Why is Muay Thai so popular in MMA?

Mo Smith........after much cross-training with Frank Shamrock...
 
EE6_TBOIO_MATb said:
For one thing :

-Because Muy Thai, as opposed to Karate and TKD, incorporates western boxing, which cannot be beaten as a hand striking system and training.
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Standard boxing and muay thai are easy to synch. Notice a lot of muay thai fighters also participate in boxing or vice a versa boxers who want to add kicks or knees learn muay thai, especially if they paln on going into MMA.

No disrespect to kyokushin or TKD, there are also awesome techniques that can be incorporated into MMA...I.E. spinning backfist and spinning back kicks and roundhosue kicks.
 
Zayn said:
I've always wondered why Muay Thai was so much more popular among MMA fighters than other styles like Karate, Kung Fu, and especially TKD.

TKD is the most popular martial art practice in America, yet nobody uses it in MMA really. Somebody care to explain? I'm just getting started in MMA.
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Wow what a ridiculous question. Perhaps becasue (1) MT sparring is full-contact like MMA and (2) the use of all techniques is simlar to MMA as opposed to TKD rules which allow only body kicks, head kicks, and body punches.
 
Evil Eye Gouger said:
Did you watch any recent ones?

And while we're on topic, how many Muay Thai guys won the first UFCs?
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I agree. I always laugh when people bring up "the first UFCs". Like it was some tournament that proved what martial arts worked. With no exception. Well if that is the case then all standup MA's suck then. Because The boxing guys and Kickboxing guys got destroyed by the grapplers just as bad as the Karate and TKD guys. I mean if your a standup fighter, it doesn't matter what style, and you dont know anything about grappling, then most likely your gonna lose to a grappler. That's pretty much a given. For some reason this doesn't apply to TMA guys though. IF they lose, then the art they practice just sucks. :rolleyes:
 
Ryo said:
It's stupid to think that Kyokushin is the only "effective" form of Karate. Especially considering, just about the only thing seperating it from most other forms (Not talking about the many different styles that came from it) is the focus on hard sparring and conditioning. Look at Ryoto Machida. His standup is Shotokan Karate. If you look at his training routine, it's what he works on the most actually. And you can see it when he fights. Hell just look at the stances he uses.
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Okay full contact Karate then...
 
muay thai is alot more agressive(chute boxe, anderson silva e.t.c) then TKD and karate
 
TKD kicks (I'm a 2nd Dan under Jhoon Rhee), are not kicks that really damage in a "Kickboxing" or "MMA" fight. They're stinging snappy kicks.

Not to say there arent some really good TKD guys out there. But, the style just doesent fit the clinch fighting and sweeps that are likely to occur in MMA as some posters here have said.

Put another way. If an MMA fighter (as many do have a TKD background), use their "Tornado Kicking and jump spinning kicks" that are a staple of TKD?

That guy is gonna get SLAMMED HARD AS HELL!

Even if those squirrly spinny flashy kicks land? They're not gonna take someone out. never have and never will.

Except in Olympic TKD where everyone keeps their hands down.

For the record. I'd like to someday see a UFC or MMA champion somewhere, once he finishes a guy, to pull some crazy TKD style kick like a tornado kick to finish him off.
 
MrKogaRyu said:
TKD kicks (I'm a 2nd Dan under Jhoon Rhee), are not kicks that really damage in a "Kickboxing" or "MMA" fight. They're stinging snappy kicks.
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Zelg Galesic disagrees with you. :D
 
Without even discussing the practicality of either style in mma, I watched a TKD championship and it was pretty silly. They looked like they were slapping each other and it was very anti-climatic. Rather boring in my opinion.

Muy Thai is a lot more exciting. Seems like more athleticism is involved and the strikes can be pretty brutal. The kick, the knee, and watching someone yield a proper elbow on an opponent can be devastating. I have a lot more respect for it than most stand up martial arts.

However... add Bruce L. into the picture and all bets are off...
 
TKD rules favor jumping around throwing spinning kicks.

MT rules favor damaging with roundhouses, knees and elbows.

Also, people shouldn't get into their head that TKD requires no athleticism. Sure, the average McDojo class is less of a workout than any kickboxing class, but at the elite level (IE Olympics) you better believe that all the TKD competitors have amazing flexibility and excellent cardio.

Different strokes for different people. MT thrived as a full-contact sport, TKD originated otherwise.
 
Morever, there's much less to modify in Muay Thai for MMA than almost any other art. Some minor adjustments for takedown defense and basically all the techniques are applicable.
 
MrKogaRyu said:
Yeah but even he classifies himself as a MT fighter and until he KTFO of someone with a Van Damme Jump Spinning kick right off????


He's a MT fighter

But prior to MMA, I'll give him these mad props! ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvDEzCiCT8k
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I'd like to see the source on that. Besides the fact that he's won numerous worldclass events in Taekwondo, the fact that he brings it up in almost every interview I've read with him and he still gives Taekwondo seminars. I'd say it's had a profound effect on the way he fights. It seems he has alot of respect for it.
 
MrKogaRyu said:
Yeah but even he classifies himself as a MT fighter and until he KTFO of someone with a Van Damme Jump Spinning kick right off????
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Source?

He speaks of himself as a TKD fighter and regularly gives TKD seminars. In a recent edition of TKD Times, there was an interview with him titled "Taekwondo works for MMA". He was a world champion according to ITF. As far as I know, he has only crosstrained in MMA for a couple of years. What IS your source?

There is much more to TKD than jumping spinning shit.

TKD kicks (I'm a 2nd Dan under Jhoon Rhee), are not kicks that really damage in a "Kickboxing" or "MMA" fight. They're stinging snappy kicks.
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There are really different ways to kick.

The main difference is that, since it is primarily a kicking art, kicks serve a wide range of purposes, much like punches in boxing. In Muay Thai, every kick is a power kick, because you use other things to set them up. In TKD, a kick can be a jab, a distraction, a part of a combination, etc.

It's really ignorant to class all TKD kicks as "stinging snappy kicks". But a picture says more than a thousand words: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4HqP1Tq8c6s

And I thought Jhoon Rhee didn't teach nowadays and hasn't for quite a while? I think you learned from a student of a student. Don't namedrop like that. Jhoon Rhee had some of the most devastating kicks you've ever seen.

Even if those squirrly spinny flashy kicks land? They're not gonna take someone out. never have and never will.

Except in Olympic TKD where everyone keeps their hands down.
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That's not even logical. First you claim that they won't take someone out even if they land:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fFoncXVCdwA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DcL1NCMTpfQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jvjvugJ2rFM&mode=related&search=

then you say that they will, in Olympic TKD, because people keep their hands down? How does it matter where they keep their hands if the kick LANDS?! What do you expect it, to land on the hand and knock someone out?



Really, it's quite simple. You fight like you train. Your training has to reflect your goals. If you spend all your training jumping around and doing mega butterfly kicks in some McDojo, of course you won't make a good fighter. An awesome demonstration guy, but not a fighter.

If you train with contact, with a lot of sparring and concentrate on the basics: kicks, punches, elbows, knees, footwork, etc, you will likely become a good fighter.

Most MT gyms concentrate on this. This is why they are effective. There is nothing stopping a TKD guy from training like this. Zelg did it. Loiseau did it. Many others did too, usually with some crosstraining.

It seems that many people harbour McDojo traumas from their early childhood and refuse to accept that an art which concentrates on kicking and punching with contact COULD possibly be effective if you train it with the intention of competing.
 
Ryo said:
I agree. I always laugh when people bring up "the first UFCs". Like it was some tournament that proved what martial arts worked. With no exception. Well if that is the case then all standup MA's suck then. Because The boxing guys and Kickboxing guys got destroyed by the grapplers just as bad as the Karate and TKD guys. I mean if your a standup fighter, it doesn't matter what style, and you dont know anything about grappling, then most likely your gonna lose to a grappler. That's pretty much a given. For some reason this doesn't apply to TMA guys though. IF they lose, then the art they practice just sucks. :rolleyes:
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Don't you know that the early UFCs showed that boxing sucks?

Remember Art Jimmerson?

He lost.

Boxing sucks.

Nevermind that people later integrated many aspects of boxing into their MMA game, with great success.

Art Jimmerson lost, therefore boxing sucks.

Actually, Jimmerson was more accomplished as a boxer than any TKD guy ever in the history of MMA, save Zelg.
 
Because it is simple and it works.
 
Muay Thai has adapted itself to fit the needs of MMA Fighters. Although in my opinion not the most well rounded art. It's quick and powerful attacks make it devastating to someone in a fight. Ancient Muay Boran is the art I am most interested in.
 
Evil Eye Gouger said:
Source?

He speaks of himself as a TKD fighter and regularly gives TKD seminars. In a recent edition of TKD Times, there was an interview with him titled "Taekwondo works for MMA". He was a world champion according to ITF. As far as I know, he has only crosstrained in MMA for a couple of years. What IS your source?

There is much more to TKD than jumping spinning shit.


There are really different ways to kick.

The main difference is that, since it is primarily a kicking art, kicks serve a wide range of purposes, much like punches in boxing. In Muay Thai, every kick is a power kick, because you use other things to set them up. In TKD, a kick can be a jab, a distraction, a part of a combination, etc.

It's really ignorant to class all TKD kicks as "stinging snappy kicks". But a picture says more than a thousand words: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4HqP1Tq8c6s

And I thought Jhoon Rhee didn't teach nowadays and hasn't for quite a while? I think you learned from a student of a student. Don't namedrop like that. Jhoon Rhee had some of the most devastating kicks you've ever seen.


That's not even logical. First you claim that they won't take someone out even if they land:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fFoncXVCdwA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DcL1NCMTpfQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jvjvugJ2rFM&mode=related&search=

then you say that they will, in Olympic TKD, because people keep their hands down? How does it matter where they keep their hands if the kick LANDS?! What do you expect it, to land on the hand and knock someone out?



Really, it's quite simple. You fight like you train. Your training has to reflect your goals. If you spend all your training jumping around and doing mega butterfly kicks in some McDojo, of course you won't make a good fighter. An awesome demonstration guy, but not a fighter.

If you train with contact, with a lot of sparring and concentrate on the basics: kicks, punches, elbows, knees, footwork, etc, you will likely become a good fighter.

Most MT gyms concentrate on this. This is why they are effective. There is nothing stopping a TKD guy from training like this. Zelg did it. Loiseau did it. Many others did too, usually with some crosstraining.

It seems that many people harbour McDojo traumas from their early childhood and refuse to accept that an art which concentrates on kicking and punching with contact COULD possibly be effective if you train it with the intention of competing.
Click to expand...


While I agree with some of what you say, please don't DO NOT over-estimate the power of what an average TKD kick does.

Even an above average kick.

First off. For Olympic TKD? No points are given for punches. Unless you go to the body and KO someone with a body punch. This is why Olympic Level TKD'ers hold their hands down to their sides. Because they know they don't have to keep their hands up.

Second off. You're right. There are some Goddamn great MMA guys who love to acknowledge their TKD base. Unfortunately, name one time they attribute their TKD prowess to an MMA win!

Third..... The kicking TKD teaches isn't power kicking. It simply isnt. In Traditional and even non traditional TKD that Master Rhee taught? Here is the philosophy

Speed, Accuracy, Power!


That's part of your black belt exam. To understand that concept in that order. Speed first, accuracy second, power last!

Anyone who Bullshits you other wise? Isnt a Traditionally trained TKD practitioner or even non traditionally trained. Jhoon Rhee himself will tell you what he thinks about TKD in MMA. He doesent touch the subject. and he's the father of TKD in America.

Doesent want to talk about MMA. Rightfully so.



Sorry.

With all respect to those though that think otherwise.
 
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