As if getting back from a 14-month layoff wasn’t difficult sufficient, Tom Aspinall additionally missed the prospect to defend his undisputed heavyweight crown throughout the UFC 321 primary occasion. The battle in opposition to Ciryl Gane was halted simply 4 minutes and 35 seconds into the opening spherical after Gane by accident poked Aspinall in each eyes, in what many followers jokingly known as his greatest Jon Jones impression. Referee Jason Herzog instantly stepped in and known as for medical consideration because the Englishman screamed in ache.
After being examined by two ringside docs, Aspinall was dominated unable to proceed, and the battle was declared a no-contest. Whereas eye pokes have been a recurring problem in MMA for years, the UFC 321 incident has reignited debate over fighter security and the necessity for preventive measures. Curiously, Joe Rogan has beforehand mentioned this drawback on his podcast, proposing potential options to attenuate such accidents, a dialog that has as soon as once more change into related within the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi debacle.
Joe Rogan Known as for a Everlasting Glove Redesign in September 2024 to Get rid of Eye Pokes within the Octagon
In February 2025, Henry Cejudo suffered a brutal eye poke throughout his battle in opposition to Music Yadong halfway by Spherical 3. The previous double champion instantly complained in regards to the ache in his nook, later calling it the worst harm of his complete profession.
It was round that point when a clip from a September 2024 episode of The Joe Rogan Expertise trended on social media. The clip confirmed the UFC commentator providing a sensible resolution to the issue that has plagued the game since 1993. And with the most recent incident at UFC 321, it has change into related as soon as once more.
Throughout JRE MMA Present #163 with Din Thomas, Rogan defined, “I preserve saying it, however I really feel they need to cowl these fingertips. You’ve bought to cowl the fingers. There’s no cause to not cowl the fingers like a foul glove.”
He added, “Simply have a chunk of leather-based that goes over the fingertips, so you might have one factor. It’s not gonna invade your grappling, and it’s not gonna change your placing. It’s not going to vary something.”
Rogan defined that this design would significantly scale back the chance of extreme eye accidents. If a fighter have been to get poked, the glove’s rounded or blunt floor would make contact as a substitute of a naked finger, inflicting a much less harmful, surface-level impression.
He elaborated, “This fashion, no less than when you get poked within the eye, you might be getting a blunt factor, you aren’t getting one thing that goes into your eyeball.”
Rogan concluded with, “Have all of them coated and have a soft-foamed ridge excessive of it. So even in case you are getting poked within the eyes, you aren’t getting a person factor going deep into your eyeball with an eyeball, which is what you get now. You get f***ing fingernails!”
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He additional added {that a} tender, foam-padded ridge throughout the highest would cut back the probability of significant injury, because the padding and never the fingers would take in the contact. Rogan emphasised that the present glove design typically results in harmful conditions the place fighters by accident jab their opponents within the eyes with their fingers and even their nails.
UFC’s Failure to Implement Trevor Whitman’s ONX Glove Design
For the unversed, the UFC had already launched new gloves in April 2024 to assist scale back eye pokes. However by UFC Vegas 102, the promotion reverted to the outdated design. Rogan had beforehand steered adopting coach Trevor Whitman’s ONX gloves, which many imagine to be a safer and more practical different.
Only a reminder that Trevor Wittman designed a greater MMA glove that turns the fingers in however UFC received’t use em as a result of they need to OWN the glove design with out paying for it #UFCVegas21 pic.twitter.com/jS6Ihnp6QT
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 14, 2021
Nevertheless, Dana White and his staff have been unable to succeed in a cope with Whitman to carry them into the promotion. This drawback has been seen repeatedly through the years– from Belal Muhammad’s grotesque harm in opposition to Leon Edwards in 2021 to Travis Browne’s notorious eye poke on Fabricio Werdum at UFC 203.
And now in 2025, it was the primary occasion when a UFC title battle led to a no-contest, with Aspinall being on the incorrect finish of proceedings. Whereas Dana White has not commented on any design change, a revamp is the necessity of the hour.
