Many "muay thai" gyms in the US and west practice what is really a k1 influenced hybrid style of kickboxing with elbows and knees that has exaggerated baseball bat power kicking. Europe has plenty of legit trad muay thai however, particularly in France and the UK.
Obviously mma striking is not muay thai and some mma gyms will use the term muay thai interchangeably with striking to advertise their mma striking program (hell they sometimes switch between kickboxing and Muay thai and striking depending on context-i. E. Web search, time table etc) even when what they reach is cookie cutter mma striking.
Not saying that westernised "muay thai" and mma striking don't have thier advantages. The latter is obviously designed for different ruleset, even if it has some elements it could learn and refine through more MT. But if you want actual Muay Thai make sure to do some research into the gym.
On a side tangent don't tell Muay Thai elitists that mma striking is fundamentally different for a reason because they hate if you point out that muay thai isn't perfect for anything and the bees knees essentially
I had this experience with Sylvies husband Kevin Van Douglas Ittu recently, Despite sharing many of his views on all the awful myths about real muay thai, such as the myth that MT fighters have shit boxing or that thais haven't thais haven't transitioned well to boxing when many have, I triggered him by pointing out that muay thai, boxing and mma stances and dynamics were different on a discussion about checking kicks and that whilst many thais have done well in boxing, it's probably not correct to say that's interwoven into the art when they all cross trained outside of thier gyms on boxing or came from gyms that double as boxing gyms.
Basically elite level boxing skill is not represented in the average practioner and most gyms are pure MT gyms without that pedigree.
