One of the UFC’s newest welterweight recruits says that the world’s leading mixed martial arts organisation is trailing behind its rivals in one key area: performance gear.

Longtime Bellator standout ‘MVP’ will make his UFC debut next Saturday night in what is expected to be a thrilling bout against Kevin Holland. The fight will represent Page’s first professional mixed martial arts bout outside of the Bellator promotional banner since his debut with that company in March 2013 (where he scored a ten-second knockout incidentally).

Eight days out from his showdown with Holland, Page has been completing a range of activities that all fighters new to the promotion must undertake, including testing his new fight gear — but according to the MVP, the UFC’s 4oz gloves leave a little to be desired, at least compared to what he was used to Bellator.

“The gear was clean,” Page told Chamatkar Sandhu on the Smack Talk with Sandhu podcast, via MMA Junkie. “It looked amazing. I put it on and I was like — yeah … wow. I remember taking a picture and a guy was like, ‘This one is going to be for the [EA Sports] game.’ I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t! I forgot. The game — yeah I’m going to be in the game.’ So that was exciting.”

Page, who fought Mike Perry in a bareknuckle contest in the summer of 2022, then detailed his issues with the UFC’s gloves.

“The gloves, in all honesty: not that good. I was actually disappointed. Comparatively speaking, nowhere near as a comfortable, to be fair. It’s not going to change anything. I’d fight in kitchen gloves and be fine — literally whatever I need to do. Remember, I fought with no gloves not too long ago, so I’ll figure it out. It’s never going to change anything for me. But yeah, definitely not as snug of fit.”

Page is not alone in detailing issues with the UFC’s gloves. Several fighters in the past have highlighted the mitts as being less than efficient, particularly when it comes to accidental eye-pokes, but so far there has been no move from the UFC to change or modify them in any way.