Strickland: UFC 'dropped the ball' with new gloves

Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is not a fan of the promotion's new gloves.

"They suck," Strickland told reporters Wednesday ahead of his UFC 302 bout against Paulo Costa on Saturday, courtesy of MMA Fighting.

The UFC announced a reimagined glove design in April that will launch at this weekend's event in Newark. The new gloves feature several tweaks and aim to reduce cuts and abrasions, eye pokes, and hand injuries. But Strickland, whose fight against Costa will serve as the co-main event, doesn't buy that they're an improved product.

"Can we talk to the person who designed these gloves? Have you ever been in a fight in your f-----g life?" Strickland said. "It's like you get these f-----g dorks who have no idea and they're like, 'Oh, this sounds like a good idea,' and they make it.

"Same thing with motorcycles. I've bought motorcycles and they put so much stupid shit on it. How did you assholes think this was a good idea? So, yeah, they absolutely suck. UFC, you dropped the ball on that one."

Though the UFC addressed the issue of eye pokes with the new glove design, Strickland seems to think that in particular is a lost cause.

"At the end of the day, people f-----g get poked in the eyes because they open their f-----g hands," Strickland said. "Unless you put a boxing glove on, that shit's not gonna stop. It's just people creating a problem that we did not have."

Strickland is not the only fighter to be critical of the new gloves. UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who is scheduled to headline UFC 302 in his third title defense against Dustin Poirier, said recently he believes they will actually cause more cuts because they are stiffer.

Makhachev and Poirier will be the first fighters to wear a new gold-colored glove, which will be the new normal for UFC title bouts.