What is Muay Thai?

What is Muay Thai?

What is Muay Thai?  Muay Thai is an ancient style of martial arts that is primarily a striking art.  It has elbows, knees, kicks and punches in its large and dangerous arsenal of strikes.  The combinations available to a trained Muay Thai fighter are devastating in any fight.  One way in which Muay Thai is different, and in many ways more complete, is that it has always incorporated grappling in its training.  The Muay Thai clinch has wreaked havoc on those who don't understand how to defend it.  It is no surprise that Muay Thai has become one of the most  utilized martial arts in MMA and has produced many champions from within it's ranks.

Muay Thai was created in Thailand.  It has been a martial art and a big part of their cultural identity for centuries.  Many of Thailand's mythic heroes and folk lore revolve around legendary Muay Thai fighters.  Muay Thai is huge over there, on the level of baseball or football in America.  Kids start training it very young and make themselves into huge superstars in Thailand.  Muay Thai has spread to other parts of the world due in no small part to it's effectiveness in many international competitions.  

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is such a great striking art for three very important reasons.  There is no real hierarchy of techniques.  Punches aren't favored over kicks or anything like that.  Many martial arts do not use punches effectively and kicks are relied upon to much.  This makes for very low percentage kicks that have no setup.  Everything is designed to complement each other.  Every technique is used to set up another one.  Many different strikes can be thrown in combination and are often used that way.  This wide array of options gets really scary to face when you can't predict what is next.  Muay Thai also has strikes for every range a fight can be in.  Outside there are kicks and punches and in closer are knees and elbows.  The clinch is another huge strength of Muay Thai.  The inclusion of grappling into Muay Thai creates the possibility of devastatingly uneven exchanges.  This a the major point of separation between Muay Thai and other effective striking styles like boxing or karate.  When those fights get in close or grab on to each other they are separated and sometimes penalized, in Muay Thai they keep going and can land hard knees and elbows that can finish fights or they can dump their opponents onto the ground.

If you are interested in learning this ancient art come in to Precsion MMA and get our FREE 30 day trial and private lesson. Give us a call at 845-392-8495, email us at precisionmma@gmail.com or go to www.poughkeepsiemuaythai.com.