Origin
Further information: Indochinese kickboxing and
Muay boran 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.
In the case of Thailand, 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 by more generic names such as pahuyuth (from the Sanskrit
bahu-yuddha meaning unarmed combat), dhoi muay (boxing or pugilism, a cognate
of the Malay word tomoi) 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 .
19th century
The
ascension of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to the throne in 1868 ushered in a
golden age not only for muay but for the whole country of Thailand. Muay
progressed greatly during the reign of Rama V as a direct result of the king's
personal interest in the sport. The country was at peace and muay functioned as
a means of physical exercise, self-defense, recreation, and personal
advancement.
Masters
of the art began teaching muay in training camps where students were provided
with food and shelter. Trainees would be treated as one family and it was
customary for students to adopt the camp's name as their own surname. Scouts
would be sent by the royal family to organize matches between different camps.
Modernization
King Rama
VII (r. 1925-1935) pushed for codified rules for muay, and they were put into
place. Thailand's first boxing ring was built in 1921 at Suan Kularp. Referees
were introduced and rounds were now timed by kick. Fighters at the Lumpinee
Kickboxing Stadium began wearing modern gloves during training and in boxing
matches against foreigners. Rope-binding was still used in fights between Thais
but after the occurrence of a death in the ring, it was decided that fighters
should wear gloves and cotton coverlets over the feet and ankles. It was also
around this time that the term muay Thai became commonly used while the older
form of the style came to be known as muay boran, which is now performed
primarily as an exhibition art form.
With the
success of muay Thai in the mixed martial arts, it has become the de facto
style of choice for competitive stand-up fighters. As a result, western
practitioners have incorporated much more powerful hand striking techniques
from boxing although some Thai purists accuse them of diluting the art.
Formal muay
Thai techniques are divided into two groups: mae mai or major techniques and
luk 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Khao dot
[kʰàw dòːt] (Jumping knee strike) – the boxer jumps up on one leg and strikes
with that leg's knee.
Khao loi
(Flying knee strike) – the boxer takes a step(s), jumps forward and off one leg
and strikes with that leg's knee.
Khao thon
[kʰàw tʰoːn] (Straight knee strike) – the boxer simply thrusts it forward but
not upwards, unless he is holding an opponents head down in a clinch and intend
to knee upwards into the face. According to one written source, this technique
is somewhat more recent than khao dot or khao loi.[citation needed] Supposedly,
when the Thai boxers fought with rope-bound hands rather than the modern boxing
gloves, this particular technique was subject to potentially vicious cutting,
slicing and sawing by an alert opponent who would block it or deflect it with
the sharp "rope-glove" edges which are sometimes dipped in water to
make the rope much stronger. This explanation also holds true for some of the following
knee strikes below as well.
The
foot-thrust or literally "foot jab" is one of the techniques in muay
Thai. It is mainly used as a defensive technique to control distance or block
attacks. Foot-thrusts should be thrown quickly but yet with enough force to
knock an opponent off balance.
Defensively,
the concept of "wall of defense" is used, in which shoulders, arms
and legs are used to hinder the attacker from successfully executing
techniques. Blocking is a critical element in muay Thai and compounds the level
of conditioning a successful practitioner must possess. Low and mid body
roundhouse kicks are normally blocked with the upper portion of a raised shin.
High body strikes are blocked ideally with the forearms and shoulder together,
or if enough time is allowed for a parry, the glove (elusively), elbow, or shin
will be used. Midsection roundhouse kicks can also be caught/trapped, allowing
for a sweep or counter-attack to the remaining leg of the opponent. Punches are
blocked with an ordinary boxing guard and techniques similar, if not identical,
to basic boxing technique. A common means of blocking a punch is using the hand
on the same side as the oncoming punch. For example, if an orthodox fighter
throws a jab (being the left hand), the defender will make a slight tap to
redirect the punch's angle with the right hand. The deflection is always as
small and precise as possible to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure and
return the hand to the guard as quickly as possible. Hooks are most often
blocked with a motion most often described as "combing the hair",
that is, raising the elbow forward and effectively shielding the head with the
forearm, flexed biceps and shoulder. More advanced muay Thai blocks are usually
in the form of counter-strikes, using the opponents weight (as they strike) to
amplify the damage that the countering opponent can deliver. This requires
impeccable timing and thus can generally only be learned by many repetitions.
Muay Thai is
practiced in many different countries and there are different rules depending
on which country the fight is in and under what organization the fight is
arranged. The following is a link to the rules section of the Sports Authority
of Thailand.
A popular
rule that many organizations use is the banning of elbow strikes, as often Muay
Thai rules are often similar to those of kickboxing. Many believe this is
because of the cuts they leave.
Interest in
Muay Thai has risen in the past decade, due to the popularity of martial arts
in film and television. The most notable practitioner of Muay Thai is Tony Jaa,
who is best known for his roles in Tom-Yum-Goong and the Ong Bak films, all
released in the 2000s. One of the first western films that included Muay Thai
was Kickboxer (1989), which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. Chocolate (2008),
starring Yanin Vismitananda, is another action movie that featured a
combination of muay Thai and Chinese martial arts, demonstrating the system's
increasingly broad appeal.
Muay Thai
has been represented in many fighting video games as well. Sagat and Adon from
Street Fighter, Joe Higashi, King, and Hwa Jai from King of Fighters, Zack from
Dead or Alive, Bruce Irvin and Bryan Fury from Tekken, Brad Burns from Virtua
Fighter, and Jax Briggs from Mortal Kombat, are all exponents of muay Thai.
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
lifelong 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 Asia (2006) and The Challenger Muay Thai (2011), which was shown
on AXN in Asia and aired worldwide in 2012.
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