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: Eye pokes.
"I think the eye poke right now is probably the scariest thing in MMA," Rountree told Rogan on the podcast. "I got poked the last camp, preparing for Jamahal Hill and it cut the entire top eye lid, and I was like 'this is the scariest [expletive] ever.'"
Eye pokes are indeed a huge problem in MMA — both in and out of the UFC.
Standard MMA gloves leave the fingers exposed, which often results in the digits of one fighter making contact with their opponent's eyes — sometimes with fight-ending consequences.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping even lost one of his eyes after suffering several inadvertent eye pokes in his fights.
Rogan, who has been a commentator for the UFC 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 actually introduced new gloves earlier this year, but Rogan is not satisfied with the design, and believes the solution is actually covering the fingers completely — "exactly like mittens."
"When they said they have new gloves, they seemed real similar [to the old ones] to me," Rogan said.
"Where the fingertips are, you cover it with just a piece of leather," he continued, offering a solution to the problem. "I really think this could be done — cover the tips of the fingers. There is no reason why these fingers need to be exposed.
"What would it prevent in grappling? Nothing. What would it prevent in striking? Nothing. But it would prevent eye pokes."
Rountree, who claims he helped test the new UFC gloves, seemed on board with Rogan's suggestion.
"I’ve been the guy testing all the new gloves," the light heavyweight said. "One of the slight changes they made is the padding in the glove provides a little bit more curvature toward the fingers. But yes, covering the fingers is something that would prevent all the eye pokes.
"You can still grapple, you just can’t spread the fingers — almost like mittens."
Rountree is currently riding five-straight wins at light heavyweight, including triumphs over ranked contenders in Dustin Jacoby and Anthony Smith.
He was scheduled to meet former champion Jamahal Hill at UFC 303 in late June, but was forced out of the matchup due to a failed drug test. His resulting suspension ended in early July.
