Fighters competing at UFC 309 are set to wear older versions of gloves, which were initially replaced by a new design that debuted back in June.

No one was happier than heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Jones returns to action in the main event Saturday night against Stipe Miocic. The bout marks Jones’ first fight since March 2023 so his latest appearance was the first opportunity he had to use the new gloves. It turns out Jones wasn’t a fan of the re-design after receiving a pair of gloves to break in and use in the weeks leading up to his fight in New York.

“I’m really excited about the old gloves,” Jones said during UFC 309 media day. “I got sent a pair of the new gloves several weeks ago. I tried them on and I thought they were tight. I used to fit in XL and in the new glove I had to put on a 3XL. The shape, curving your hands like that, they very uncomfortable for me.

“I was actually really stressed thinking about how I’m going to go into fight week wearing these gloves that I don’t even want to train in.”

The UFC ultimately decided to lessen Jones’ burden after he received a call from UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell to inform him that the old gloves would be employed for his fight against Miocic.

While promotion officials previously confirmed to MMA Fighting that the old gloves would return for UFC 309, it’s unclear if there are plans to return to the new gloves for future events.

Either way, Jones was happy to find out he’d still be using the same gloves that the UFC employed throughout his whole career.

“I got a phone call recently, Hunter [Campbell] said, ‘Everyone on this card are veterans, why put a bunch of vets in the new gloves? Let’s give you guys all what you’re used to,’” Jones ssif.

“It was a major relief to my coach Brandon [Gibson], who wraps my hands. It was a major relief to me as well.”

WOLVES have been likened to a comedy movie villain after releasing a special edition shirt.

The Premier League club are famed for their unique gold shirts – the only professional team in England to wear that colour.

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But now they have released a new shirt that is truly gold in honour of a match played 70 years ago.

Wolves are commemorating their ‘floodlit friendly’ win over Honved in 1954.

The 3-2 win over the Hungarian side, considered one of the best in Europe at the time, helped lead to the formation of the European Cup.

The kit pays homage to the unique strip wore in 1954, which was made from fluorescent material to allow the players to reflect the floodlights, which were a rarity at the time.

Fans can buy the limited edition shirt for £60, with a special gift box including additional memorabilia available for £125.

It is fitted with a classic thick collar and every inch is a solid gold colour, including the Wolves badge.

Fans have been reacting to the design with some likening it to Austin Powers baddie Goldmember.

Another reacted saying: “That shirt is amazing.”

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A third wrote: “That is a pretty smart top 👏👏”

And another commented: “100 times better than their regular home shirt this season.”

UFC CEO Dana White has been good friends with Mike Tyson for a long time and is concerned for his health ahead of his return to the boxing ring.

Friday, Tyson (50-6) will step through the ropes at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, to take on YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in an eight-round professional bout, which serves as the main event of the first live sporting event to stream on Netflix.

The matchup has drawn criticism due to the age difference, as Tyson, who is 58, will square off with a much younger Paul (10-1), who is 27. When asked about the fight, White refrained from talking down on the fight and instead offered concerns about Tyson’s health.

“I will not say anything bad about this fight because I love Mike Tyson,” White said on “The Jim Rome Show.” “The only thing that I hope is that Mike comes out of this fight healthy.

“… I just hope he does. At 58 years old, I mean, I’m 55, and obviously, I’ve never been the level of athlete that Mike Tyson is, but 27 vs. 58? It’s hard to consistently work out at that age just for health purposes and not get hurt. To train for something like this? It’s just – I love Mike. I hope he makes a bunch of money on Friday, and I hope he comes out healthy.”

Tyson was last in action four years ago in an exhibition boxing bout against fellow legend Roy Jones Jr. It was a fight in which clearly both fighters were not trying to hurt each other that resulted in a draw. Tyson’s last professional bout was in June 2005 against Kevin McBride. Tyson lost the fight by TKO in the sixth round.

In the late 1980s, Tyson became a legendary force in the world of boxing as the WBC and IBF heavyweight champion. He was a crossover superstar who created viral moments way before the existence of social media. However, the days of Tyson’s prime in the ring are well behind him, and White understands why it would be difficult to turn down a lucrative offer to fight Paul.

“When you’ve accomplished what Mike Tyson has accomplished, and that type of money is offered to you, it’s hard to not,” White said. “It’s about Mike having money issues or anything like that. Mike does fine. Mike does well, but when you have that type of money waved in front of you – I’ve told this story, it’s been told a million times. When Mike was going to fight before, I said, ‘Mike, don’t do this.’ So, I put him on Shark Week. I get a deal done for him to do Shark Week. He’s like, ‘Oh you care about me? I’ve been fighting since I was 12, but you want to throw me in the water with sharks? You’re an idiot.’ And I can’t disagree with him. He’s absolutely right.

“… At the end of the day, it’s none of our business, it’s Mike Tyson’s business. He’s a grown man, he does what he wants to do, and I love him and I just want the best for him.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Paul vs. Tyson.

Alphonse Le Grande has been reinstated as the winner of last month’s Cesarewitch Handicap after an independent disciplinary panel appeal hearing overturned a verdict of excessive whip use.

The horse, ridden by apprentice jockey Jamie Powell, had crossed the line first at Newmarket on 12 October but was disqualified by a British Horseracing Authority committee because Powell was deemed to have used his whip too many times.

BHA rules brought in last year reduced the threshold for whip use by one to seven in jumps races and six in flat races, with 10 triggering a disqualification.

Powell was referred to the BHA’s whip review committee who awarded original runner-up Manxman the race and suspended Powell for 28 days for using his whip on 10 occasions.

However, connections of the horse contested the decision, taking it to the BHA’s independent appeals board. The independent panel found an attempted 10th use of the whip made inadvertent contact with the horse and did not constitute a strike.

It means Alphonse Le Grande is restored as race winner while Powell has been given a 20-day suspension.

“We think the BHA has not satisfied us that there was contact as Mr Powell’s arm came back and the whip went across the back of the horse,” said panel chair Sarah Crowther.

“We find that his body position [when attempting the tenth use] was different to the first nine strikes. It seems to us that he was somewhat crouched and off balance to his left and very low in the saddle.

“Whilst his arm and hand were in the same angle as for the previous strikes, the change in body position had the effect of changing the angle of the strike.

“As Mr Powell retrieved his whip from that strike, pulling it back towards his right-hand side, there was contact. The question for us was whether that constituted use of the whip.

“Adopting a pragmatic interpretation of the word ‘use’, we find it is not every single contact between a whip and a horse that will amount to use. This was effectively an unavoidable contact, which could not have had any material impact on the performance of the horse. In all the circumstances, that contact did not constitute a use.

“Therefore, there were nine uses, three above the permitted level. The horse will be reinstated and the suspension [for Powell] will be 20 days.”

There have been two disqualifications from 16,000 races since the rules were changed.

Last November, Alex Edwards became the first winner to be disqualified in nearly 8,000 races since the rules were introduced, while Poppy Wynne lost her victory on Swift Tuttle in July.

Mike Tyson may be 58 years old but he looks absolutely shredded just a day away from his fight against Jake Paul in a special boxing event airing live on Netflix.

During the official weigh-ins Thursday, Tyson hit the scale looking like he really put in a hard training camp to get ready for his first professional fight in nearly 20 years. There’s no word on how much Tyson weighed because the weigh-ins were closed to the public and the media with Paul’s company Most Valuable Promotions responsible for releasing the info, per the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

See weigh-in photos of the headliners below.

In the days leading up to the fight, Tyson has stayed rather stoic while insisting that he’s just interested in getting back in the ring rather than going through any further promotional bluster. Now he sits just over 24 hours away from throwing down with Paul in a special eight-round fight.

Meanwhile, Paul also looked like he was in great shape as he moves up to the heavyweight division for the chance to face a legend in Tyson.

Paul often joked during his training camp about the amount of weight he was packing on for the fight against Tyson.

Now with the official weigh-ins completed, Paul and Tyson face off one last time at the ceremonial weigh-ins, which are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.