Boxing Gloves Vs. MMA Gloves | The Key Differences

While rules, styles, and strategies differ among these disciplines, one major difference that beginners ignore is the gloves that boxers and MMA fighters use. Boxing gloves are made with heavier padding, allowing intense punching without hurting the hands or the opponent’s jaw. Conversely, MMA gloves are designed with open fingers for grappling and hand flexibility while maintaining essential protection.

Boxing was around way before Mixed Martial Arts was even a concept; it is among the oldest known sports, alongside running and wrestling. Boxing gloves were one of the most notable steps in making it a safer sport. They were designed to protect one’s hands during training and were later introduced to professional competition. When multiple disciplines like wrestling, kickboxing, karate, and boxing combined to form Mixed Martial Arts, gloves were required to meet its rules and regulations. MMA adopted the gloves mainly from Kenpo Karate and traditional Vale Tudo to meet its hybrid needs.

MMA Vs. Boxing Gloves

Combat sports are highly followed for their high voltage competitions, variety of skills, and showcase of athleticism. Professional boxing and Mixed Martial Arts are the in-trend sports that most people adopt. To excel properly in these disciplines, you must know the difference between the gloves used in each sport and how they work.

Design and Functionality

The most easily noticeable difference between boxing and MMA gloves is the open palm and fingerless design of MMA gloves. Boxing only allows the use of hands, so boxers tend to strike with powerful punches to take out opponents. To accommodate this, a boxing gloves manufacturer designs them like mittens that encase the fighter’s entire hands, making it difficult to grab or hold the opponent.  

Conversely, MMA gloves are made for the sport’s multifaceted nature. They allow punches, kicks, holds, and takedowns while maintaining essential protection. The open-finger and palm design of MMA gloves offers prime flexibility for fighters to easily grab opponents for submission maneuvers and takedowns.  

Padding Density

Place a boxing and MMA glove side-by-side, and you’ll notice visible differences in the padding level and placement. The primary function of the padding is to ensure the safety of both fighters and ensure that the match goes the full distance without any harsh injuries.

The padding in MMA gloves is ideally distributed to balance protection during strikes while maintaining the ability to grip, grapple, and perform complex maneuvers. Most padding is concentrated on the knuckles to protect the hands when striking and reduce the risk of cuts and injury to both fighters. 

Boxing gloves are highly padded in the fist area to allow heavy punches and absorb impacts without injuring your hands or the opponent’s jaw. Boxers use the back of their hand to block incoming strikes. Enough padding is installed in that area to ensure stability and reduce the risk of injury. There’s also an extra layer of padding on the wrists, which keeps the wrist in place when throwing powerful punches, preventing sprains or breaks.

Material and Closure Options

The ideal gloves for any combat sports are made from leather, which provides unparalleled durability, long life, and optimal comfort. Modern variations of boxing and MMA gloves have introduced high-quality synthetic leather to reduce the prices and usage of animal skin.  

The best MMA gloves, like those from Infinitude Fight, are made from high-quality synthetic and pure leather blends. They feature a thin inner layer topped with padding to provide flexibility and optimal hand movement. MMA gloves generally use Velcro straps as closures, providing a secure fit that can be adjusted quickly. The shorter strap length allows maximum wrist mobility, which is essential for the varied techniques in MMA, like clinching and takedowns. 

Since boxing involves constant punches, the gloves are made from premium-quality leather and synthetic blends to ensure longevity and ideal protection. They feature a thickly padded inner lining that absorbs impacts from both outgoing and incoming punches. Custom boxing gloves come in velcro straps for training variants and lace-up closures for fighting gloves. Lace-up gloves provide a snug, custom fit, and superior wrist support but require assistance to tie them properly. On the other hand, Velcro closures are easy to wear and remove, making them ideal for quick training sessions or sparring while offering ample wrist support to handle powerful strikes. 

Weight of the Glove

There are specific gloves for bag training, sparring, and professional competition, each varying in weight. The sizes of boxing and MMA gloves are defined by their weight, which varies by the amount of padding and is calculated in ounces (1 Oz = 28 grams). Understand this from the fact that heavyweight boxers wear more padded gloves because they have greater punching power. 

MMA gloves are generally 4 to 6 oz for competition and slightly heavier for training. The lighter weight allows fighters to balance protection and mobility, especially since MMA requires striking and grappling. Due to their open-finger design, these gloves are more compact and come in small, medium, large, or extra-large sizes to fit the fighter’s hand properly.

The heavier weight of boxing gloves provides protection that is ideal for repeated strikes and prolonged exchanges. Leading boxing gear manufacturers and suppliers make premium-quality boxing gloves in sizes ranging from 8 oz to 16 oz. 

• 8 to 12 oz gloves are used in professional competition based on the boxer’s weight class and hand size. All women’s competitions use 10 oz gloves.
• 14 oz gloves serve as an all-round option for both bag training and sparring sessions while the 16 oz version is best suited for hitting the heavy bag.   

Hand Wrapping Styles

Your hand contains 27 bones that are vulnerable to fractures and injuries as a result of a brutal impact. Every combat sports discipline prefers the use of hand wraps to hold these muscles in place and ensure protection during heavy blows. Boxing and MMA gloves have very different inside spaces, so naturally, you can’t use the same wrapping technique.

Thanks to the extra space inside the gloves, boxers use wraps to provide extra padding for the knuckles, stabilize the wrist, and secure the entire hand tightly. The standard wrapping style emphasizes covering the knuckles multiple times, wrapping securely around the wrist, and crisscrossing between the fingers to create a supportive layer.

Since mixed martial arts gloves are much smaller and have an open-finger design, the hand wraps are usually shorter and thinner to avoid excess bulk. The focus is on protecting the knuckles while still maintaining flexibility for grappling.

Boxing Gloves Vs. MMA Gloves- Choose the Right One

While intense training, combat skills, endurance, and fight IQ make you a remarkable fighter, having the right gear can boost your confidence and take your game to the next level. For boxing, choose less padded gloves for competition and highly padded ones for bag training and sparring. MMA training requires 7 to 10 oz gloves compared to the 4-6 oz requirement for professional competition inside the octagon. Boxing gloves should fit snugly on the fighter’s hands and stay intact throughout the fight, while mixed martial arts gloves should offer flexibility and ease of movement to the hands.

Once you understand what functionalities an MMA or boxing glove should offer, it is just a matter of finding the right gear. Infinitude Fight is the leading boxing gear manufacturer and supplier, offering premium-quality boxing and MMA gloves at the best price, delivered to your doorstep. 

So why wait? Order now and wear MMA and boxing gloves that fit perfectly, offer ideal protection, and can go through the rigors of several training sessions and fights.

FAQs

Can you do boxing in MMA gloves?

MMA gloves have less padding compared to boxing gloves, and they are used for grappling and punching. It offers less protection for heavy bag punching, so it might result in injuries. 

Do boxing gloves do more damage than MMA gloves?

MMA gloves are lighter and result in much safer punches compared to boxing gloves. The light padding causes less impact on the surfaces to spread, resulting in fewer brain injuries. 

Should you get boxing or MMA gloves?

If you want to improve your punching and are a striker, boxing gloves are the right choice. If you need lighter protection during training, you can choose MMA gloves.