Muay Thai Basics
We put together a quick guide for those who are new to the art of Muay Thai.
Here you will learn the basics of Muay Thai: where it comes from, what the moves are and what the rules are. And if you like the sound of it, you are welcome to join us at Diamond Muay Thai, the best Muay Thai camp for beginners in South Thailand.
When did people start doing Muay Thai?
No-one knows. The fighting stye that we call Muay Thai emerged out of the countless wars that the Siamese (Thai) people fought with their neighbours. Much of their history was kept at the city of Ayutthaya, which was sacked and burned by the Burmese in 1767.
A warrior named Nai Khanom Dtom was captured by the Burmese during the sacking. While being kept as a prisoner, he was allowed to enter a boxing competition. He fought and defeated 10 of Burma’s best fighters, one after the other. The Burmese king was watching and praised Nai, saying ‘every part of the Siamese is blessed with venom’. Others complained that Nai had won due to his black magic dance – what we would call his Wai Kru.
War was a way of life for some among the Siamese tribes; an inescapable reality for others. A fighting style was needed that would allow a warrior with no weapon to destroy his opponents. They didn’t need it to look pretty – they needed it to work.
So how do you do it then?
Muay Thai is the most effective stand-up fighting style in the world. It incorporates all the weapons available to a warrior with no weapon:
- two hands
- two legs
- two elbows
- two knees
Thus it is called the Art of Eight Limbs. It used to incorporate head-butts too, but not any more (it’s health and safety gone mad…)
Punches
- Thai fighters tend to prefer kicks, but they’re happy to punch you if needed. Unless you’re southpaw (left-handed, right foot forward), the forward left hand is used to jab and the rear right hand for power-punches.
- The jab doesn’t have so much power but is good for keeping your opponent at a distance, distracting them and breaking up their rhythm.
- The punch or cross utilises the full power of the body, and can floor an opponent if landed well.
- Uppercuts are often hard to land but very effective when they do; snaking in between your opponent’s gloves to rock their head back.
- Hooks are not just for pirates. Muay Thai fighters will launch an assault on an opponent’s face or torso in order to occupy their guard, before swinging with a powerful hook that lands like a mace on the side of the skull.
Kicks
The roundhouse kick is Muay Thai’s signature move. The key is to kick sideways, not up, so that the front of your shin hits your opponent’s body like a baseball bat. The force is devastating.
The teep is possible the most effective move in Muay Thai. You raise your leg up straight and push your opponent away with your foot. Like a jab, it keeps them away, breaks up their rhythm – but your leg is way longer and way more powerful than your hand. Done right, it can send opponents flying.
Head kicks: Like a roundhouse kick, except you kick their head, usually with your foot. This requires flexibility, but the time spent on your yoga mat will pay off – landing these often means it’s bedtime for your opponent.
Many Thai fighters specialise in leg kicks, and for good reason. They’re relatively easy to land, and if you land enough of them your opponent’s leg will turn to spaghetti, causing them to crumple and fall to the canvas while you begin your victory dance.
Elbows
The ultimate weapon you never knew you had. Elbows can hit like a hammer or cut like a dagger; they’re the reason you might see a bit of blood at Muay Thai fight. You have to get in close to land them – close enough to be hit by one yourself – but it may be worth the risk. There’s power in those puppies.
Uppercut elbows are much like uppercut punches, except the much narrower elbow is far more effective at piercing the gap in your opponent’s guard. Of course, you have to get close.
Oh, and try not to get bit by a spinning elbow, unless you have a skull made of titanium.
Knees & The Clinch
Muay Thai fighters can strike with their knees at any time, but they most often do so while clinching. When Western boxers clinch, they are taking a break from the fighting. When Thai fighters clinch, the fight is entering a new phase. Both fighters hold on to their opponent, vying for dominance by attempting to control their partner’s upper body while launching volleys of knee strikes.
Balance is key here. Knee strikes are powerful, and score highly, but while your knee is raised you lose stability and are vulnerable to a take-down, in which your opponent exploits your lack of stability to throw you to the canvas. Clinching is an art in itself and can quickly exhaust a fighter’s energy.
Those are the moves – what are the rules?
There aren’t any. Well, there didn’t use to be – in the old days fighters would head-butt, strike at the groin and even dip their hand wraps in sticky resin mixed with crushed glass. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen any more.
Nowadays, fights are divided into five rounds of three minutes, with a two minute rest in between rounds. Fighters wear gloves, mouth guards and groin guards, but no shin guards – in Western countries, amateur fighters wear shin guards and sometimes headgear.
Before the fight, each fighter performs a Wai Kru – a dance that honours that fighter’s teachers, blesses the ring and also serves as a stretch and warm-up.
Scoring is varied and can be hard to understand. Generally, punches get the least points, then kicks, then elbows and knees – take-downs score highest. Strikes may not score if they don’t cause damage – or appear to cause damage. Hence the legendary poker face of Muay Thai fighters – they are attempting to show the judges that their opponent’s attacks haven’t phased them.
In many places, the first two rounds don’t score, and give the fighters a chance to scope each other out, test defences, look for weaknesses. It also gives gamblers a chance to decide which fighter they prefer and place their bet – gambling is pretty big in Muay Thai, but that’s a whole other story.
In the third and fourth rounds, the fighters go fast and furious. They call the fourth round the ‘money round’ – that’s often when fights are decided. In the fifth round, the fighters might still be going hard – or they might dance around each other, knowing the result is already decided.
Does all this sound exciting? Do you want to try it yourself, under the guidance of champion trainers? Take a look at what Diamond Muay Thai has to offer you. As we say here on Koh Phangan: if you’re going to train, why not train in paradise?