Choosing the most effective fight shorts for your combat sport… It goes without saying that fight shorts are going to have to be able to allow the wearer to strike, kick and grapple efficiently. Fight gear works best if the fabric is stretchable and elastic. Choose your shorts for combat Be very careful that the fabric of the combat-pants that you use does not limit your technique. There’s a lot of sliding and dragging in MMA. For example, so the material needs to be very durable as well – remember that this dragging might be not only against the floor, but also against the walls of a cage.   One of the things to remember is that you need to choose your pants so that the material isn’t trapped at the knee during grounding fighting or rolling. This means that unless your pants are actually compression gear, they shouldn’t be tight at all.   Also, they should provide the minimum of friction, to allow you to slip past grapples – avoid rough materials, if it’s at all possible. The waist of your pants should be a comfortable fit – it doesn’t really matter whether your training pants have an elastic waist or a velcro closure, but they should certainly have a drawstring to ensure that they fit perfectly when you wear them. Avoid any design variations that could lead to injury Pockets, especially open pockets, are to be avoided – they make no sense, and can snag or entangle in the midst of grappling. Another thing that is not acceptable in fight pants is any sort of zipper or metal or plastic decorations – these can cause serious injury in combat sports and arts, and will be refused in any academy or sports hall.   Go with what you see professional fighters wear in the ring If not by brand, which are always sponsored and so not always to be trusted – but certainly by style. No professional fighter wears anything that will interfere with ability and performance. Mostly, MMA fighters seems to wear pants that are similar to what surfers wear, that is to say, just about knee length – they are very snug around the hips, but have enough stretch around the thighs to kick and grapple effectively.   Most MMA pants reach to the knees – there’s an additional advantage to this that might not be obvious at first. The length of these fight pants allows enough space for promotional advertising – a considerable advantage to professional fighters. Muay Thai The combat-pants worn by Muay Thai are similar to those worn by western kickboxers, and offer the maximum possible flexibility for kicks. They are also made of smooth materials, and so are suitable for grappling combat sports as well. Generally speaking, the pants used by Muay Thai warriors come up to the middle of the thigh, and have wide waistbands made of a comfortable elastic. In this, they are much like boxing gear.   If this is the sort of gear you prefer, and if you want to use these for grappling, I would suggest that you wear compression gear underneath. However, Muay Thai fight pants are usually brightly patterned, perhaps even with Thai lettering on them, and so are hardly suitable for promotional advertisements, if this happens to be a consideration for you. Go sport-specific I would say that it is best to choose apparel that is designed for the art or sport that you’re practicing, because different considerations are paramount in different arts. To the kickboxer, complete flexibility is the most important consideration. To the MMA man, his garments should not only provide flexibility, but also not provide purchase for holds and grapples. This is why I say that apparel designed specifically for a sport works much better. FBT shorts are great to train in, but there are lots of good brands out there.