Muay Thai or Kickboxing for Tall Guys

Adnan Adil

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I wonder what is your opinion, guys, about which sport is better- Muay Thai or kickboxing for bigger and especially for taller guys.
The weight seems always an advantage despite of the fact the the Muay Thai fighters tend to be very, very lean.
While as a kickboxer I always considered my height for big advantage. The boxing aspect is the one in which the shorter fighters can be good at close range, but theit kicks are not big threat and the knees are not at all.
The use of knees in Muay Thai is seems very easy in the clinch which is not so limited like in the kickboxing. So this is going to be huge plus for the taller guys. From my personal experience even without the clinch, I know that the knees are devastating weapons against shorter opponents. The elbows are weapons with which I am not very familiar so there I can not say anything, but the heavy emphasis on kicks and knees probably make Muay Thai better for taller guys compared with kickboxing. The only thing which I wonder about is the kick catching rule and the clinch sweeps which seem to be in favor of the shorter guys.
So what do you think is which sport is better for tall guys (and yes, I know that they are very close in many aspects and the size is not the only important thing, but just theoretically)?
 
Ask yourself this question:

Do you want to get your ass kicked? Or, do you want to get your ass really, really kicked? If the latter, go for muay thai. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, beats getting an elbow to your temple or a knee to the face in the clinch. You are far likelier to get the everliving shit beat out of you in a Thai fight.

Hope this helps.
 
Muay thai, you'll have the advantage in the clinch, and you'll be able to knee shorter fighters into bolivian
 
Muay Thai. Clinching and knees negate many advantages the shorter fighters have.
 
Ask yourself this question:

Do you want to get your ass kicked? Or, do you want to get your ass really, really kicked? If the latter, go for muay thai. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, beats getting an elbow to your temple or a knee to the face in the clinch. You are far likelier to get the everliving shit beat out of you in a Thai fight.

Hope this helps.

Actually, IMO nothing beats accumulated impact on the head and in that regard, Muay Thai tends to spread the damage much more on the whole body.

Also, the presence of the clinch and the heavy focus on mid-kicks mean that the head takes much less punishment than in kickboxing.
 
Ask yourself this question:

Do you want to get your ass kicked? Or, do you want to get your ass really, really kicked? If the latter, go for muay thai. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, beats getting an elbow to your temple or a knee to the face in the clinch. You are far likelier to get the everliving shit beat out of you in a Thai fight.

Hope this helps.

Muay thai, you'll have the advantage in the clinch, and you'll be able to knee shorter fighters into bolivian

Muay Thai. Clinching and knees negate many advantages the shorter fighters have.

Actually, IMO nothing beats accumulated impact on the head and in that regard, Muay Thai tends to spread the damage much more on the whole body.

Also, the presence of the clinch and the heavy focus on mid-kicks mean that the head takes much less punishment than in kickboxing.


Thanks a lot, guys! It seems that MT has more pros for taller guys compared with KB. As a KB fighter now I am a little sorry that I have never tried MT to this moment. But as I think, I realize that it is better late than never. In KB I always have been so passive in the clinch because it is a matter of short moment for breaking the clinch. I think that I have to try to use my height advantage in different distance- the clinch. I've always relied on straight punches and sometimes looping overhand rights and a lot of kicking, but now I should try different approach and... new sport. :)
 
Thanks a lot, guys! It seems that MT has more pros for taller guys compared with KB. As a KB fighter now I am a little sorry that I have never tried MT to this moment. But as I think, I realize that it is better late than never. In KB I always have been so passive in the clinch because it is a matter of short moment for breaking the clinch. I think that I have to try to use my height advantage in different distance- the clinch. I've always relied on straight punches and sometimes looping overhand rights and a lot of kicking, but now I should try different approach and... new sport. :)

I don't know if you also do a grappling art such as judo or wrestling but if you do, MT is also a natural choice. The standing grappling component of traditional MT is significant.

The only issue with that is that it is not easy to find real traditional MT in the West.
 
I don't know if you also do a grappling art such as judo or wrestling but if you do, MT is also a natural choice. The standing grappling component of traditional MT is significant.

The only issue with that is that it is not easy to find real traditional MT in the West.

Ma-a-an, you are so right! Most of the gyms I know are with very restricted rules. Some of them use more restricted rules than for instance KB in its K-1/ Dutch style form. Yeah, I do some wrestling on low level and I am quite good despite of the fact that I am lanky. I would be honest- when I wrestle, I just wrestle, when I box, I just box. I mean that I don't mix the things up (grappling and striking). But this could be because I have never tried something more mixed, for instance like MT.
 
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