Muay Thai (Thai: มวยไทย, RTGS: Muai Thai, IPA: [mūɛj tʰāj]) is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia,lethwei from Burma and muay Lao from Laos. Descended from muay boran, muay thai is Thailand's national sport.
The word muay derives from the Sanskrit mavya which means "to bind together". Muay thai is referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" or the "Science of Eight Limbs" because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight "points of contact", as opposed to "two points" (fists) in boxing and "four points" (hands and feet) used in other more regulated combat sports, such as kickboxing, boxing, and savate. A practitioner of muay thai is known as a nak muay. Western practitioners are sometimes called nak muay farang, meaning "foreign boxer."
Origins
Various forms of kickboxing have long been practiced throughout Southeast Asia. Based on Chinese and Indian martial arts, practitioners claim that these systems can be traced back to a thousand years.
Muay thai evolved from the older muay boran (ancient boxing), an unarmed combat method which would have been used by Siamese soldiers after losing their weapons in battle. Some believe that the ancient Siamese military created muay boran from the weapon-based art,krabi krabong but others contend that both systems were developed at the same time.Krabi krabong nevertheless was an important influence on muay thai as seen in the movements in the wai khru.
Muay boran, and therefore muay Thai, was originally called dhoi muay or simply muay. As well as being a practical fighting technique for use in actual warfare, muay became a sport in which the opponents fought in front of spectators who went to watch for entertainment. These muay contests gradually became an integral part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those held at temples. Eventually, the previously bare-fisted fighters started wearing lengths of hemp rope around their hands and forearms. This type of match was called muay khat chueak (มวยคาดเชือก).
Technique
Formal muay thai techniques are divided into two groups: mae mai or major techniques andluk mai or minor techniques. Muay thai is often a fighting art of attrition, where opponents exchange blows with one another. This is certainly the case with traditional stylists in Thailand, but is a less popular form of fighting in the contemporary world fighting circuit where the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Almost all techniques in muay thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, elbow and block.
Punching (Chok)The punch techniques in muay thai were originally quite limited being crosses and a long (or lazy) circular strike made with a straight (but not locked) arm and landing with the heel of the palm. Cross-fertilization with Western boxing and western martial arts mean the full range of western boxing punches are now used: lead jab, straight/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel and corkscrew punches and overhands as well as hammer fists and back fists.
As a tactic, body punching is used less in muay thai than most other striking combat sports to avoid exposing the attacker's head to counter strikes from knees or elbows. To utilize the range of targeting points, in keeping with the center line theory, the fighter can use either the Western or Thai stance which allows for either long range or short range attacks to be undertaken effectively without compromising guard.
Elbow (Ti sok)The elbow can be used in several ways as a striking weapon: horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying. From the side it can be used as either a finishing move or as a way to cut the opponent's eyebrow so that blood might block his vision. The diagonal elbows are faster than the other forms, but are less powerful.There is also a distinct difference between a single elbow and a follow-up elbow. The single elbow is an elbow move independent from any other move, whereas a follow-up elbow is the second strike from the same arm, being a hook or straight punch first with an elbow follow-up. Such elbows, and most other elbow strikes, are used when the distance between fighters becomes too small and there is too little space to throw a hook at the opponent's head. Elbows can also be utilized to great effect as blocks or defenses against, for example, spring knees, side body knees, body kicks or punches.
Kicking (Te)The two most common kicks in muay thai are known as the thip (literally "foot jab") and the te chiang (kicking upwards in the shape of a triangle cutting under the arm and ribs) or roundhouse kick. The muay thai roundhouse kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body and has been widely adopted by practitioners of other combat sports. It is superficially similar to a karate roundhouse kick, but includes the rotation of the standing leg, like in Kyukushin, Goju, Kojosho and Kenpo, it is done from a circular stance with the back leg just a little ways back (roughly shoulder width apart) in comparison to instinctive upper body fighting (boxing) where the legs must create a wider base. This kick comes with the added risk of having the groin vulnerable at times, which is against Karate and Tae Kwon Do ideology in general except for brief moments after a kick for example. The roundhouse kick draws its power entirely from the rotational movement of the body; the hips. It is thought many fighters use a counter rotation of the arms to intensify the power of this kick, but in actuality the power is from the hips and the arms are put in said position to get them out of the way.
If a roundhouse kick is attempted by the opponent, the Thai boxer will normally check the kick, that is he will block the kick with his own shin. Thai boxers are trained to always connect with the shin. The foot contains many fine bones and is much weaker. A fighter may end up hurting himself if he tries to strike with his foot or instep.
Muay thai also includes other varieties of kicking such as the side kick and spinning back kick. These kicks are used in bouts only by few fighters.
In popular cultureInterest in Muay Thai has risen in the past ten years, due to the popularity of martial arts in film and television. The most notable practitioner of Muay Thai is martial arts sensation Tony Jaa. Yet one of the first popular films that included Muay Thai was Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1989 movie Kickboxer.
Muay Thai has been represented in quite a few fighting games as well. Sagat and Adon from Street Fighter, Joe Higashi and King and Hwa Jai from King of Fighters, Zack the DJ from Dead or Alive, Bruce Irvin from Tekken, Brad Burns from Virtua Fighter, and Jax Briggs from Mortal Kombat are all known to be practitioners of Muay Thai. Muay Thai has also become popular in the movie industry with the release of The Ong Bak Trilogy, starring rising Muay Thai star Tony Jaa. Chocolate, starring Yanin Vismistananda, is another martial arts movie demonstrating Muay Thai's increasingly broad appeal.
Another reference to Muay Thai is its use in the anime/manga, "Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple". Apachai Hopachai, one of the Masters of Ryozanpaku is called, in episode 48, "The Death God of the Muay Thai Underworld"; he is also shown to have difficulty controlling his power as well. This stems from his life-long exposure to ruthless opponents in death-match fights.
Most recently Muay Thai has seen an influx in onscreen exposure with the likes of The Contender in 2006 and The Challenger Muay Thai in 2011 (Shown on AXN in Asia and airing 2012 worldwide).
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