Lumbini stadium implements new muaythai rules on grappling and kneeing Written by Varut, editor: Wissawa Tuesday, 20 May 2008 Lumbini boxing stadium has announced new rules for muaythai grappling and kneeing which have been in effect since May 9. The new scoring scheme on kneeing is aimed to make the muaythai matches
Wow crazy, I kind of enjoyed the long sessions of clinching and grappling for position.. interesting, fights might be a little more face paced then hmm, will have to see if I like it or not.
Wow...Seems like they are taking away weapons from alot of fighters who really apply their trade in the clinch
hmm very interesting. i'm curious as to how the actual fighters are taking this rule change. i'm also wondering if this change has come about due to some outside influences such as k-1 max and the popularity of buakaw.
now these fighters might be better suited for K-1. and to a lesser extent, MMA. This will definitely slightly change the boxing in Muay Thai.
i take back my MMA comment. We all know the extensive neck wrestling in muay thai does not appeal to the casual foreign spectator. I think this is a step in the right direction entertainment wise. that being said, this would drastically change the training at some of the camps. EDIT: we still have elbows anyway...maybe one day standing elbows will be allowed in international rings. I don't see too much of a problem with them, it would really set MT apart from kickboxing.
So Lumpini will be a more brawly style MT stadium and Rajadamnern will keep more traditional MT most likely..
Underhook/Body clinching is certainly not as attractive when you can't slam/throw the person on a regular basis. You can 'dump'(Ha), but head-only clinching really is where the cool shit is at. Lumpinee will probably shoot up in international popularity, even if it suffers homelands. Farang = Baht. :redface:
