*This review was originally submitted to the sherdog forums on 15/07/05

I bought the sparmasters because at the time they were the only MMA sparring glove I was aware of, since then a couple of new gloves have popped up. I'm almost a pure BJJ guy but wanted to start rolling with some strikes in to shake things up a bit so was pleased when my gloves arrived in the post.

As you may have seen they’re somewhat of an odd design with extra padding around the knuckle. This does its job in protecting your sparring partner however really does get in the way when you try to grapple, especially for someone like me that uses a lot more chokes than other subs, and makes getting your arms out of someone going for an armbar on you a total nightmare. With the added bulk the gloves generally make your arms easy enough to control for your sparring partner. On the plus side they don’t hinder your grip much at all and are feel decent on you, so from that side of things they come up trumps.

The wrist wrap system is very good, wrapping around your wrist several times secured by Velcro, this is something a lot of other glove makers could learn from, and despite my concerns about the sparring gloves being too bulky for grappling I would be inclined to give the proper MMA gloves a go simply because they use the same wrist support system.

All in all the rouges are fine if your wanting to spar mostly striking with a little bit grappling thrown in, however if you’re 50/50 or leaning more towards the grappling side of things (like me) then I would maybe look towards the gameness or Konjo gloves. Unfortunately I have not used either personally, but hopefully someone else will be able to review so you can all compare when making your choices.

Overall I give the sparmasters a 6/10, they simply weren’t made with grappling in mind, but are good for mostly standup work.

Review by Pete Forster