It was intended to be a typical lightweight fight, but LFA 211 ended up delivering a bizarre controversy that no one saw coming. In a three-round bout between JaCobi Jones and Shovkhal Churchaev, the action stopped twice—not for low blows or eye pokes—but because both of Churchaev’s gloves were torn mid-fight. Yes, both. The oddity not only disrupted the bout’s pace, but it also threw fans into a frenzy of speculation.

Jones ultimately won by unanimous decision, and rightfully so. His game plan was precise, his tempo was relentless, and his control outweighed Shovkhal Churchaev’s overbearing threats. The post-fight debate, however, was about gloves rather than technique.

Fight equipment does not just go apart like that, especially in consecutive rounds, and not without raising an eyebrow. Unsurprisingly, that is precisely what the fans did. “Needed extra time to make weight yesterday, bought himself an extra 3 minutes recovery for equipment,” one user said, clearly dissatisfied with the mid-fight delays.

Another fan said, “How did this man’s gloves just shred? #LFA211 Someone check those wraps.” The words “kinda sus” resonated throughout X, with one viewer adding, “Both of Shovkhal Churchaev’s gloves were somehow damaged after the first round.” Whether conspiracy or coincidence, several fans smelled something fishy.

Not everyone screamed foul play. Some attributed it to incompetence, not intention. “Churchaev just didn’t put his gloves on well and had to switch gloves during the R1 break,” said a fan. Another observer was less charitable: “Shovkhal didn’t put on the gloves right to begin with. Should be a TKO for being an idiot.” For these fans, it was not a scandal but just sloppiness.

In any case, the incident has generated more attention than Shovkhal Churchaev’s performance in the cage. It is unclear whether this will lead to an official investigation. However, when gloves fall apart in the middle of a bout, the questions do not just fade away when the final horn sounds. But is it the worst case of gloves malfunctioning outside the UFC?

UFC gloves reign supreme as gear from other promotions keeps failing to deliver.

If Shovkhal Churchaev’s glove disaster raised eyebrows, it wasn’t the first time a non-UFC promotion made bad press. Glove concerns have affected regional promotions in a variety of ways, some of which were downright scary. During Cage Fury Fighting Championships 94, Canadian fighter Khetag Pliev removed his glove, along with part of his hand.

His left ring finger literally detached during the fight. There was blood, panic, shock, and a stadium-wide search for the missing digit. The finger was eventually discovered wedged inside the glove, but the harm was already done. This bizarre and stomach-churning incident sent a clear message: there is a significant difference in equipment standards between the UFC and smaller promotions.

Fans, competitors, and pundits were taken aback by the ridiculousness of someone fighting with a missing finger. While Pliev was rushed to the hospital to have it reattached, many people questioned why his gloves had caused so extensive damage in the first place. In comparison, even at its worst, UFC gear has never seen something that awful occur during a bout, let alone be aired to the world.

However, even the UFC is not immune to criticism. Their new glove design, which launched in 2024 with the objective of reducing eye pokes and injuries, ended up aggravating fighters due to low flexibility and awkward padding. Fighters such as Jon Jones and Sean Strickland have publicly criticized the gloves, describing them as uncomfortable and even dangerous.

By UFC 309, the organization had resorted to its previous, more trusted glove model. While those gloves aren’t perfect, they have never caused the kind of chaos seen in Cage Fury or generated the level of suspicion sparked by Churchaev’s double glove malfunction at LFA 211. That bar, evidently, is still a lot lower outside the UFC.