Here it is almost the end of 2010 and I know what you are thinking. I have all this extra cash left over after Christmas and I need to buy some new mma gear. Well what are you waiting for? There is tons of great gear out there and I am going to take you through what I think is some of the best of the year. Whether you are thinking shorts or gloves, mouthguard or gi, or ever just a new hoodie I got you covered. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a look at what I think are the best of 2010, and with 2011 coming up I can not wait to see what is just around the corner.

I think the best way to do this is I am going to present this in portions… first up shorts.

SHORTS

Every one of us that is a hardcore gear addict knows this is the staple of our addiction. You can never have too many pairs of mma shorts. I know that I can’t, and just continue to get them no matter how many pairs that I have. As new stuff comes out, I must have to have it. These are just a couple examples of the shorts that I have reviewed that I think are ones that you should not live without.

Sprawl Fusion-S Shorts  

These are really some of the best shorts out on the market. With almost every key feature combined into one short this is surely not a pair that you will want to pass up.
Click here to go to my review of Sprawl Fusion S Shorts

Clinch Gear Elite Shorts

I am sure that you have seen these around. They are some of the best shorts out there. With top notch quality and customer service to match these shorts should not be passed up on.
Click here to go to my review of Clinch Gear Elite Shorts

Jaco Resurgence MMA Fight Shorts

One of the most innovative shorts out there. These will be sure to get you through those long workouts, and hey they are Jaco so you really cant go wrong. Speaking of Jaco be sure and check out there vale tudo shorts.
Click here to go to my review of Jaco Resurgence MMA Fight Shorts

Hayabusa Competition White Shiai Fight Shorts

I just finished my review of these and they are a last minute addition just due to how good these shorts are. Really a fantastic pair of shorts that should not be overlooked.
Click here to go to my review of Hayabusa Competition White Shiai Fight Shorts

Now for the underdog pair of shorts….

PrimeTime Ltd Edition Fight Shorts

You know these are really a very quality pair of shorts. With really nothing wrong with them, they are extremely hard to pass us. Be sure if you are looking to get some new shorts you take a look at these.
Click here to go to my review of PrimeTime Ltd Edition Fight Shorts

Feel like there is something that I should add? Maybe you think your shorts should be here. Well do not feel bad. These are just the ones that I really feel like were ahead of the others. Plenty of other sections to go so don’t get your jockstrap in a bind just yet.

 

Per Manufacturer-
- Available in colors: Red with White Trim or All Black
- Top grade, all-leather headgear offers the most in comfort, performance & durability
- Super-soft, yet resilient, inner foam offers optimal all-around fit and comfort
- Fully padded cheek and chin pads help provide increased coverage
- Fully adjustable top and back help make for extra secure fit and sizing
- Made to withstand all professional and amateur competition and training
- American Stand Up – T&T Fit Tech absorbs shock better than any protective gear on the market

First Impression- When I pulled this headgear out of the box the construction and overall look was great. Leather felt good, and I liked the color. Could not wait to try it on.

Construction- Everything about this headgear screams quality. The stitching is done very well, with almost no loose threads. The color of the leather is bright and vibrant. The leather itself is not too stiff and feels nice against my face. Now lets go over the padding placement. The padding in this headgear is excellent. American Stand Up has put padding everywhere that there needs to be some. Plenty of stiff padding around the jaw, and softer but still stiff enough padding around the cheeks. The closure system has Velcro in the back, and a drawstring at the top which should allow for plenty of adjustment. Headgear is manufactured in Pakistan.

Fit- There are two different sizes and I choose to go with the Large. There is so much adjustability with this headgear that it should be fairly easy to get a size the will work for you. The drawstring works well at the top of the closure. You can either leave it loose and tighten up the Velcro first, or you can just tie it tight and leave it and just use the Velcro to take it on and off. Either way the fit is nice and tight. The leather feels good against my face and did not irritate my forehead like other headgear I have used. The fit around the chin is tight and provides plenty of protection. The padding feels stiff enough so that it will keep you protected, and also absorb plenty of the shock. Whenever I wear headgear one thing I always worry about is will I be able to see okay. I have worn headgear in the past where part of the cheek protection has blocked a some of my vision. That was not the case here. I could see fine and managed to keep almost all of my peripheral vision.

Training- Now with training in headgear there are both good things and bad things. I get to see how it feels, and how comfortable it is. Well, I also have to let people hit me in the face to see what type of protection it does offer. First the comfort, I would probably some of the most comfortable head gear during training I have worn. It did not shift or move, even when I got hit. The drawstring helps to keep it nice and tight. One thing I will say like most headgear I did get very hot while wearing it. As for protection, it did exactly what it is suppose to do. Most of the shock was absorbed by the headgear, also kept me from getting cuts or bruises. The chin area has lots of padding and it is very stiff. Now that’s not to say that if you still take a good shot you aren’t going to sleep, but it definitely cuts down on the impact. My vision was not impaired, and also did a great job at protecting my ears.

Pros-

*Construction

*Fit

*Good Shock Absorption

Cons-

*Hot while wearing

*Testing requires getting hit in the face

Overall- I have used quite a few pairs of headgear in my time and I would say that this rates as one of the better ones out there. With lots of adjustability and comfort it is hard to find faults with it. If you are looking for a new set of headgear go ahead and give this set a look. It retails for Roth around $65.

(Highly Recommended)

Click here to buy American Stand Up EGG WRAP Safety Head Gear

**Disclaimer** I received these at no cost for the purpose of review and received no payment from the company to do the review.

First Impression- When I got these out of the box I first noticed how small these looked to be 16oz. I tried them on and the fit was nice and snug could not wait to try them out. Colors were nice and bright.

Construction- These gloves are of excellent quality. There were no loose threads when they arrived at my house. The color of the leather is very vibrant and well done. Like other ASU gloves the leather is high quality and thick.  The logos on them are screen printed on the back of the hand compartment, we will see how long that lasts. The logo on the cuff however is sewn on. The padding in these gloves is nice and tight. I would say it is just right. Not so soft that it feels like a pillow, but not so hard that when sparring with someone that it is going to hurt them. The padding surrounds the entire hand like a muay thai glove should. These glove are manufactured in Pakistan. They have a standard hook and loop style closure system, and also an attached thumb.. The interior lining of the glove feels like a satin material.

Fit- For me this glove has a perfect fit. Now keep in mind I have smaller hands, so if your hands are bigger these gloves might be tight on you. I also wrap my hands. The cuff is in the mid range and goes to about the middle of my forearm. They provide great wrist protection and I also have plenty of freedom for movement such as thai clinch and opening and closing my hand. Another thing that they do is have very good ventilation. While my hands still got sweaty, they did not feel as hot because of the holes in the palms of the glove. I know that may not sound like much, but it does make a difference. The material of the lining on the inside of the glove feels nice and did not irritate my skin. The thumb of these gloves is just the right length and found it to be very comfortable. The overall fit of these gloves is just right for me.

Mitts/Pads- These are my favorite gloves I own when working mitt/pad drills. They are very comfortable and provide plenty of wrist protection. I did not find my hands to become very fatigued because it is so easy to make a fist in these gloves. They feel very light for 16oz gloves. I had to weigh them to make sure that they were truly a 16oz glove and they are right one the money. Was a little worried that my knuckles would be sore after some extended rounds, but no unusual soreness. Great gloves for training.

Heavy Bag- On the heavy bag I am 50/50 on these gloves. They provide the protection that I needed, but there are gloves that I would rather use than these. I do not believe that these gloves were fully designed for heavy bag work. Like before I had no problem working any kind of technique on the bag. They remained comfortable through out my entire workout. If you are looking for bag gloves these would not be the ones that I would choose. There is nothing wrong with them just were not the gloves I would pick for working a heavy bag when they are so great at other things. However they do work for just about everything else. Now on to sparring.

Sparring- Another reason I really like these gloves. They are excellent for sparring. The padding on them makes them work perfectly for sparring. I could easily open my hand allowing for thai clinch, but also to be able to do more of a normal clinch as well. At the same time my hand did not get tired from making a fist either. Even when blocking kicks these gloves worked as there is padding on the back side of the hand and wrist. Did not get any complaints about the padding being to stiff. While the wrist protection is good it is not to tight so that is still allows plenty of movement for a better and tighter thai clinch.

Pros-

*Quality

*Fit

*Easy to make a fist

*Ventilation

Cons-

*Maybe small on some

*Not great for bag work

Overall- If you are looking for a thai style glove for either sparring or mitt/pad work then you should definitely check these out. The quality is great and you really can not go wrong with ASU products. Might want to look for a bag glove is looking to do some heavy bag work as these were not my favorite for that. I can recommend these gloves. They can be purchased for right around $64.

**Disclaimer** I received these at no cost for the purpose of review and received no payment from the company to do the review.

Per Manufacturer-

- These official AmericanStandUp.com training gloves are designed, manufactured and crafted to offer superior punching power, incredible hand protection and an already “broken in” feel from the first day they are strapped on

- Authentic hand-crafted Mexican style gloves are constructed with premium leather and an advanced inner foam complex construction design.

- Ergonomically designed for maximum striking safety

- Dual cross closure system for ultimate wrist support and stability

-  Unique conic design and snug fitting long cuff for optimal wrist support…ideal for MMA sparring with takedown and takedown defense

- All-leather cover with awesome hand compartment lining for cool, dry and comfortable wear round after round

First Impression- These gloves looked great from the start. Everything was very nicely stitched and the overall look to them is great. Could not wait to get them on and start hitting the gym.

Construction- The construction of these gloves is excellent. The leather on them is nice and thick which makes it so not a lot of stretching happens and you do not get that bubble look like on other gloves after use. The logo on the hand compartment of the glove is screen printed on which is like most and the logo on the cuff is stitched on. The stitching on these gloves is very well done and the colors in the leather look great. These gloves are manufactured in Pakistan and only come in a 16oz which is perfect for sparring. These gloves do have a spot in the palm for ventilation butt still looks as if that is not quite enough as my hands did get quite sweaty and the gloves stayed wet inside for longer then some others. They also have an attached thumb like most gloves and are more of a mexican style glove rather than an American style of boxing glove.

Fit- The fit of these gloves is quite good. They have a nice long cuff that provides plenty of wrist support. They have a hook and loop closure system. They have a semi tight fit on me and I have smaller hands so if you have big hands these will fit tight and I hope for your sake you do not have smaller hands than me. Anyway they do have enough ventilation to keep your hands cool, but could be better. One thing I really enjoyed about these gloves is how easy it is to make a fist. It take very little effort and with a grab bar your fist stays nice and tight. The thumb on them is nice and comfortable and the overall feel of the hand compartment it great. The do not take very long to break in at all as like in their description they do have a broken in feel when you get them.

Pads/Mitts- They gloves work well for both pad and mitt use. They have plenty of padding to absorb the shock but you can still feel your punch. I really liked that my hand did not get fatigued as easy due to ease of making a fist. I did however find that they could use a little bit better ventilation as my hands got sweaty . The wrist support was great and my hand very good inside these gloves. The lining inside the gloves felt good and did not scratch up my knuckles.

Heavy Bag- I thought that these gloves did a good job on the heavy bag. Still had plenty of wrist support and managed to absorb the shock of the heavy bag well. The angle in which your fist would hit the heavy bag was perfect. I did not jamb my wrists like I have with some gloves and my hands were not sore after using these for multiple rounds. These gloves also did a great job at maintaining their shape as sometimes when I glove is used on the heavy bag for an extended amount of time it either compresses or loses its overall shape and these gloves did not have that issue.

 Sparring- I really liked these gloves for sparring. They feel very light for 16oz gloves and like have mentioned are very easy to make a fist so I I was always ready to go. I asked sparring partners after rounds and they said that the padding was just right. Not to soft but you definitely knew when you got hit. I also found that you could open your hand fairly easy for things like the clinch, especially the thai clinch. Like advertised these do work very well for mma sparring as you can grab with them making it easier for takedowns. These glove felt great for sparring.

Pros-

*Great Construction

*Fit

*Ease at making a fist

Cons-

*Could be a little better ventilated

*Maybe too tight of a fit for some

Overall- I really liked these gloves. If you are looking for a pair of gloves that is multi use and have great construction you may want to give these a try. With all of the nice features these provide and with the thickness of the leather I have a feeling they will be around for a long time.  You can pick these gloves up for right around $83.

Click here to buy American Stand Up Elite Sparring Gloves

**Disclaimer** I received this at no cost for the purpose of review