Muay Thai

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. It is a form of hard martial arts and was originally formed in Indochina. It is similar to Laos’ Muay Lao, Cambodia’s Pradal Serey, Malaysia’s Tomoi, and Myanmar’s Lethwei. It is considered as the ‘Art of Eight Limbs’, mainly because of its use of knee strikes, elbows, kicks, and punches.

Muay Thai has a long history. It was practised based on their ancestors’ significance. Eventually, Muay Thai became a sport wherein the competitors fought in front of an audience. The sport had become an integral part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those held at temples. It was also used as an entertainment for kings. Most often, royal families invite skilled practitioners of the art to come or live in the royal palace to train Muay Thai to their staff, soldiers and guards. Muay Thai also served as a means of physical exercise, self-defence, recreation, and personal advancement. Masters of the art taught Muay Thai in training camps wherein the students were provided with food and shelter. After the training, scouts would be sent by the royal family to arrange contests between different camps.

The techniques of Muay Thai are classified into two forms: the ‘Mae Mai’ (major techniques) and ‘Luk Mai’ (minor techniques). Often times, Muay Thai seems to be an art of fighting abrasion where the opponents exchange blows with one another. This is the case with traditional Thai martial artists, although it was not a very popular form of fighting in the contemporary world of the fighting circuit. Muay Thai fighters compete with fighters of other martial art styles. They used elbow or sok and knee or kao techniques to obtain a hard-hitting fighting advantage. However, almost all Muay Thai techniques use the entire body, such as rotating the hip with each punch, kick, block and elbow. It has several kicking variations including the axe kick, spinning back kick, and side kick, although these kicks are only used in bouts. In contrast to other martial arts, the side kick in Muay Thai is performed by raising the leg’s knee, which will be used for kicking, to make the opponent believe that the executor is about to do a front kick. Then the hips are moved to the side to execute a more traditional position of the side kick, which is for the kick itself. This fake-out technique often precedes Muay Thai kicks. Eventually, the previous bare-fisted fighters begun wearing hemp rope for their forearms and hands. This style of fighting was called Muay Kaad Cheuk.

Yet, the rotation of the hips and the precise focus on the core muscles provide a distinct recognition to Muay Thai, setting the art different from other types.