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

MMouse

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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.

Not sure if this has been discussed but is it more of a culture thing?
 
I think it would go over if you added wrestling takedowns so the Americans can still win, but brought it back to feet like in Thai or San Shou
 
Because kicking in a boxing ring is weird and an illegal chicken shitted tactic.
 
Because Americans still don't know what Muay Thai is. They only know boxing and kickboxing.

NA have Lion Fight but it's showed on AXIS TV and not marketed as much as everything else. You see UFC posters everywhere for big events. Boxing has been THE fight sport for decades. UFC was marketed correctly. MT is not marketed at all. Only recently got to US with Lion Fight but it's not marketed as well. Lion fight is basically a poor man's Glory so it will never be as popular either.

Maybe the name Muay thai has to do with it's unpopularity with racist Americans. idk...if they would just call it kickboxing. IDK why 'Muricans like boxing more than kickboxing though.
 
I think Sanda should be more popular in the states.

Takedowns, but still a standup art. Lots of action. No traditional music to throw people off.
 
and yet ppl love stand up more here in north america
 
There is no promotion that targets a worldwide audience and that has all the top fighters. Westerners generally don't understand stadium fights
 
There was a thread just like this a while ago on this forum with the same question about kickboxing, and just about everything said there applies, except muay thai is even more obscure than kickboxing to North Americans. Glory has made some decent inroads making a niche sport a more popular niche sport being on Spike and now Fight Pass & ESPN in the U.S. and got a lot of MMA fans like myself interested the last few years. Plus there is Bellator kickboxing on Spike and Superkombat recently had a couple of cards on CBS SN. Muay thai only has Lion Fight on AXS and only once in a while. I'd like to see more kickfighting on tv here, but it's going to be a slow build at best.
 
My ten-year-old son trains Muay Thai at a fantastic gym in North Carolina. They had their first point kickboxing tournament at least that's what they called it but it was pretty much full contact with 12 oz gloves and shin guards and headgear. Almost 60 Fighters showed up to a rural town North Carolina. I think its popularity is definitely growing.
 
My ten-year-old son trains Muay Thai at a fantastic gym in North Carolina. They had their first point kickboxing tournament at least that's what they called it but it was pretty much full contact with 12 oz gloves and shin guards and headgear. Almost 60 Fighters showed up to a rural town North Carolina. I think its popularity is definitely growing.
Do they allow ten year olds to clinch and do elbow strikes? Let's face it, the clinch and elbow strikes are mostly what makes muay thai rules different from kickboxing.
 
Do they allow ten year olds to clinch and do elbow strikes? Let's face it, the clinch and elbow strikes are mostly what makes muay thai rules different from kickboxing.
Clinch yes but no elbow strikes in the tournament. The gym didn't hold the tournament a promoter came in and did it. He is being trained by a woman from Thailand who was a multiple-time champion. She does train the elbows. I was surprised to see how full-contact it was though. They were really in a fight. It was pretty cool.
 
Just to quantify some of these general discussion points:

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Interesting that Latvia, Azerbajan, Moldova, and Tunisia prefer kickboxing to MMA and boxing. Seems odd that the Dutch and the Thais search about boxing more than kickboxing or muay thai. Laos the one country that searches MT more than anything else. I wouldnt be surprised if there were some complications which have skewed the data.
 
Just to quantify some of these general discussion points:

B9Qc7Un.png

V8CtUr4.png


Interesting that Latvia, Azerbajan, Moldova, and Tunisia prefer kickboxing to MMA and boxing. Seems odd that the Dutch and the Thais search about boxing more than kickboxing or muay thai. Laos the one country that searches MT more than anything else. I wouldnt be surprised if there were some complications which have skewed the data.


amazing stuff bro,where did you found it?
 
Muay Thai rules are not good for entertainment. Aggresive fighters are seen as weaker, punches, kicks are irrelevent when oponnent is not rocked. Casuals will never understand MT scoring.
That's why MT never will be mainstream sport.
In theory you can land 100 punches and other fighter one good body kick and you will lose.
 
There was a thread just like this a while ago on this forum with the same question about kickboxing, and just about everything said there applies, except muay thai is even more obscure than kickboxing to North Americans. Glory has made some decent inroads making a niche sport a more popular niche sport being on Spike and now Fight Pass & ESPN in the U.S. and got a lot of MMA fans like myself interested the last few years. Plus there is Bellator kickboxing on Spike and Superkombat recently had a couple of cards on CBS SN. Muay thai only has Lion Fight on AXS and only once in a while. I'd like to see more kickfighting on tv here, but it's going to be a slow build at best.
Kickboxing may have a bit more promotion than Muay Thai in the US, but there is absolutely zero infrastructure for developing Kickboxers in the US. There is no regional scene for Kickboxing. There IS a regional scene for Muay Thai, and most US Kickfighters come from a Muay Thai background.

There is no money for Kickboxing/Muay Thai in the US, so you're dealing with a very limited pool of fighters that have to get thrown into the fire when competing with international fighters. There is no "big in the states" without high caliber fighters coming from here.
 
Muay Thai rules are not good for entertainment. Aggresive fighters are seen as weaker, punches, kicks are irrelevent when oponnent is not rocked. Casuals will never understand MT scoring.
That's why MT never will be mainstream sport.
In theory you can land 100 punches and other fighter one good body kick and you will lose.
That's a complete misrepresentation, and regardless Muay Thai in the US isn't scored like the stadiums anyways...
 
kuka45 may be extreme but he's pretty close to the truth.

The sport has potential but it's too boring because of the rulesets, tactics, limited weight classes etc.
 
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