Jon Jones counters accusation that he compelled the UFC to make main change to UFC 309… ‘This was not my request’

Earlier this week, it was introduced that the UFC can be ditching their new combat gloves for the upcoming PPV occasion at Madison Sq. Backyard, simply 5 months after their introduction to the game.

As a result of the truth that the brand new gloves had been initially designed to cut back eye pokes, one thing that Jon Jones already has a popularity for within the combat recreation, followers had been fast to accuse the UFC of pandering to ‘Bones’ requests.

The previous combat gloves return at UFC 309, changing these designed to cut back eye pokes

5 months after making their debut at UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier, the brand new combat gloves are being swapped out for the previous design for this weekend’s PPV in New York.

“I’m actually enthusiastic about [using] the previous gloves,” mentioned Jones on the UFC 309 pre-fight media day, explaining how he’d had a significant subject with the brand new design as they left his palms feeling tight and in unnatural positions.

“I bought despatched a pair of the brand new gloves a number of weeks in the past, I attempted them on, and I assumed that they had been tight [around my hand] … I used to suit into XL and within the new gloves, I needed to placed on a 3 XL; the form and the curve of your hand, they had been very uncomfortable for me.

The heavyweight champ admitted he was “really very burdened fascinated about how I’m going to enter combat week sporting gloves that I don’t even need to practice in,” earlier than revealing his sense of aid when matchmaker Hunter Campbell gave him a name to substantiate the change.

“I bought a telephone name and Hunter mentioned, ‘Everybody on this card are veterans, why put a bunch of vets within the new gloves, let’s give guys what you’re used to’ – that was a significant aid to my coach who wraps my palms, it was a significant aid to me as effectively.”

These feedback actually didn’t sit effectively with followers, a lot of whom had been fast to accuse the UFC of pandering to Jones’ requests; particularly given how the brand new gloves had been designed to cut back eye pokes.

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Jon Jones denies requesting that the UFC change gloves for UFC 309

Just a few hours later, Jones was questioned about whether or not he’d particularly requested the UFC to make use of the previous design when he faces Stipe Miocic on Saturday night.

“No, this was not [on] my request, this was model new information to me only a few days in the past [but] I’m glad that he hit me with it – it was relieving.”

If the UFC hasn’t modified the gloves resulting from Jones’ private request, then why has the promotion made the swap for UFC 309?

Nicely, while the brand new gloves had been initially designed to cut back cuts, abrasions and eye-pokes; they could have additionally inadvertently resulted in fewer knockouts being scored.

Knowledge scientist Nate Latshaw not too long ago revealed the outcomes of his statistical evaluation, through which he discovered that KOs had been down 8.5% throughout all UFC weight courses.

The distinction was extra pronounced in male divisions (-8.6%) in comparison with feminine divisions (-7%), though virtually each single weight class noticed their knockout charge drop.

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“The outcomes don’t look nice for followers of KO/TKOs and knockdowns,” said Latshaw, earlier than reminding followers to not take his knowledge as gospel: “I’d nonetheless warning towards drawing sturdy conclusions from these comparisons, partly due to small pattern sizes.”

UFC 309 goes down on Saturday, November 16 dwell from Madison Sq. Backyard.

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