Muay Thai Sucks for MMA

[Patman]

The fuck? Elbows, the plum, knees, and leg kicks don't work? Because those techniques are primarily Muay Thai. You have nice knees from Shotokan (i.e. Lyoto), and leg kicks from Dutch kickboxing or Kyokushin but most MMA fighters are training MT when practicing these techniques.

 

[CPH]

The more you know about MT, the more you realize that it’s the striking style which which transitions into MMA best. Boxing is the other great style, but it forces you to start from scratch when it comes to kicks, knees, elbows, standing grapple..

MT is not about shelling up and blocking shots with gloves. That would be the current version of dutch/euro kickboxing.

Nothing in MT limits the development of your hands, certainly not in the context of MMA. The fact that some Thais have weak boxing is simply a testament to how the open ruleset and scoring allow high level specialists to thrive. ex: for a clinch fighter to neutralize the puncher, distance fighter

MT teaches you incredible balance and an offensive clinch arsenal that doesn’t exist in any other style.

Also, MT is not just a bunch of techniques - it’s a huge network of fighters, trainers and competitions to draw concepts from. The only full contact fighting art with a bigger ‘base’ is boxing.

 

[Polish Punisher]

Tbh Growing up I always thought Muay Thai was THEE backround needed to be succesful in standing MMA.
Yet it heavily relies on big gloves blocking strikes to your face. With no gloves or Little MMA gloves. You cant protect your face with those huge shields. You get clipped. Also as you saw in Shogun vs Jones, The footwork SUCKS. You get outworked by faster, Longer opponents.

I believe the best striking style for mma would be something like Whittaker's karate style, or MVP's style... Conor Mcgregors style.. or even a boxing style
Awesome kicks and footwork. Explosiveness.. Agility.. I feel like Muay Thai isn't practical. A katate or TKD styled guy will blitz on you easily, and move away before you can counter.

TS do you realize how many times TKD has been thoroughly embarrassed by MT in head to head striking matches? Same with Karate.

Karate fighters who have done well have learned boxing(Mcgregor) and the Karate/Boxing combo(Crocop, Mcgregor, Wonderboy) is a lethal striking style which is superior to MT but then there are MT/Boxing stylists like A.Silva or Stylebender who have been destroyers in MMA.

Even Wonderboy comes from a Karate/Kickboxing background. You cannot discount that he would be less effective if he didn't have the boxing skills which are a part of Kickboxing.

There are no pure Karate or MT stylists in the UFC, they are all hybrid strikers so you cannot compare a pure striking art with a hybrid. And I agree that a Kickboxing style(Karate/boxing hybrid) is the superior style as long as low kicks are a part of the system while still have a strong emphasis on boxing and footwork.

 

[Kleinschuster]

Calling Saku a "kinda wreslter" is ridiculous.

There were a lot of different kinds of fighters in PRIDE, just like everywhere else. And wrestlers were prominent, just like they are everywhere else, and always will be in MMA.

Saku submitted guys - he didn't pound them out like wrestlers do. He rather won by crazy moves not by classic double leg shots. So yea, kinda. Whatever you say mate. I didn't see wrestlers dominate Pride and I don't think they would as much if the knees to the ground and the stomp would be allowed.

 

[High Altitude]

What is important in mma while standing is footwork/distance and MT lacks in that.

 

[Iron Wolf]

Muay thai is great when Incorporated Into a well rounded striking game. and when properly adapted to MMA.

But, It's Important to train boxing separately right from the start. Muay thai gyms teach you far too many bad habits with your hands and those neural pathways can be difficult to change when they're so deeply Ingrained into you.

Traditional martial arts are definitely seeing a resurgence at the moment. The Footwork, movement, stance, wide base, diversity and creativity of attack and defense lends itself well to MMA. Particularly when combined with proper pure boxing training under a respectable coach.

Muay thai isn't at all out of place within the mix. There are many weaknesses as a core striking style, particularly in MMA.. but It has it's place and It would be silly not to incorporate some elements Into your overall game.

Excellent commentary, brother.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Tbh Growing up I always thought Muay Thai was THEE backround needed to be succesful in standing MMA.
Yet it heavily relies on big gloves blocking strikes to your face. With no gloves or Little MMA gloves. You cant protect your face with those huge shields. You get clipped. Also as you saw in Shogun vs Jones, The footwork SUCKS. You get outworked by faster, Longer opponents.

I believe the best striking style for mma would be something like Whittaker's karate style, or MVP's style... Conor Mcgregors style.. or even a boxing style
Awesome kicks and footwork. Explosiveness.. Agility.. I feel like Muay Thai isn't practical. A katate or TKD styled guy will blitz on you easily, and move away before you can counter.

Lmao, yea cuz using just your hands and darting in and out in a straight line is so much better then using knees elbows kick ,punches, clinch strikes and throws..plus flying techniques..

Noob detected

Boxing is too basic for MMA..the stance alone will lead to you getting grappled fucked

Karate is a better choice then boxing but its limited in its effectiveness in close and again little to no clinch work unless your studing a style that incorporates some of that...also it can be predictable in its approach alot of in and out in a straight line..like wonderboy and till..if timed correctly you can get put down like woodley did to both..

Muay thai is probably the most well rounded striking martial art , and in second would be kickboxing dutch or american

Lmao ok bro

I know right? Lmao

 

[ImmigrantMentality]

Muay Thai is the best striking base, I've just never seen any mma fighter with legit high level mt skills other than dejdamrong who didn't start competing in mma till he was already old. A lot of these guys people bring up, aldo barboza cerrone etc. That's not a full repertoire of mt skills, mt is much more than combining punches and kicks. That's kickboxing not mt

 

[Gmork]

Saku submitted guys - he didn't pound them out like wrestlers do. He rather won by crazy moves not by classic double leg shots. So yea, kinda. Whatever you say mate. I didn't see wrestlers dominate Pride and I don't think they would as much if the knees to the ground and the stomp would be allowed.

Sakuraba was a collegiate wrestler and his whole game was based on his ability to control the takedown with wrestling.

 

[Reb]

De Randamie knows how to use her mt. Watch her in the clinch with Holm. Hell even after the bell her mt was on point.

Also this...

 

[Chappi]

Nonsense it's just as important as any of the other styles, but you have to adjust what you used to do into MMA.
A wrestler who never learns GnP cannot ever win an MMA fight, but they learn new stuff and adjust their original sport to MMA.
All styles are usefull as long as the fighter adjusts and also learns the rest and everyone knows this.
-1 Thread.

 

[Kanka]

Boxing and Muay Thai were my first martial arts and I did them for years. I largely agree with you. Many MT fighters have awful footwork and mediocre to bad hands. If my kids want to fight I'll put them in wrestling/karate, and teach them to box myself. I think that's a superior backround.

What elite muay thai fighter has aweful hands?

 

[Herbanii]

Tbh Growing up I always thought Muay Thai was THEE backround needed to be succesful in standing MMA.
Yet it heavily relies on big gloves blocking strikes to your face. With no gloves or Little MMA gloves. You cant protect your face with those huge shields. You get clipped. Also as you saw in Shogun vs Jones, The footwork SUCKS. You get outworked by faster, Longer opponents.

I believe the best striking style for mma would be something like Whittaker's karate style, or MVP's style... Conor Mcgregors style.. or even a boxing style
Awesome kicks and footwork. Explosiveness.. Agility.. I feel like Muay Thai isn't practical. A katate or TKD styled guy will blitz on you easily, and move away before you can counter.

You tell that to Khalil Rountree Jr lets see what he says to your face.

 

[The Half Blood Prince]

Muay Thai is one of the few Martial Arts to properly incorporate some form of grappling and striking.

If I had to choose 1 discipline and only 1, Muay Thai might be it. Wrestling only works because of time limits.

That's probably quite the opposite with wrestling

The more time that is allowed for a wrestler, the less rounds the better it is for the wrestler
This is because now the wrestler only needs one takedown to get you down, and has more time to work with. Getting a takedown can be quite consuming and it's not easy so some people spend tens of seconds, up to a minute going for it, then by the time they get the takedown secure the position in a 5 min round they only have a few min left to work.

As well the bell often saves the person being taken down if he can not get up to his feet because the fight then gets restarted standing up and the wrestler has to take him down again

 

[Coconutwater]

Wrestling mostly works because you are not allowed to knee a downed opponent. If knees and foot stomps were allowed, the fooking wrestlers would think twice about shooting in.

As a wrestler, I agree with this to some degree. Wanderlei Silva was scary to try and takedown because of this. But another argument is that wrestlers often force other people into sloppy clinching scrambles, get taken down, then get knee’d to death — Mark Coleman in Pride shoes the dangers of having knees while on the ground.

Silva, Machida, Arona all have utilized knees vs wrestlers on the ground very effectively.

 

[Coconutwater]

Pride wasn't dominated by wrestlers but strikers with great TDD and a guy that could get beat till everyone else gassed (big nog).

Coleman won the Grand Prix with all the big boys. Just saying....

 

[Coconutwater]

Saku submitted guys - he didn't pound them out like wrestlers do. He rather won by crazy moves not by classic double leg shots. So yea, kinda. Whatever you say mate. I didn't see wrestlers dominate Pride and I don't think they would as much if the knees to the ground and the stomp would be allowed.

He used wrestling mainly to control his opponent, without it, he’d have nothing. Wrestling is his go-to, not Catch.

 

[vgff]

Tbh Growing up I always thought Muay Thai was THEE backround needed to be succesful in standing MMA.
Yet it heavily relies on big gloves blocking strikes to your face. With no gloves or Little MMA gloves. You cant protect your face with those huge shields. You get clipped. Also as you saw in Shogun vs Jones, The footwork SUCKS. You get outworked by faster, Longer opponents.

I believe the best striking style for mma would be something like Whittaker's karate style, or MVP's style... Conor Mcgregors style.. or even a boxing style
Awesome kicks and footwork. Explosiveness.. Agility.. I feel like Muay Thai isn't practical. A katate or TKD styled guy will blitz on you easily, and move away before you can counter.

one thing is for sure, even if it may not be the undisputed best overall skillset for MMA, it does not suck for mma. just look at how more and more guys use leg kicks these days. where do you think they learned that. a top LW like Barboza has finished several fights with those alone.
and bodykicks man. knees. elbows. striking in mma wouldn't be the same without. can't underestimate the influence from muay thai. it's a very important skillset to know

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Tbh Growing up I always thought Muay Thai was THEE backround needed to be succesful in standing MMA.
Yet it heavily relies on big gloves blocking strikes to your face. With no gloves or Little MMA gloves. You cant protect your face with those huge shields. You get clipped. Also as you saw in Shogun vs Jones, The footwork SUCKS. You get outworked by faster, Longer opponents.

I believe the best striking style for mma would be something like Whittaker's karate style, or MVP's style... Conor Mcgregors style.. or even a boxing style
Awesome kicks and footwork. Explosiveness.. Agility.. I feel like Muay Thai isn't practical. A katate or TKD styled guy will blitz on you easily, and move away before you can counter.

 

[RetiredSlave]

I love the rhythm (and music) of traditional Thai fights. No singular discipline works in MMA anymore. Ill always believe MT is the best striking base for MMA. Natural auto low checks, and heavy on the back foot makes sense to me. Though the bouncy, narrow stances of karate and TKD are useful too. Boxing is probably the worst pure art for MMA. Art Jimmerson aside of course.