The thai guard or long guard is used commonly in muay thai as a primary defense against punches while at the same time allowing to judge distance with the ‘long’ lead arm, hence the name long guard.
In this post we look at 3 different variations of the muay thai long guard.
- Dracula Guard
- Old School
- Fluid Long Guard
The common theme across the three variations is the long lead arm so while overall they fall under the thai long guard category they each have unique features.
I would suggest practicing all three and using them in different circumstances in sparring to test them out.
1. Dracula Guard
This guard seems to be favoured by a lot of fighters.
It takes its name from the shape of the your rear arm bent and across your face with your chin hidden in your elbow.
Pretty much like Dracula with with his cape across his face.
I first heard the name ‘Dracula Guard’ from Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu who is a very experienced female American pro fighter living and fighting in Thailand.
Sean ‘Muay Thai Guy’ Fagan has a breakdown on the dracula guard presented by Kru Rong of Khongsitta gym in Bangkok.
This is a great explanation of the dracula guard and its applications.
This is the guard that was recommend to me when I was lucky enough to take some private classes with Sam-A Gaiyanghadao who teaches at Evolve MMA in Singapore.
Sam-A is known for his strong defense and I trust his advice.
Have a read of my experiences training at Evolve MMA in Singapore here.
Dracula Guard in Fighting
The Dracula Guard is excellent for protecting your chin against oncoming punches to the face.
In application:
- lower your head – chin down
- lead hand extended straight out
- rear arm makes a ‘v’ shape with your rear hand up on your lead shoulder
- your chin is ‘buried’ and protected by your rear elbow shielded in the ‘v’ shaped formed by your bent arm.
The explanation of the dracula guard in the video below is a great example of the guard and its uses.
2. Old School Long Guard
I call this the ‘old school’ long guard as it was taught to me by a former professional fighter in Thailand, Pebaan aka Mr Happy at his home gym in Chiang Mai.
You can read about my time in Chiang Mai here.
The picture below is from sparring, using the Old School long guard with Mr. Happy aka Pebaan.
The lead arm is still fully extended like the dracula guard or any other variation of the muay thai long guard.
But the rear glove is touching your cheek rather than covering across your chin area and touching your opposite shoulder as in the dracula guard.
In fact the rear hand position is similar to blocking a normal hook but your rear elbow is flexible to sweep across to the middle of your chest to cover uppercuts with your elbow.
In the Old School long guard, the lead arm is extended out and covers from straights and round punches on your lead side.
The rear glove touches the same side face to cover straight and round punches on your rear side.
The rear elbow sweeps across the chest to cover your opponents upper cuts or attacks up the middle.
To be honest I find this guard not as natural for me.
When sparring the automatic guard that seems to come out for me is more similar Master Toddy’s defensive guard which you can see in the video below.
3. Fluid Long Guard – Master Toddy’s defensive guards
In the video below the lead arm is very dynamic and fluid and the video demonstrates the lead arm attacking your opponents face, neck and shoulder to stop their attack.
The rear arm position is more in front of the face rather than across your chin as in the dracula guard or touching your face like how Mr Happy taught me.
You have to be careful not to block your vision with your rear arm but in this position I feel it is more ready to counter attack if you can disrupt your opponent with your lead arm.
In the video Master Toddy also really emphasizes lifting your shoulders like in a shrug position and keeping them extended for better defensive protection.
This shrugging motion should apply to all variations of the long guard and just in your stance in general its good to keep the shoulders shrugged up high to protect your face and chin.
Common characteristics of the different long guard variations
The first is that the long guard allows you to keep distance from your opponent with the lead arm extended to stop you opponent from coming in.
Importantly the long guard is only used for a brief moment before transitioning into attacks or defensive escapes. You wouldn’t approach you opponent with the long guard already up but transition into the long guard when your opponent throws punches.
There are defensive holes that can be exploited. Like all defensive guards, none are completely bulletproof. There will always be defensive holes that your opponent can look to exploit. One common critique of the long guard is that it leaves you open down the middle for uppercuts.
I find that using the dracula guard or the Old School long guard you have the elbow covering your chin from attacks up the middle like uppercuts.
Can the long guard be used in self defense?
I would say absolutely. Just keeping your hands up to protect your face and with the lead arm extended to disrupt your opponents attacks as well as their vision can be very helpful in a self defense situation.
Check out the video below of Jeff Chan from mmashredded.com as he approaches random people in the street to try and hit him in the face! He primarily uses the long guard and head movement to avoid the punches.
But also note that Jeff Chan is a high level, professional martial artists with great head movement and his partners are using gloves which makes a big difference from defending against someone punching you with MMA gloves or bare knuckles.
However due to the fact that the long guard is mostly used against people with gloves on I would prefer more the helmet guard that is also used for blocking in MMA due to the smaller gloves.
This would also apply to bare knuckle or self defense as without gloves its easier for your opponents hands to find openings in your guard.
But ultimately using the long guard for the brief moments when hands are thrown at you, keeping calm and countering or finding an opportunity to escape, this makes the long guard also useful in self defense.
Muay Thai long guard final thoughts
Overall the long guard is commonly used in muay thai for one reason. It is an effective defensive guard against punches and opponents pressing you to get inside and clinch.
The lead arm can be used as an attacking weapon in the long guard to disrupt your opponents attacks as well as a distance finder. In this sense if your long lead arm can touch your opponent you are in range to attack with knees and kicks.
I have discussed three variations of the long guard here and I find all three to be usable by all and interchangeable depending on the situation you are in.
