Muay Thai is more than just throwing punches and landing kicks, more than running before each session. It is a tactical art, using strategy and fight IQ. At the highest level practitioner use their opponents’ technique against them.
The way you practice Muay Thai depends on where you learn from and the fighters that you decide to follow. Your coach will be the one that helps build up your martial arts foundation. Watching fighters, you look up to causes you to imitate their style. Following fighters, you respect you can not help but analyze their every move in the ring. When you become more adept in combat, your awareness of the differences between styles will influence the way you train as well.
These are the 3 styles of Muay Thai that are currently popular now:
Muay Femur
The Muay Femur epitomizes all that is impressive about the art of Muay Thai. Instead of brute violence and aggression, the Muay Femur fighter utilizes all the weapons that Muay Thai offers. Precision and impeccable technique will be his/her calling card. They are the kind of fighter that has the crowds in stadiums in awe of their prowess and knowledge displaying poise and balance throughout the fight.
Knowing when to attack, when to back down and how to adapt to each opponent’s style without losing composure is what makes Muay Femur practitioners into some of the combat sports world most feared and respected tacticians. One of the signature tactics of Muay Femur fighters is using their opponent’s tactics against them, stifling their offense and shutting every aspect of the fighter’s game. The techniques usually employed in these fights are jabs, kicks, and teeps. All these methods are used during these fights start to help the fighter keep their distance. This space helps to elude his opponent’s attacks, using footwork and angular movements to avoid taking damage and launch counterattacks.
Muay Mat
An aggressive style of Muay Thai, Muay Mat practitioners, specialize in heavy punches and destructive low kicks. In the ring, they are known to walk forward constantly, as they are always the attacker. They utilize pressure and consistent offense to break their opponents. These fighters control the center of the ring and will go toe to toe with whoever is standing across from them in the ring.
Often concentrated on wearing his opponents down a Muay Mat fighter use punches to the body to affect the cardio of his opponents. The low kicks are used to not only stifle their adversaries footwork and affecting the power they can generate in their punches and kicks as well. They do anything to get a knockout, even if it means taking a lot of damage and losing points. They genuinely believe in the philosophy of taking a hit to give one.
Muay Khao
The Muay Khao style is known for the use the ever so dangerous and devastating knee strikes. He is often strong, using the clinch to “overpower” his opponent. From within the clinch, he will use various knee techniques that eventually overwhelm the opponent. The devastating barrage of knees makes a target of the abdomen, ribcage, solar plexus, thighs, and head.
Now I am using the term overpower loosely, for those of us who have clinched, know that brute strength alone can not help you dominate someone in the clinch. The complexities and techniques might not be apparent but believe me that the clinch is a monster in itself, which is why there is a whole style dedicated to it. Even outside of this style 99% of camps in Thailand spend at least 1 hour a day practicing only the clinch.
As you journey further into the depths of martial arts, it becomes apparent that Muay Thai is more than just punches and low kick. There are various ways to train this beautiful art. Moreover, as it is exposed to the masses, documentation and new techniques will be shown, shared, and taught. It is a lifelong process.
