Loose or tight fitting clothing in martial arts...

When it comes to clothing in martial arts traditionally it has always been made to serve the purpose of looking smart and allowing the human body beneath it to move freely. Examples of this would be the uniforms worn in china for Kung Fu, This is fascinating to watch as sometimes hundreds of students all wearing the same outfit all performing synchronised patterns in the back yard of the school. Its one of the things that I really do want to see before I die.

 

It must be almost hypnotising to watch. 

As we can see the clothing is very loose around the body.  

I can imagine this getting quite hot underneath despite the excess of space. From experience of wearing a Taekwondo uniform (very similar) it gets very hot underneath when the body gets sweaty and it tends to stick to the body when it gets damp making it quite uncomfortable. 

On the other end of the spectrum however we have the recent outburst of MMA clothing (Mostly influenced by Reebok's take over on the UFC a few years back) Which meant more compression clothing was moving over from the fitness market into the world of Martial art. 

MMA now actually can be seen as just a fitness exercise to burn fat rather than a combat sport to some. Which is a bit weird... 

 

Now compression clothing is good as it keeps the body warm when its cold and cold when its warm. Basically like an extra layer of skin. It also keeps the muscles more compressed and tighter together which in theory helps their performance. (I have noticed this in my leggings) 

However they can provide a slight resistance for the humans movement underneath even though the fabric is very flexible. There is always a limit. (In my experience is always under the armpits) 

So it begs the question... 

Which is better?