Why real muay thai translates so well to MMA, why American muay thai doesnt

JKD sanda said:
From my understanding they have gentlemen rules they follow like in most fighting sports .

Thai boxers are known for being extremely respectful outside of the ring. You will never see a Thai boxer bad-mouthing his opponent(s) like you see in the Western Boxing world. Thai's believe in doing all their "talking" in the ring, letting their fighting speak for them.techniques that are considered "dirty pool", but are still ring legal.
No1- When a mid-body level kick comes, you can trap and spike it with your elbow.
No2- When clinching your opponent, get your glove into his face and cover his nose and mouth so that he has difficulty breathing.
No3- Also, while clinching, use your chin to dig into your opponents face, especially the eyes. Thai boxers like to enter the ring with a few days razor stubble for two reasons. One, the stubble helps punches, elbows, etc slip off the face, and two, to dig it into their opponents face.
No4- Again, during the clinch (notice a trend?), when fighting for control of an opponents neck/head, or defending from having your head pulled down, you can reach across his face and jam your elbow into it. Use your elbow/arm as a stiff barrier, keeping it in his face. Dig it into his nose or eyes or mouth...
No5- Again, while clinched, you can wrap your leg around your opponent and heel kick him in the back of the leg or buttocks.
No6- Throw a haymaker-like punch, but hit him with the bony part of the wrist rather than the fist. This is a good knockout technique because the wrist/forearm area is not protected with boxing gloves.
No7- Like boxing, it is illegal to hit an opponent who is down. However, if the opponent has not hit the floor yet... I have seen many fights ended when an opponent gets that extra kick or even a knee in before their opponent hits the floor after they have thrown or dumped them.
No8- Push Kicking opponent in the face. This is the most insulting thing you can do in the ring. You would not make a Thai as angry if you said very explicitly derogatory remarks about his parents. In Thai culture (and many Asian cultures) the head is considered the most important part of the body (practically holy!), the feet the lowliest. To push kick them in the face is to say that you are beneath the
dirt under my feet. When a Thai push kicks to someone's face, he does not strike with it, rather he brushes his opponents face with it, heightening the insult factor.
As you can see, Thai's like to play for keeps. However, they keep it in the ring. The above techniques are all legal in the ring, but considered to be "dirty pool". Most fighters refrain from using them, as they can expect like treatment if they do. As an interesting note along the same idea, this is why many, many Thai fighters rarely ever use elbows in the ring. There is sort of a "gentleman's agreement" amongst boxers that if you do not use elbows, neither will I. If you do, however, expect like in return. This from the book mauy Thai. The art of fighting. Written by
Yod Ruerngsa, Khun Kao Charuad and James Cartmell
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Wait are you implying that fighters who use elbows a lot are seen as lesshonourable or something?
 
KBE6EKCTAH_CCP said:
Wait are you implying that fighters who use elbows a lot are seen as lesshonourable or something?
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No , just you lol . its from book on mauy thai. Things they see a dirty but legal . Maybe this is why the low KOs in mauy Thai .
 
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"this is why many, many Thai fighters rarely ever use elbows in the ring"

LOL WUT?

Your book is fugazi.
 
I'm pretty sure it's somewhat of a gentleman's agreement as to not cut eachother.
 
-guerilla- said:
I'm pretty sure it's somewhat of a gentleman's agreement as to not cut eachother.
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Tell that to Muangthai's opponents.

Elbows in Muay Thai mainly cause KO's not cuts.

It's funny how so many people commenting on the sport don't even make an attempt to watch it at least occasionally.
 
Snubnoze707 said:
Tell that to Muangthai's opponents.

Elbows in Muay Thai mainly cause KO's not cuts.

It's funny how so many people commenting on the sport don't even make an attempt to watch it at least occasionally.
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Do you know if there's any official score kept on throws sweeps and dumps
 
Mmm, I love Muay Thai, and the fact that they clinch fight, and respect their abilities.... but all that weight on the back foot and the lack of footwork just begs for a freestyle wrestler to take them down.
 
Elbows aren't dirty but they wouldn't use it in the first two rounds before the betting starts.
 
Ultra O’Dia said:
Mmm, I love Muay Thai, and the fact that they clinch fight, and respect their abilities.... but all that weight on the back foot and the lack of footwork just begs for a freestyle wrestler to take them down.
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It just takes a couple minor modifications to deal with wrestlers.

in my opinion the Muay Thai clinch game is highly applicable to MMA.

Fighting karate could have been even better if it weren't for the GI dependence
 
NoSmilez said:
Elbows aren't dirty but they wouldn't use it in the first two rounds before the betting starts.
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But they are considered a bit of a "rough tactic"

just like the front push kick to the face.
 
-guerilla- said:
But they are considered a bit of a "rough tactic"

just like the front push kick to the face.
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No it's not. There are elbow fighters within the circuit. There are no push kick to the face fighters.
 
NoSmilez said:
No it's not. There are elbow fighters within the circuit. There are no push kick to the face fighters.
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I don't know man I've heard from a lot of people that there's often a gentleman's agreement not to use elbows in certain fights.

push kicks to the face are considered a very nasty tactic and disrespectful in traditional Muay Thai.
 
-guerilla- said:
I don't know man I've heard from a lot of people that there's often a gentleman's agreement not to use elbows in certain fights.

push kicks to the face are considered a very nasty tactic and disrespectful in traditional Muay Thai.
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I understand push kicks because it has a cultural meaning to it. Your statement regarding perhaps only applies to low level muay thai. They don't want cuts because they want to fight again soon but in stadium fights there are so many bets going on. You want to win
 
NoSmilez said:
I understand push kicks because it has a cultural meaning to it. Your statement regarding perhaps only applies to low level muay thai. They don't want cuts because they want to fight again soon but in stadium fights there are so many bets going on. You want to win
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Makes sense to me
 
nobody cares about teeps to the face in Thailand. stop mixing up cultural norms and combat sports.

And if there is an opening to elbow the shit out of your opponent, every thai will gladly take it.
 
Real Muay Thai fighters know how to throw a proper round kick.
American MT has dog shit kicks.
 
Muay Thai in professional rules is much more complete than Kickboxing. For premitis to use projections, elbow and knee.
 
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