 What is the point of the discussion of boxing gloves?
Promoters built an octagonal chain-link cage, invited eight top martial artists, and set them loose in no-holds-barred, bare-knuckles fights. Contestants would fight till "knockout, submission, doctor's intervention, or death." UFC allowed, even promoted, all notions of bad sportsmanship: kicking a man when he's down, hitting him in the groin, choking. Nursed on boxing and Hollywood, Americans imagine fights as choreography, a dance of elegant combinations, roundhouse kicks, clean knockouts. Experts in striking martial arts such as karate and tae kwon do, who fancied themselves the world's greatest fighters, found themselves pretzeled by jujitsu masters, who pulled them to the ground and slowly choked or leg-locked them.
 Boxing gloves exemplify the types of misunderstandings about UFC that drove its biggest naysayers
 Boxing gloves should have been incorporated into UFC much earlier, because it would have been a familiar component for prospective fans to latch onto  Boxing gloves exemplify the types of misunderstandings about UFC that drove its biggest naysayers  The boxing gloves are an important aesthetic choice, and having an accessory unique to a sport makes it easier to garner a fan base  It was important to understand how dangerous boxing is, which could be why many boxers moved to UFC over time