Why is Muay Thai not as big as MMA (UFC, Bellator) or Boxing?

Also MMA is the most effective in a hand-to-hand street fight.
If you're smart you want to stay on your feet in a street fight. The guy you're fighting could have a friend around the corner ready to stamp on your face or you could end up with some broken glass in your ass from rolling around. And most MMA fighters are not very good at striking compared to pro boxers and MuayThai fighters.
 
Boxing has a grand history and has been embedded in cultures for a long time.

MMA has belligerence and artifice that attracts the most credulous of people. Just look in the UFC forum and see how many of those idiots are convinced that McGregor will knockout Mayweather. The average UFC fan has proclaimed at least 20 separate times that a 1-0 or 2-0 UFC fighter will eventually become the greatest fighter of all time. They're more than willing to be the mark.

Lots of reasons why muay thai isn't popular, and part of it is because it's the antithesis to the UFC in many ways. The fights can be confusing and take time to (try to) understand, but it's mostly straightforward in the promotion, production and way in which the fighters go about things. Unfortunately, straightfoward doesn't play well in an increasingly entertainment-first world.
 
If you're smart you want to stay on your feet in a street fight. The guy you're fighting could have a friend around the corner ready to stamp on your face or you could end up with some broken glass in your ass from rolling around. And most MMA fighters are not very good at striking compared to pro boxers and MuayThai fighters.
Yea, but once the distance is close, your ass is getting slammed on your head on concrete. I would put my money on any decent collegiate wrestler vs. Buakaw or Saenchai or Yodsanklai in a street fight. Once a Thai guy with no wrestling/grappling experience gets slammed on their head on concrete, they're dead.
 
Yea, but once the distance is close, your ass is getting slammed on your head on concrete. I would put my money on any decent collegiate wrestler vs. Buakaw or Saenchai or Yodsanklai in a street fight.
Isn't that like me saying I put money on one of the wrestler getting knocked out before he gets close. You cant guarantee anything in a street fight.
Once a Thai guy with no wrestling/grappling experience gets slammed on their head on concrete, they're dead.
Thai's do have grappling experience but a different type and you'd be surprised they're harder to take down then most think. But yes if a wrestler did take them done then they're fucked. I always thought a good combination for a street fighter is MuayThai and wrestling.
 
Street fights are irrelevant. The winner is usually either whoever doesn't get into street fights, whoever hits first, whoever has a gun or whoever has friends that will jump the other guy.
 
Isn't that like me saying I put money on one of the wrestler getting knocked out before he gets close. You cant guarantee anything in a street fight.

Thai's do have grappling experience but a different type and you'd be surprised they're harder to take down then most think. But yes if a wrestler did take them done then they're fucked. I always thought a good combination for a street fighter is MuayThai and wrestling.

Malaipet had a brief pro MMA career, 3-4.
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Mongkhon-Wiwasuk-17657

And he got his ass whooped every time he got his ass put on the ground. All his wins were against scrubs.
 
Street fights are irrelevant. The winner is usually either whoever doesn't get into street fights, whoever hits first, whoever has a gun or whoever has friends that will jump the other guy.
this is a really good post
 
Yea, but once the distance is close, your ass is getting slammed on your head on concrete. I would put my money on any decent collegiate wrestler vs. Buakaw or Saenchai or Yodsanklai in a street fight. Once a Thai guy with no wrestling/grappling experience gets slammed on their head on concrete, they're dead.
im still waiting for that high-level thai boxer who works hard on his Greco-Roman. Id love to see someone adept and strong in both clinches. The trend has usually been to train Thai with BJJ, nut not many are great at thai and tdd. I would love to see a Couture/Anderson hybrid
 
Kid yamamoto was 1-3 on kickboxing and got knocked out twice,one of them against a nobody from south korea

shit happens on crossovers,no matter what sport it is
Sorry, but Kid Yamamoto is a scrub, who sucked badly in the UFC when he's not juicing on steroids. Malaipet is probably the most elite Muay Thai guy that fought pro MMA.

Like I said, any collegiate wrestler that's a nobody will kill a high level famous Muay Thai fighter in a 1-on-1 street fight in an empty parking lot. And don't give me that "friends will help" bullshit. Or "there's glass on the ground" bullshit. I'm talking about an empty handed street fight 1-on-1 empty parking lot. Any collegiate wrestler that's a nobody will kill a high level famous Muay Thai guy. Whether it's ground and pound, or by slamming their head on the concrete.
 
Sorry, but Kid Yamamoto is a nobody, who sucked badly in the UFC. Malaipet is probably the most elite Muay Thai guy that fought pro MMA.

Like I said, any legit collegiate wrestler will whoop a high level famous Muay Thai fighter in a 1-on-1 street fight in an empty parking lot. And don't give me that "friends will help" bullshit. Or "there's glass on the ground" bullshit. I'm talking about an empty handed street fight 1-on-1 empty parking lot. Any legit collegiate wrestler will kill a high level famous Muay Thai guy. Whether it's ground and pound, or by slamming their head on the concrete.
lol

that was the most casual thing i ever heard,another dude on his mma bubble
 
Sorry, but Kid Yamamoto is a scrub, who sucked badly in the UFC when he's not juicing on steroids. Malaipet is probably the most elite Muay Thai guy that fought pro MMA.

Like I said, any collegiate wrestler that's a nobody will kill a high level famous Muay Thai fighter in a 1-on-1 street fight in an empty parking lot. And don't give me that "friends will help" bullshit. Or "there's glass on the ground" bullshit. I'm talking about an empty handed street fight 1-on-1 empty parking lot. Any collegiate wrestler that's a nobody will kill a high level famous Muay Thai guy. Whether it's ground and pound, or by slamming their head on the concrete.
That's not a street fight, that's some weird parking lot promotion you just created there. High level famous Muay Thai guys don't get in street fights anyways. This is some Batman versus Superman logic. You're creating fantasy narratives.
 
Speaking strictly on kickboxing and not Muay Thai:

Its because the sport has been horribly marketed and mismanaged. Irrespective what some may say, its popularity has been on a steady decline as far as the West is concerned, and Japan.

Not only is it declined from the glory Sport Karate days of the 80-90s, but its declined from the potential resurgance (through K-1) it had in the early 2000s.

As far as Japan, its been in decline starting around the same time PRIDE shutdown (in MMA) up until K-1 itself shutdown.

FEG was a horrible promoter. They held events around the world, but did not bother getting the product on TV. And unlike Pride, did not even bother with an English commentary team. It was on fringe networks like Eurosport and later HDNet where it aired, with their in-house commentary teams. Which few watched.

It is my honest opinion, that Japanese fans got bored of watching the same 10 fighters compete over and over again. At some point you don't want to watch grandpa fight. MAX brought new life, and a Japanese champion, but when Masato retired, it slumped. K-1 should have had weight-divisions like Boxing and MMA, and strived to create multiple champions/stars. They did not. By the time they began the LW tourney, they were already bankrupt.

The WGP tournament format was outdated. It prevented young blood, and Japanese fans were tired of watching the same select fighters fight each other for the 4th or 7th time..

When GLORY started I was very optimistic, they had a gobal vision, got TV deals around the world, created multiple weight divisions. But at some point they just went stale. Even though no WGP, they still held mini tournaments, and small tidbits turned me off. They adopted the MMA weight divisons (Unified Rules) for some reason, as opposed to the Boxing/Kickboxing one. And they ignored the lower weights altogether, who are usually the most bombastic and entertaining. And should be cheaper to afford.
 
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I would love

Pride Ruleset with a few changes

Standup if fighter can grab the ropes
Elbows allowed
No submissions

So basically muay thai with ground and pound in the center of the ring, wearing 4 oz gloves.

Alas it will never happen.
 
I would love

Pride Ruleset with a few changes

Standup if fighter can grab the ropes
Elbows allowed
No submissions

So basically muay thai with ground and pound in the center of the ring, wearing 4 oz gloves.

Alas it will never happen.

This sounds like an entirely different sport. And the GnP aspect makes no sense to me. Shootboxing allows standing submissions but not on the ground.

But what you're suggesting is just MMA with more referee stand-ups. <JagsKiddingMe>
 
Mind boggles me that you have one sport that's limited to using just hands and the other extreme (multiple disciplines) can be so mainstream. While a sport like Muay Thai isn't.
Change your question. Why isn't muaythai/kickboxing big in the US. Kickfighting sports are big in Thailand, Holland, China, Japan, Australia, France and other parts of Europe.

The mistake people make in the west is assume something is not popular because its not popular in their country. China for example has a population of 1.3 billion. Thats more people than every country where MMA is popular in combined. And kickboxing and muaythai from what I've seen is popular over there.
 
This sounds like an entirely different sport. And the GnP aspect makes no sense to me. Shootboxing allows standing submissions but not on the ground.

But what you're suggesting is just MMA with more referee stand-ups. <JagsKiddingMe>

im basically saying Sanda with limited ground activity.
 
I would love

Pride Ruleset with a few changes

Standup if fighter can grab the ropes
Elbows allowed
No submissions

So basically muay thai with ground and pound in the center of the ring, wearing 4 oz gloves.

Alas it will never happen.
JustBleedFC?
 
I would love

Pride Ruleset with a few changes

Standup if fighter can grab the ropes
Elbows allowed
No submissions

So basically muay thai with ground and pound in the center of the ring, wearing 4 oz gloves.

Alas it will never happen.
Thats pretty much just combat Sambo.
 
MT will never gain traction in America...it's not because the style sucks or its boring but people aren't going to watch a stand up fight that's just a limited form compared to MMA. They'll rather just watch MMA

Boxing is in its own category and has a history behind it. MT let alone kickboxing has zero history here
 
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