10 Controversies The UFC Wants You To Forget

2. Bare Knuckles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhTV4INX6D8 Due to the lack of gloves used in most martial arts, gloves were optional for any fighter who wanted to use them in the early UFC. As the only gloves available at the time were boxing gloves, most fighters chose either fight with their hands taped or with plainly bare knuckles. The disadvantage to bare knuckles was that the fighters were more likely to injure their hands if they actually got in a slug fest. The first fighter to actually wear a glove (notice the singular) was boxer Art Jimmerson who wore one at UFC 1 when he faced Royce Gracie. The second fighter to wear gloves and the first to wear what are now known as UFC gloves was David "Tank" Abbott who wore what were referred to at the time as grappling gloves. As part of the move towards sanctioning, MMA gloves became mandatory at UFC 14. The gloves used were based on the gloves that promotion Shooto had been using since it's inception in 1985. These are now all too recognizable with the UFC, especially with the UFC now selling their own line of the gloves. What the MMA gloves hasn't stopped though are accidental eye pokes. Those just come with the sport.