Hand protection has been used in one form or another since the ancient beginnings of combat sports— and it’s likely never looked this good. Nothing mixes better with the prototypical warrior than the fairest of the fairer sex. It’s time to mix work with pleasure and learn a quick sports history lesson about the origins of combat sports gloves— not to mention— appreciating the evolution of the female form in all of its glory.

Hand protection originally began with the ancient Greeks, who were known to wrap their hands in leather strips during combat in an attempt to protect the small, fragile bones in their hands. After the Romans took from the Greeks and picked up boxing as one of their blood sports of choice, they continued to use the Greek-style leather strips as gloves, but hardened the leather and attached metal studs and spikes to the knuckle area in an attempt to increase its destructive power. Bouts would get so brutal during the times of the Gladiators that the ancient Romans declared boxing illegal all across the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. and the ban would last for over 1500 years.

Boxing finally reappeared in the late 1600s as the bare-knuckled variety. It wasn’t long before boxing gloves would resurface, this time with added padding. Jack Broughton, a British boxing champion of the early 1700s, is widely considered the inventor of modern-day padded boxing gloves (known then as ‘mufflers’). Even with its invention, bouts were often still fought bare-knuckled, as many were exceedingly reluctant to give up the purity of the sports’ origins. After countless fatalities, John Graham Chambers of London published the now famous ‘Queensbury Rules’ in 1866, which stated that the use of padded boxing gloves would be required for all boxing matches.

With the birth of mixed martial arts, open-fingered MMA gloves were used to allow fighters to grapple, grab, strike, and hold the opponent down, while still protecting their knuckles and fingers. Retired American mixed martial artist, David Lee ‘Tank’ Abbott, is said to be the first fighter to regularly wear standard MMA gloves.

Now, onto the ladies…

11) Arianny Celeste and Chandella Powell – Blue and red gloves

10) Yellow gloves

9) Red and black gloves

8) Pink gloves

7) Red gloves

6) Black gloves

5) Black gloves

Shawn Cooper is a former editor at UGO.com, and current freelance writer, author, video editor, musician, Snoop advocate and suspected samurai jedi knight. On top of being an avid combat sports fan, he trains as a martial artist in boxing and Muay Thai. <shawn98789@yahoo.com>