During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, top UFC light heavyweight contender Khalil Rountree revealed what he considers the “scariest” thing about competing in MMA: getting poked in the eye.
“I think the eye poke right now is probably the scariest thing in MMA,” Rountree told Rogan on the podcast. “I got poked in the last camp, getting ready for Jamahal Hill and it cut my entire upper eyelid off, and I was like ‘this is the scariest thing.'” [expletive] ever.'”
Eye pokes are actually a huge problem in MMA, both in and out of the UFC.
Standard MMA gloves leave the fingers exposed, often resulting in a fighter’s digits coming into contact with his opponent’s eyes, sometimes with fight-ending consequences.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping even lost one of his eyes after suffering several unintentional eye pokes in his fights.
Rogan, who has been a UFC commentator since its early years, has long called for a redesign of the promotion’s official gloves in hopes of reducing the frequency of accidental eye pokes.
The promotion introduced new gloves earlier this year, but Rogan is unhappy with the design and believes the solution is to cover the fingers completely, “just like mittens.”
“When they said they had new gloves, they looked very similar. [to the old ones] “For me,” Rogan said.
“Where the fingertips are, you cover them with a piece of leather,” he continued, offering a solution to the problem. “I really think this could be done: cover the fingertips. There is no reason why these fingers should be exposed.
“What would I avoid in the grab? Nothing. What would I avoid in the punch? Nothing. But I would avoid eye pokes.”
Rountree, who claims to have helped test the UFC’s new gloves, seemed to agree with Rogan’s suggestion.
“I’ve been the one to test all the new gloves,” the light heavyweight said. “One of the small changes they made is that the padding of the glove provides a little bit more bend towards the fingers. But yeah, covering the fingers is something that would prevent all the eye pokes.
“You can still grab, you just can’t extend your fingers, almost like mittens.”
Rountree currently has five consecutive wins at light heavyweight, including triumphs over ranked contenders Dustin Jacoby and Anthony Smith.
He was scheduled to face former champion Jamahal Hill at UFC 303 in late June but was forced out of the fight due to failing a drug test. His resulting suspension ended in early July.
