I think it’s safe to say,
Professional MMA fighters spend hours training every day.
This level of rigorous training requires top-level gear that can stand the grueling time spend grinding on the mat.
With that in mind, the pros are going to be using the best MMA gloves that they can get their hands on (pun intended).
So today we’re going to be taking a closer and figuring out exactly what gloves professional MMA fighters use when training.
But, what’s the point of this?
Well, if these gloves are good enough for the highest level, then they’re probably going to be good enough for us hoping to be there one day.
Let’s take a look.
Competition Gloves
First things first, when competing, professional fighters will have no say over which 4oz gloves they use, as this will be mandated by the promotion.
What is somewhat interesting, is the gloves the promotion uses. The UFC for example, uses their own gloves which are made by Dyaco, a commercial fitness supplier.
What is more interesting, however, are promotions such as ONE Championship, Glory Kickboxing, and Cage Warriors. These three promotions all use Fairtex gloves, which is a pretty big indicator of the overall quality of Fairtex.
I myself use their FGV15s for training, which are some of the best gloves I’ve used (you can check out the Fairtex MMA gloves review here for my information).
Here are a couple of other well known MMA promotions and the gloves that they use:
- PFL – Century Martial Arts
- Rizin – Izami
What MMA Gloves Do Professional Fighters Use for Training?
Obviously, fighters only compete a handful of times a year.
So, let’s take a look at some well known professional MMA athletes and the gloves that they’re known to use for training.
Conor McGregor – McGregor Fast, Combat Sports, Everlast
Conor McGregor is easily the most well-known MMA fighter in the world. He’s broken multiple PPV records and held both the Featherweight and Lightweight belts at the same time.
Historically, McGregor has been known to wear Everlast gloves, even opting to use Everlast boxing gloves both in his training for, and his fight against Floyd Mayweather.
During an open workout ahead of his fight against former Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, McGregor was seen wearing Combat Sports MMA gloves.
Most recently, McGregor tweeted a picture of MMA gloves being released by his fitness company, McGregor Fast. Since this tweet, numerous pictures have emerged of McGregor wearing these gloves in training.
The gloves themselves look incredible, and given the money McGregor has to put behind his businesses, I would imagine that they’re top-of-the-line. I’ll definitely try and get a pair at some point and write a review here on MMA Buzz.
Israel Adesanya – Engage Industries
Israel Adesnaya is the current UFC Middleweight Champion, sporting wins over some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, and Yoel Romero.
Adesanya is known to promote and train in Engage Fightwear gear, which is unsurprising, given that Adesanya co-founded Engage alongside his manager Ash Belcastro.
Engage is an Australian fight wear and apparel brand that’s relatively new on the scene. Last year I bought a couple of rash guards from them, and they are pretty good quality. The printing on them has started to crack, but other than that, they’re very comfortable and good quality.
Alexander Volkanovski – Engage Industries
Alexander Volkanovski is the current UFC Featherweight Champion, fighting out of Australia.
Given that Volkanovski and Adesanya both train out of City Kickboxing in Auckland, it’s unsurprising that Volkanovski possesses some form of relationship with Engage Fightwear.
Again I’m unsure of the exact nature of the relationship, whether it’s a big brand deal, or he has some form of ownership, but he’s frequently seen using their gloves and wearing their apparel.
Engage have a few different types of gloves, often releasing new styles all of which are clean and modern.
Jon Jones – Sanabul
Jon Jones is one of, if not, the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Although mired in a lofty amount of controversy, his prowess inside the cage is undeniable.
After dominating the light heavyweight division for most of his career, Jones made the jump to heavyweight, where he dispatched Ciryl Gane in one round to become Heavyweight Champion.
With a career as long and storied as his, it’s definitely interesting to see which gloves Jones opts to use in his training.
Surprisingly, there isn’t a ton of footage of him sparring, but I did come across this one video on Twitter, showing Jones sparring in his preparation for his heavyweight debut.
In this video, Jones can be seen wearing the Sanabul Gold Strike gloves. These gloves are relatively new from Sanabul and are by far their most expensive MMA gloves.
Aljamain Sterling – Combat Corner
Alamain Sterling is the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, coming off impressive title defenses over Petry Yan and Henry Cejudo.
Again, there isn’t a ton of recent footage of Aljo training, however, I did come across the below photo of Sterling preparing for his rematch against Petry Yan. Here he can be seen wearing the Combat Corner sparring MMA gloves.
Sean O’Malley – Winning & Sanabul
Sean O’Malley is a UFC Bantamweight Fighter, and at the time of writing, is currently ranked as the number one contender.
In the above footage of him preparing for his fight against Petyr Yan, O’Malley can be seen wearing Lace Up Winning Pro Boxing gloves. These gloves are as good as it gets when it comes to boxing gloves and are top of the line.
It’s also worth mentioning that he has his own branded gloves with Sanabul, dubbed the Cotton Candy Gloves for obvious reasons. You can check these out in the image below.
Leon Edwards – Winning & Combat Corner
Leon Edwards is the current UFC Welterweight Champion and only the second fighter ever from the UK to win a world title in the UFC.
The above video shows Edwards sparring through the years.
Here he can be seen using various different gloves, however, most of these are the Winning Pro Boxing Gloves and the Combat Corner Pro Style MMA gloves.
Kamaru Usman – Onyx
Kamaru Usman is the former UFC Welterweight Champion and a fighter that many consider to be one of the greatest welterweights of all time.
Usman trains under renowned coach Trevor Wittman, who founded the combat sports brand Onyx. As you may expect, Usman is often seen wearing Onyx gloves when training, which can be seen in this video in the lead-up to his trilogy bout against Leon Edwards.
Justin Gaethje – Onyx
UFC Lightweight Justin Gaethje is another Trevor Wittman student, so as you might guess often uses his coach’s brand when training.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, Gaethje is seen training in Wittman’s Onyx boxing gloves.
Max Holloway – Twins Special
Max Holloway is the former UFC Featherweight Champion who has faced and defeated some of the biggest names in the sport.
In the above video, Holloway can be seen using Twins Special Boxing Gloves. Twins are a very well-recognized brand of Muay Thai gear and are known to make some of the best gear and equipment out there.
Final Thoughts
Well, there we have it. A lot of the big brands that you would expect made an appearance on our list.
I hope that you found this article insightful!
Thanks for stopping by.
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