Is muay thai good for street fighting? Does muay thai help in street fights?
Muay thai is definitely good for street fighting. Even with just a few weeks of muay thai training you will have simple but effective fighting techniques that can be used effectively in a street fight.
Muay thai is a relatively simple martial art to learn with a few simple but very effective techniques that can be learnt and applied relatively quickly.
Also muay thai is purely focussed on combat.
Right from the get go you will learn combat applicable techniques.
Let’s look at why muay thai is good for street fighting.
Does Muay Thai Help in Street Fights?
Having some knowledge and training in muay thai will definitely help in a street fight situation.
So let’s look at some of the main reasons why muay thai will help in a street fight.
Muay Thai is Purely Focussed on Combat and Fighting
Muay thai originated form muay boran which was born out of the battlefield in the Ancient warring periods of Siam aka Thailand.
And this the techniques are rooted in actual combat.
There are no long complicated forms or kata to learn as in Kung Fu, Karate or even Taekwondo.
You will only learn techniques that can be used in actual combat situations, including street fighting.
Even just starting out with basic stance and footwork, your balance, movement, defense and power in your strikes will all be better than an average person on the street.
Many other forms of martial arts require long complicated forms in order to gain belt rankings and without a lot of actual application.
Muay thai is completely the opposite in that what you learn form Day 1 will be applicable to fighting.
Muay thai’s focus on combat and fighting is a major reason why muay thai is good for street fighting.
Muay Thai is Well Ring Tested
there are muay thai fights in Thailand virtually every day of the week.
And so the techniques in muay thai are constantly being tested and refined in actual combat in the ring.
What works effectively has been kept in muay thai training and flash, unnecessary techniques are not taught or trained if they do not help the fighter in the ring.
So, every technique in muay thai is backed by decades and decades of actual ring combat to establish what works best in fighting.
Sparring is a Major Part of Muay Thai Training Which Prepares You Well for a Street Fight
Unlike other martial arts styles such as Kung Fu or Taekwondo, muay thai includes sparring in every training session.
Whether full sparring with shin guards and gloves or clinch sparring with no gloves, in muay thai you have a lot of opportunity to test out techniques that work best for you against an actual resisting opponent.
This is a far better way to learn street fighting than partner drills with a non-resisting opponent that a lot of martial arts train and teach.
In sparring you get the feel for actual combat and can become comfortable and relaxed in an actual combat situation which is definitely useful for street fighting.
Is Kickboxing or Muay Thai Better in a Street Fight?
Kickboxing actually has its origins in muay thai which date back to the 1950’s and 60s when muay thai fighters would fight Karate practitioners to determine which style was better.
Muay thai won a lot of these bouts and the defeated Japanese Karateka would often take up studying muay thai after losing. And out of this cross-training by Japanese fighters, Kickboxing was born.
So, it would be accurate to say that muay thai would be better for street fighting than kickboxing just based on the origins of kickboxing.
But there are other crucial factors that make muay thai better than kickboxing for street fighting.
#1 Muay Thai has Deadly Elbows – Kickboxing Does Not
In the majority of kickboxing competitions and tournaments, elbows are not allowed to be used.
But in muay thai, elbows are a major part of training and fighting.
And the elbow is one of the most effective weapons the human body can use in combat.
there are elbow specialist in muay thai who have perfected the art of throwing and landing elbows in combat.
Based on the use and expertise of elbows in muay thai, and the lack of elbows in kickboxing, this would be one major reason why muay thai is better than kickboxing in a street fight.
#2 The Muay Thai Clinch is Excellent for Self Defense
The clinch game in muay thai is highly developed.
Specialist clinch fighters in muay thai, known as muay khao, base their whole game on clinching up an opponent to prevent their strikes and dominating them in the clinch to land devastating elbows and knees.
Most kickboxing tournaments and competitions severely limit cinching. And in kickboxing a referee will break up a clinch within a few seconds.
Whereas in muay thai the clinch is allowed to continue if one fighter is dominating or there is a battle for clinch dominance.
The muay thai clinch is another reason why muay thai is better than kickboxing in a street fight.
In addition, the clinch is one effective way to fight multiple opponents, check out the video above utilising the clinch against more than one opponent.
#3 Muay Thai has a Wide Range of Takedowns
Muay thai also specialises in taking an opponent down to the ground which could end a street fight situation pretty quickly.
Takedowns in muay thai score very highly in competition.
But, kickboxing places little importance on takedowns, especially in comparison to muay thai.
There are many trips, sweeps, dumps and throws in muay thai.
Learning these techniques you can break an opponents posture and control their movement and take them down.
Especially if your opponent in a street fight has little experience in handling and defending the clinch (which is most people anyway).
Is Muay Thai good for Street Fighting? Wrap Up
Yes, muay thai is excellent for street fighting.
As muay thai is based on preparing a student to fight from the very beginning the techniques are simple yet effective and can be used reliably in combat.
Muay thai originates form the battlefield and actual combat and has many decades of application and testing in the ring.
While muay thai may be similar to kickboxing, kickboxing has its origins in muay thai. And this makes muay thai better than kickboxing in a street fight.
Other reasons include the use of elbows, clinch and takedowns all of which are not used much if at all in kickboxing. Yet they are very applicable to a street fight.
