These RDX MMA gloves are the specific gloves that I personally use in my own training and have been for years now. I’ve repurchased them since my initial pair because the price vs the quality is outstanding and I just love the look and feel of these. There are a number of other reasons too, firstly, I personally rely heavily on my striking and the thick knuckle pad keeps me from unintentionally injuring my sparring partners.
RDX MMA gloves also have a smooth glide to them that allows them to slide in and out of tight spots while grappling despite being a bit bulkier than some of the gloves that a pure grappler would want to be wearing. They will fit on top of your hand wraps pretty well as long as you don’t have a bulky wrap and the entire glove is done with double stitching to provide durability. These come highly recommended from a long time professional fighter on a budget who prefers to strike.
Protection and Padding
The protection and padding on these gloves is one of the primary methods by which they have won me over. They aren’t the bulkiest gloves out there but they seem to provide the same amount of protection. I’ve used other MMA gloves with thick knuckle pads on them for sparring and they were basically just a bit too thick. It made it harder to swim for under hooks and even gave me a slightly false sense of my own distance in my straight punches.
The padding on these RDX gloves is on the larger end, but they didn’t take it too far. While I would suspect a pure grappler to want something a little smaller, they are designed in an almost aerodynamic way that allows you to jam them into tight spaces in order to sink in that wizzer or get that underhook. Wrestlers that want to beat faces in on the ground and strikers who want to keep things standing, these gloves are for you.
Comfort
The velcro strap on these is the best length they could muster which wraps tightly, twice around your wrist and provides great support and comfort. It’s clear that RDX has taken them through the trial and error process and designed them to fit nicely on your hand, especially if you have larger hands. If you’re like myself and have tiny hands, there is only one issue to talk about with these and that’s the pinky finger.
As you might be able to see in the photos, the finger holes in these gloves are thick and durable and otherwise very comfortable. However, they are little small when it comes to pinky and that results in that finger being a bit strained to pull down to make a tight fist. When the punch lands it doesn’t seem to be an issue and I have even used these for bag work with no issues there, but some training partners I have had in the past have expressed concern for the health of their hands because of that factor despite my never having experienced it myself.
Quality and Durability
RDX could honestly get away with charging a bit more for these gloves. The quality of these things is what keeps me coming back. The leather is soft, there are no edges to scrape your partners on in grappling exchanges.
The velcro on the wrist is high quality and totally covered so you can avoid velcro burn. I ran one pair of these into the ground and bought a new pair shortly after. On my first pair, the first sign of wear and tear was totally aesthetic and the same seems to be true for my second pair. The first bit of stitch fraying came on the thumb section of the glove and never presented any real problems.
The first real issue came when the velcro edge on the palm side of the glove started to tear off. This didn’t present any real issues and eventually I started taping them on when I used them anyway. My first pair lasted me two and half years and were retired after being left out in the rain for 3 days and waterlogged. I drenched them in sweat approximately 3-4 times a week in that time.
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