CSI MMA Amateur Competition Gloves
Hello all, I am new to the forum. I was shopping for a new set of training gloves and I really liked the look of and design of this glove, but I could not find a single review on them. So after I purchased them I figured I should register and post a review for the rest of you that are in my position.
Last week I decided to give CSI online another try. Due to their newly improved customer support and repair of their web page to speed online purchasing I thought it would be worth another go. I intentionally bought these gloves from the website without any follow up what so ever. I bought two sets of these gloves one in blue and one in red. First off I got the generic confirmation email as soon as I finished the purchase. Then about 20 minutes later I got the real email stating that my order was completed and would ship the next morning due to the fact my order was placed to late in the day to ship. So the next day I check the online tracking function and the gloves were already in the hands of fed-ex and halfway across to country to my doorstep. Another day later and here they are in my possession. I could not be more pleased with the way this transaction took place. Big thanks to CombatsportS.com for the speedy service.
Now on to the gloves. My first impression to the look and feel of these gloves was amazing. The are very nicely constructed and are very visually appealing. The two tone red or blue on white look great. There are a few minor stitch imperfections in each set but nothing that would effect the form or function of the glove, just being over critical. Also having purchased two sets of this glove I can assure you the quality control on this product is top notch. Both sets are as well as I can tell, identical. both fit the same in all the right places.
These gloves are made of a good strong leather that feels like it will out last most. Just by working the heavy bag in my house for 30 minutes and they have already started to loosen up quite nicely. they are a very snug fitting comfortable glove. I have not noticed and abrasive points or any "wear" spots that are going to cause problems later. The stitch work is still really tight and shows no signs of budging. The finger holes are very comfortable and hug well without crowding the joint or webbing of your finger. There is also a quality tubing stitched around the palm opening, thumb hole, and wrist strap this will definitely help to prevent rubbing issues as well as the glove stretching out too much around the palm. the fact that this glove comes with a padded thumb design was a big plus for me, I really like the extra protection in a training environment to avoid injuring a joint that I plan on using later. Especially well suited for beginners who would be more prone to thumb injury. The thumb pad does not impede movement and within 10 minutes of bag work I had little to no restriction at all. Although the wrist strap is a single wrap it offers decent wrist support to anyone who has proper form in their punching. If you are just learning to hit a bag or body, then you would probably want to tape or wrap at least your wrist. The glove will also probably need a couple wraps of tape for grappling to keep it fastened, but I have yet to find any glove that doesn't.
The padding in this glove is very over stuffed, as a training glove it very well should be. This glove weights in at a hefty 6oz and a good portion of that resides in the padding. I was tearing into the heavy bag with full force and if I was to try and judge I think this glove could be compared to a shooto glove as far as padding a punch. You could definitely take a much harder hit than any standard MMA glove. For bag work there is plenty of padding to go all out and the foam used is very absorbent to shock. as for grappling with this glove I do not feel as if I would be hindered at all compared to using a standard MMA glove.
Overall this is probably the best training glove I have used to date. I really hope to see this glove used as the standard for competitive amateur MMA. These gloves A perfect for the extra protection you would want in the amateur events and I would very much like to see a standard put into effect for glove control.
Summary:
Pros:
Extra padding helps to prevent injury
Great construction with quality materials
Good shock absorption
Very comfortable
Padded thumb
Open palm
Cons:
Single wrap wrist strap
Weak wrist support
Picture:
Combat Sports Int. MMA Amateur Competition Gloves 
