make
this announcement today it’s been uh
quite a road Duncan hasn’t it absolutely
it’s been uh very exciting and um you
know there’s been many contributors
across the UFC ecosystem that have been
involved in this project from its
Inception many years ago um and it’s
great to get to today where we’re
launching the new gloves so tell uh a
little bit of about what you do uh for
the UFC performance Institute yes so I’m
the senior vice president of the
performance Institute um as many in the
room are aware that’s kind of this the
the high performance service
infrastructure um we support the the
athletes with a variety of different
Services everything from Sports Science
applications through to nutrition it’s
been a busy day for weight Cuts today um
and medical services and then we get
brought into obviously supporting
projects that have been um you know led
by other departments within the UFC here
you know Ember talking in the commercial
products group um about you know
exciting things like gloves and
equipment and um you know ultimately the
performance Institute interacts with the
athletes on a daily basis um we
aggregate information and data and we’ve
been able to do that in this project as
well and something that was mentioned is
that uh the technology has changed so
much and so much has evolved in the
sport but the glove really hadn’t for
the UFC what is your excitement level at
what this brings for the athletes that
you work with yeah I mean as as you saw
in the video the you know the UFC’s had
Evolutions in many aspects of its
operation from you know the Octagon to
to the fightwear to the performance
Institute to you know the way that we
produce the shows and the one thing
that’s really been static for uh you
know 11 10 11 12 years is is the one
critical component of the sport and
that’s the glove so um you know to to go
down this route of of redesign and
Redevelopment I think it’s critical um
you know using our partners in in in
VIIs and Dao and vchain that we can talk
to here momentarily as well um they’ve
all been intimately involved in this
process it’s really been a collaboration
of many Minds coming together for you
know the health and safety of our
athletes the the asset of the UFC that
we have and um you know we want to do
everything to protect them and support
them and and put them in a a health and
safe environment um but also we’ve done
that by bringing you know new technology
and and new information and new um you
know new design to the glove so so when
you think about these gloves and when
you explain it what are the the cool
features that you’re excited about that
really benefits the athletes yeah there
there’s really so many um and and it it
seems very subtle but there there are
lots of aspects to it not not only is
the glove lighter um we’ve moved to a a
universal unisex um sizing approach um
so there’s no longer female and male
gloves it’s it’s a a unisex sizing so
you know we hope that that will have a
better form um with it within the the
glove itself um then you move to kind of
the function and the performance of the
glove and there’s so many cool aspects
to that you know EMB spoke about the you
know the the padding and the slip planes
and um you know the Contour features
that will U mold to the athletes
Knuckles and their hand more adequately
um you know through to you know new
technologies like I mention vchain and
um you know we we’re putting chips into
the into the glove now so that we can
actually authenticate every single glove
as well so whether it’s manufacturing
the design the technology uh the you
know the new age um you know materials
that have gone into the glove it’s it’s
very very exciting can you explain more
about the chip technology so to
authenticate the glove from what I
understand is that each glove will
almost be registered and you’ll be able
to tell which bout they were used for is
there more to the chip technology um
than just the authentication part
absolutely you’ve nailed it there is no
kind of um you know diagnostic part
related to the chip it’s very much an
authentication piece what that means is
that um any athlete that goes into the
Octagon as soon as they put their gloves
on um we can authenticate that glove we
can record that athlete against that
bout um and when they leave the Octagon
um know if a fan wants to purchase or
secure those gloves at any point in that
process we can authenticate the glove um
and ensure that it is you know a title
glove and who wore it whatever that may
be and coming to work at the UFC
performance Institute each day uh while
the athletes were testing them out in
the contender series last season which I
didn’t even know that we were uh you
know kind of covertly testing out this
glove on Dana White’s Contender series
can you go through some of the functions
of the glove that the seams on the
inside and the different uh functions
for Fighters that will benefit them yeah
absolutely and that that’s been the
beauty of the performance Institute
through this process we we’ve taken the
the testimonials and the guidance of the
athletes all the way through um every
step of the way whether it was the
evaluation and interrogation of the old
glove um to understand its pros and cons
and how we’ve used that information um
to then obviously direct the ideation of
the new glove um the athletes have been
engaged throughout that whole process um
you know there’s some really unique
features um I think the you know the
impact pad system which allows the
flexion of the hand to fall into a more
uh natural position I mean the the talk
around um you know I Poes is obviously
very topical and current and nobody
wants to see I Poes in our bouts you
know um it really disrupts the the
Cadence of the production um but the old
glove really had quite stiff foam which
held the hand in a very rigid position
so as athletes were trying to close
their fists throughout a fight that
would fatigue their hand um and
ultimately return this to the position
where the the fingers were outward
facing the new technology that um the
VIIs have brought to the table with our
slip planes um allows the the hand to
sit in a much more natural position so
the fingers now are no longer kind of
facing forwards um we’ve got prot
protection on both sides of the the
glove now was not previously there so
whether it’s those Hammer fists or those
heavy you know overhand punches that
potentially will impact you know second
or fifth metacarpal you know we’ now got
protection around those um the strapping
on the wrist um you know the the the the
nature in which that will now have a
much more secure and tight fit to the
athletes hand mitigating any uh ability
of opponents to to get their fingers
inside there which we we see you know
people are tactical in what they’re
trying to do so yeah we’ve all we’ve
we’ve tried to think about every aspect
of the sport um but the key thing which
we we ultimately wanted to do was not
change the sport in any way shape or
form we didn’t want to see you know
sudden spikes in Knockouts or things
that would reflect hey yeah we’ve got a
new glove but it’s totally changed the
nature of the sport that’s been critical
to the um to the design brief from day
one we don’t want to change the nature
of the sport but we absolutely want to
enhance the the form the fit and the
performance of the glove for the athlet
what do you think will change when we do
watch if you don’t want to like change
the sport or add to the Knockouts or
anything like that uh how do you expect
the fights to maybe go a bit differently
because of the Improvement in the glove
well listen everyone’s ambition is to
you know ensure that we reduce you know
hand breaks or or fractures of the you
know the bones within the hand um
everyone is trying to seek a way to you
know reduce or mitigate eye pokes um you
know the nature of an MMA glove where
your fingers are exposed exposed we’re
never going to be able to take away or
completely eradicate ipes um but
ultimately what want to see is reducing
that significantly and we hope that that
will be the case with the the way in
which the new glove sits we do have some
samples it looks like we’re being uh
well they’re being passed around out
here so you guys can kind of check it
out for yourself what was the decision
process in redesigning the
glove I mean it it starts at the top
with Dana um and everybody else but
ultimately you know when um Ember and
and Tracy’s team in commercial products
who work with the equipment teams and
the the um you know the the cutman that
are doing the hand wraps you know that
there was just a recognition that
there’s not been an evolution um there’s
not been an evolution in this this
critical part of our sport um and I
think that pollinated the momentum
around okay can we explore the
opportunity to to build into a new um a
new glove launch and what’s it like for
you with this process it’s taken more
than 5 years to be involved in I mean
listen I geek out on this stuff you know
I’m I’m a scientist right so um you know
where we take you know data and
information and and scientific
application and really put it into a you
know a a a tool that is used in a very
applied fashion um you know I love that
and I think you know we’ve we’ve been
very thorough in our approach here um
we’ve we’ve lent on some critical
Partners in visis um that have done all
the R&D and the evaluation um and the
ideation and design um we’ve obviously
aligned with our current manufacturers
in Dao to bring this design concept to
life so um you know along the way
whether it’s uh you know Dr Davidson and
the medical team um and their input
whether it’s the performance Institute
and the athletes or whether it’s you
know our partners that we lean on so
importantly um you know this five-year
Journey has been been exceptional and I
think we’ve arrived at a really really
good place we saw Vanessa demopoulos in
the video Julian Arosa giving their
thoughts what has been the consensus
thought um that Fighters keep bringing
back to you in terms of feedback as
they’ve tested it at the pi um yeah the
the overwhelming one has always been how
mobile and flexible it is and how they
can get dexterity in their hands um and
and I think that’s been you heard D
Vanessa excuse me on the on the video
talk about you know I can I can grapple
I can grab I can it’s easy for me to my
to close my fist and clench um and and
that’s been by Design um and I think
that’s been an overwhelming posit
positive that the athletes have have
reported is just the dexterity of the
glove um I think they like the design
features as I say the the reduction in
um you know the seams and and the
removal of some of the stitching so we
we’re minimizing and mitigating those
abrasions and cuts hopefully and also
you know when they’re hitting the bags
that the feel and that they’re reporting
you know the the sensation of force you
know application and how it feels in the
comfort in the glove um was all very
rewarding to us as the you know the team
developing it and then anything that we
learned after they were in actual
competition at Dana White’s Contender
series not just in the training room
yeah so I mean listen I’m I’m sure we’re
all excited that um you know it wasn’t
you know identified that in in series 7
of contender we were actually triling
the new glove but um again that was a
huge success and I think um you know
that information from those hundred or
so Fighters that were in series 7 we’ve
been able to take that data and that
information compare it to the previous
Contender series um you know performance
metrics be that Knockouts finishes you
know those characteristics that you
would think would be impacted or related
to the glove and the nature of the glove
um they’ve all been very static which is
ultimately wanted what we wanted to see
so Series 7 versus the other series no
no difference in the performance metrics
even though the fighters were wearing a
new glove so you know big check in that
box as I say we didn’t want to change
the nature of the sport um but the
athletes coming out of contender in in
in in series 7 again we’re reporting you
know it listen it takes a little bit of
time for people to you know feel a new a
new tool um you know there’s obviously a
behavioral change and figuring out and
what’s the differences but
overwhelmingly positive um across the
board and then uh we’ll open it up for
questions in just a moment but first uh
the last question for me when are we
going to see these new gloves inside the
oct for the first time yeah absolutely
so um obviously today we’re excited to
launch the glove um the glove will be
worn in live combat in UFC at Newar for
UFC 302 um on June 1st so what we will
be doing starting tomorrow um with the
athletes that are on that new YK card
they will be receiving um you know the
the new glove to essentially practice in
the glove for the next two months going
into New York all right and that’s when
fans will be able to purchase those as
well my friend Tracy just told me and
the leadup to UFC 302 in Newark does uh
any of our media friends have any
questions for Duncan French Jose I got
one um I’m sorry apologies if you
already answered this but um I on the
sheet we got I noticed that uh it’s a
one it’s like a one and a half pound
difference from the current glove so or
ounces I should say so I guess what one
entered the thought to kind of reduce
the weight of these clothes well the
reduction in weight was was kind of a a
two two-part response to your question
ultimately what we found in the
interrogation of the old glove that
there was a lot of excess material um
whether that was underneath the fingers
that again restricted the ability to
make a fist and clinch or whe that was
kind of on some of the exterior parts
around the Palm so by being able to take
away material being able to take away
the extra leather we’ve also been able
to reduce the the weight okay um but
ultimately we wanted a much more
streamlined fit and a much more form fit
um and you know we’re now working with
impact molded foam rather than hand cut
foam um so we we have much more
consistency across all of our sizing so
when athletes are coming to use the
glove yes the reduction in weight is
related to our ability to redesign and
remove some of the uh the fat off the
bone a little bit kind of going off of
that it also says it’s going to be
between 3 and 4.99 ounces rather than
just four across the board is that just
because of the size of correct yeah I
mean listen we’ve got a uh I think a 4xs
through to a 3XL so you know by Nature
it’s just a bigger hand we have to use
more material but it you know the the
difference between the actual weights
from the smallest to the largest size
has also been reduced on that Delta so
that’s another important point to
make you mentioned uh the data from kind
of fueld testing it in the contender
series did you see a decrease in I Poes
so I Poes is an interesting one in as
much as um you know recently we’ve we’ve
seen a lot of iOS there’s about 36 ioses
uh on a yearly basis as an average since
2019 19 in the UFC um an ipoke happens
about every 14 fights um and the average
duration of a of a stoppage from ipoke
is about 50 seconds U but that can be up
to five minutes as we well know and
about can be finished so I Poes are a
very interesting topic when we’ve looked
at the information and again leaning on
our colleagues with within UFC stats in
3027 that that you know record all this
information for us um the the
information around I Pooles from series
1 through six of the Contender was
significantly greater than Series 7 so
we actually saw a a reduction in ioes in
that seventh series when we wearing the
glove now again we hope that that is a
consequence of the redesign and the
nature of the glove um but we’re all
watching moving forwards to ensure that
this is going to be the case you
mentioned kind of wanting to see a
static result from some of the other
comparisons uh I’m curious like what
would it have looked like would you have
seen like an increase in Knockouts or
increase in Knockouts would you have
seen that as an indication correct yeah
I mean if if we change the nature of a
foam um or the construct of a glove um
and now that glove is impacting an
athlete um you know the last thing we
would want to see is a huge Spike or an
elevation in Knockouts that are
consequent to the way we’ve redesigned
the materials in the glove so that’s
actually a very tricky um design brief
that we gave to visist in as much as we
don’t want anything in the sport to
change regarding finishes or stoppages
or Knockouts but we really want to
improve you know the the safety um in as
much as can we distribute the pressure
of the the forces across the hand in a
different way um can we reduce the cuts
and abrasions as I’ve spoke to so um yes
there were certain performance metrics
that we just wanted to be static because
at the end of the day MMA is MMA and we
don’t really want to change that any way
shape or form by ultimately changing the
tool that is involved within the fight
actually I have one more uh how if at
all will this affect uh hand wraps like
before the fights yeah I mean as I’ve
mentioned it’s more of a a a streamline
and lowprofile um glove it fits the
athletes hands much more accurately so
there will be a small adaptation to the
hand wraps and again we’re connected
with all the cutmen to do that the
cutmen have been you know a number of
the cutmen have been involved intimately
throughout this whole process so you
know what we’re expecting is that the
need for excessive amounts of taping and
handw
um will will be reduced somewhat because
the fit um of the glove will be much uh
much more
accurate any other questions oh Alex go
ahead uh what’s the Red glove being used
for so the Red glove is for events like
uh the road to UFC in Asia or if we have
other um UFC assets that come online we
would potentially use the Red glove for
that thank
you anybody else
Duncan French great job thank you very
much great job Ember on the video uh and
thank you everybody for joining us for
this uh exciting time UFC 302 in Newark
we’ll see these new gloves in action
have a great
weekend e