Century Black Label Grappling Gloves
Manufacturer: Century Martial Arts
Cost: $29.99
Materials: Vinyl, foam, velcro
Categories under review: Price, Comfort, Protection, Durability, and Aesthetics.
Review:
Price: Strong
At $29.99 retail, its tough to find MMA gloves that are cheaper, with the exception of Christmas special deals. The range of MMA glove prices is relatively small, but this product still warrants a strong here.
Comfort: Okay
These are comfortable enough, but they tend to loosen up over time. I have very wide fingers, and I am finding after about 10 months of use the fingers don't fit very tight any more. It doesn't effect protection, but its something a higher quality product would not suffer from.
The thumb is a nice addition, which is why these are called "grappling gloves". I can't compare the thumbed glove with other non-thumbed gloves, but I'll say that its comfortable and has not, unlike the fingers, widened over time.
The joints in the padding is put in a good place to bend when I make a fist, which I did not find to be the case with the Silver MMA gloves by Century.
Protection: Okay/Strong
These glove have a very large piece of foam on the front of the glove, which managed to cover all the way to the first knuckle on the finger, at least on my hand. Most gloves I've used don't cover this far, so it was a nice feature.
This thick foam protects your knuckles and your partners face pretty well - not as well as a 16 oz boxing glove, but this isn't a boxing glove. The thumb essentially stops the thumb from scraping and keeps the glove on a bit tighter.
This glove won't stop knockouts, but it does protect pretty well against bruising and cuts from most hits.
Durability: Weak/Okay
Over the past months of use, the glove has gotten looser - the stitching has gotten looser, and eventually it will fall apart. The threading that holds the foam pieces together in the joints of the padding is beginning to weaken. The velcro remains strong.
These gloves have been used by many people well over 150 times since I purchased them, but it has not yet been a year and wear and tear is showing. Eventually gloves will break, and these weren't that expensive. You get what you pay for.
Aesthetics: Weak
These gloves look pretty cheap. Its very possible to make vinyl look and feel high quality, but this product does not deliver here. Also, the black/red combo is the only color choice. This doesn't effect the utility, but looks are poor, especially when threading starts to come undone.
Summary:
Price: Strong
Comfort: Okay
Protection: Okay/Strong
Durability: Weak/Okay
Aesthetics: Weak
These are cheap, no doubts about it. Its a good entry into the MMA glove market, and if your use isn't too high, they may last a long time. Padding is pretty good, and the additional thumb is nice if you are looking for that.
I'd recommend them to someone looking for their first pair of MMA gloves for occasional sparring, who doesn't want to spend too much.
