I was one of the very lucky people to review these new, unreleased shorts. If you're a larger guy (38-42) and looking into new shorts, please read on!
First, the look of the shorts is incredible. Nice clean palate (really useful for fighters who could use the space for sponsorship logos and such). No skulls, nothing unnecessary. Just a beautiful pair of shorts. I grinned in the locker room as other guys prepping for class were staring at the shorts. Lots of compliments on the look of the short.
The closure system is a great upgrade from the Warrior "Domination" shorts. Once I put them on, they stayed on and in place. Stopped right above the knee in my size 40's.
So up first was BJJ. I play a heavy mans game so to really see what the shorts could do I played a lot on my back in half guard (my shorts tend to bunch up in half guard for me). These shorts performed very, very well! They actually 'moved' with me. In other words they didn't bunch or "get tight" (big men will know what I mean) but they really flowed with my drills and sweeps. The shorts also performed well when attempting armbars. I recommend these shorts highly for you BJJ players.
Next up was boxing. Bobbing, weaving, jabbing, throwing crosses... the sweat builds up rather quickly. These shorts could actually breathe and I felt a real difference between my "Domination" shorts from Warrior to the new "Annihilation". The shorts were lighter and felt as if they wicked away moisture and unnecessary heat. Any boxer will tell you that you want to get cool as fast as possible between rounds and these shorts accomplish that. Kicking was completely unrestricted and my ground and pound was effortless.
Annihilation completely outperformed my Sprawls, Tapouts and Warrior 'Domination' shirts.
My only cons are completely superficial. I'm hoping that they will come in more colors than just white/black, white/blue etc. I greatly prefer my shorts to be all black, all dark grey etc... Also, I missed having the elastic waistband. But the shorts stayed in place and received a lot of abuse. No problem.
As a matter of fact, my greatest disappointment is that there isn't a "The Icon" Special Edition in Dark Quantum Grey! Hey Warrior, I'll do a special edition fight short for large fighters!
All in all, bravo Warrior. This short is a great improvement on the Domination!
The Closure System...
Fantastic Embroidery Work
The Annihilation
The back of my new favorite shirt, courtesy of Warrior Intl!
Warrior "Annihilation" Fight Short Review for Larger Men: The Icon
