Dana White reveals $100m problem to introduce huge UFC change that Joe Rogan craves

Dana White wants new gloves in the UFC, but has revealed the ones he desired would cost $100million.

The UFC has needed a shake-up in the gloves they use for years now to enhance flexibility, reduce eye pokes and protect fighters from hand injuries.

UFC

The problem

In April 2024, the promotion introduced newly designed gloves to tackle the aforementioned problems, with special gold versions brought in for championship bouts.

However, ten months later, the gloves were scrapped because ‘there were a lot of complaints’ according to UFC CEO White, including from Jon Jones, who successfully pleaded for the promotion to revert to the old ones before facing Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.

MMA fans and big personalities in the sport were confused at the time as to why the UFC hadn’t reached an agreement to bring in gloves created by Justin Gaethje‘s coach Trevor Wittman.

For a while, Wittman’s ONX gloves have been viewed as a solution to the problem, and many, including UFC commentator Joe Rogan, have aired their frustrations at them not being used

Before the UFC brought in the failed new design, the promotion had reportedly been in conversations to bring in Wittman’s set, but a deal collapsed, and we now know why.

“We’ve been talking to Trevor for years,” White explained in a Las Vegas press conference after Manel Kape’s record-breaking knockout of Kyoji Horiguchi this past weekend.

“[UFC Hall of Famer] Rashad Evans, whom I love and respect, came to me and said, ‘I’m invested in this thing, we think that we have a great product here and I would love to introduce our glove that Trevor built.’

“We looked at it all and I literally told my finance team, ‘Get this deal done. I don’t care what it takes. Get the deal done.’

“[But] they wanted like $100m for the glove. You know how many f***ing gloves you gotta sell to make $100m? It’s impossible.

“So the deal never happened… that deal should’ve been done a few years ago, I wanted to do that for Rashad. So we’ll see.”

PowerfulJRE

PowerfulJRE

The solution

White had been asked about Wittman’s gloves as the latter appeared alongside Gaethje on Rogan’s podcast last week, following his man’s historic victory over Ilia Topuria at UFC White House.

Rogan has pleaded with UFC CEO White for years to introduce the gloves and felt obliged to get an update on the situation from Wittman.

“Hunter [Campbell] reached out to me four weeks ago and said he wanted to ignite the conversation again, so we’ll see where that goes,” Wittman responded.

Rogan then explained the unique selling point of Wittman’s gloves.

“The difference between Trevor’s gloves and everybody else’s gloves is that they’re curved,” Rogan said.

“The regular UFC gloves are not, they’re straight. So these gloves promote a natural punching position, and when you put them on, they’re damn near perfect.

Wearing the glove, he continued: “Oh my god, you don’t even need hand wraps.

“This is so superior to the UFC gloves. The fact this isn’t being used by the UFC right now is f****** criminal.”

Wittman remained confident on finalising a deal with the UFC soon after previous talks collapsed, as he concluded: “We’re gonna get it done.”

Of course, Wittman may have to come down on his $100m valuation to get his gloves in the UFC.

But it’s still a major issue the promotion faces, and White, obviously, wouldn’t necessarily need to ‘sell’ pairs to reap the rewards of the gloves.