When you’re just starting out in MMA, the first piece of gear you’re going to need to get is a pair of MMA gloves.
There are absolutely tons of MMA gloves on the market, catering to different needs and different price points. There are some fantastic high-end gloves out there but if you’re just starting, you won’t want to go all out and buy the most expensive gear, no matter how good it looks/is. For one, MMA is a great sport but it’s not for everyone; you don’t want to spend big bucks on equipment, only to find out that you don’t like it a couple of weeks in. Two, you don’t want to be that guy who has all the gear and no idea. It’s much better to just nab a cheaper pair of gloves and see how things go.
It’s worth keeping in mind as well, that just because something is cheap, it doesn’t mean it’s bad. There are a ton of great companies such as RDX and Sanabul that have sprung up to provide consumers with excellent gear at even better prices. These companies allow you to have your cake and eat it in regards to paying cheap prices but not having to deal with rubbish gear.
Cheap MMA Gloves Reviewed
You may think that you’ll just borrow equipment at the gym but trust me, you do not want to be using the old, mouldy and smelly gloves left over at the gym for newbies to use. With prices like these, it’s a no brainer to just grab a cheap pair and to leave the cheesy-smelling gloves to other people.
Best Overall: Everlast Pro Style MMA Grappling Gloves
This Pro Style MMA glove from Everlast is one of the best entry-level gloves available and will give you a great start on your MMA journey.
If you’ve never seen MMA or a pair of MMA gloves before, you might be expecting to use something more like a boxing glove. In MMA, however, grappling is as important, if not more, than striking so you need a glove that allows you to do both. So far, the best that the experts have been able to come up with is the classic fingerless MMA glove.
This Pro Style MMA glove from Everlast is one of the best entry-level gloves available and will give you a great start on your MMA journey. If you’re new to striking and combat sports in general, these gloves are especially important due to their wrist and hand support. Hitting things, bags and people, can actually be quite harsh on the bones in your hands and wrists so you’ll want to use a glove like this that provides you with excellent support in those areas.
Runner Up: Sanabul Essential 7oz MMA Sparring Gloves
The usual MMA gloves are the fingerless type that you see on use in the UFC and other top fighting promotions. These gloves are normally 4oz in weight and are what are normally referred to as fight gloves. These standard gloves are great in actual fight, but due to the low weight and propensity for cuts, most gyms do not like their students to spar full pelt with them. This where 7-8oz sparring gloves come into use, like these gloves from Sanabul.
These gloves are still fingerless but feature a larger amount of padding around the fingers and knuckles to prevent injury and cuts, etc. Believe me, your opponent will thank you for sparring against them with these gloves rather than the smaller fight gloves.
Despite the extra padding, Sanabul have made the glove versatile and compact enough in order to be able to grapple with them just as well as you would be able to with fight gloves.
Best Budget Buy: Cheerwing MMA Gloves
These are some of the cheapest gloves on the list which is perfect for those who are particularly price-conscious or for those who do really just want to test the waters of MMA
These are some of the cheapest gloves on the list which is perfect for those who are particularly price-conscious or for those who do really just want to test the waters of MMA but don’t want to subject there hands to the haunted gloves available to borrow in some gyms. With prices this low, you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Don’t let that low price scare you off in regards to quality, these gloves are surprisingly well put together; with great wrist support, added thumb support and highly durable material to prevent the glove from falling apart with heavy use. Cheerwing want their customers to know that these gloves are meant for long-term use; these aren’t gloves that will give in and fail on you when you need them most.
Best Sizing: Brace Master MMA Gloves
Perfect for the beginner MMA enthusiast. These gloves are great because they can fit a large number of hands
All the gloves in this last will provide more than adequate protection to your hands and wrists; that’s literally their sole purpose. Not to protect your opponents face, contrary to popular belief. But if you’re seeking a glove that is really padded and really delivers in the safety and protection area, then these MMA gloves from Brace Master are the ones for you.
Even with the extra padding, you can still wear full hand wraps underneath the glove comfortably without it being too tight and choking your hands.
The extra padding means that the gloves take even more of the force, rather than that force shocking your hands and causing wrist injuries. These gloves come in three sizes; small, medium and large. There is a helpful guide to show you the perfect size glove for your hands. Brace Master offer these in three different style/colour options too: black, grey and red. All options look stunning and are available in all the aforementioned sizes.
Most Robust: RDX MMA Sparring and Grappling Gloves
Kings of the budget gear, these gloves are going to last you for a long time, until you've decided you're fully committed to training in this sport.
RDX are the kings of budget gear. They’ve somehow found some magical way of creating cracking equipment that looks and performs as good as the big guns. People are often shocked at the price after looking at their gloves. These gloves are no different.
The resilient Maya hide synthetic construction is incredibly durable, both against scratches and impact. It won’t crack or peel easily and can take quite the beatdown. Beneath the exterior, the glove is packed with RDX’s dense, poly-max contoured Tri-Slab PC3 padding. This padding curves around the knuckles and absorbs the impact so your hands don’t have to.
These gloves are also easy to put on and remove at a moment’s notice, even when your hands are sweaty from hard training.
Overall
These days you can have it both ways. You can have great gloves without the outrageous price tag. Companies like RDX focus almost solely on budget gear and allowing anyone to participate at the highest level without wrecking the wallet.