Muay Thai v Kickboxing

Muay Thai v Kickboxing

Yodsanklai Showcases How to Beat a Kickboxing Opponent

One of the biggest rivalries in stand up striking is Kickboxing vs Muay Thai. Given the fact that most Kickboxers fighters don’t train with elbows, clinching, or throws, it is only a fair fight if Thai fighters fight under the Kickboxing rules. This means that in every “Kickboxing vs Muay Thai fight,” it is essentially a Kickboxer vs Muay Thai Fighter who isn’t allowed using half of his weapons.

Recently, more Thai fighters have been fighting in Kickboxing promotions, in pursuit of a bigger pay day. For Muay Thai fighters who don’t have good boxing skills, this can often result in Knockout losses.

This fight between Yodsanklai vs Marat Grigorian showcases the classic matchup of Kickboxing vs Muay Thai in a Kickboxing setting. Check out the full fight below:

Yodsanklai Fairtex vs Marat Grigorian @Kunlun Fight:

Differences in Blocking Kicks

Yodsanklai instragram

A very noticeable difference between between Kickboxing and Muay Thai is the way fighters block body kicks. Instead of using their legs to absorb the impact of the kick, Kickboxers use their arms to absorb the damage of the kick. While this does a good job of protecting the side of the body from any impact, the arm and elbow take a lot of damage from the kicks.

Repetitive kicks to the arm over time will weaken a fighters punching ability as the fight wears on. Over time a fighter will have less knockout power in the later rounds of the fight.

Yodsanklai exploits this difference against Marat Grigorian, beating his opponent with relative ease. There was no time in the fight where he was in danger from Marat, a fighter who packs a strong punch. (Marat recently Knocked out Aikpracha)

The Basics Win Fights

Right Jab Instagram

Since Yodsanklai Fairtex is a southpaw fighter, his left kick is his weapon of choice. He demonstrates that you don’t have to be fancy to win fights, you just have to be effective at what you do. Instead of throwing a variety of flashy kicks, the whole fight he smashes his left kick against his opponent who is unable to block it.

Throughout the entire fight, Yodsanklai uses 3 basic moves that win him the fight: Right Jab, Left Straight, Left Body Kick

No flashing spinning back fists, flying knees, head kicks or anything else. His opponent was not blocking his body kicks, so why would he change something that was working? Even though Yodsanklai has a lot more tools at his disposal, he knew that his opponent had a lot of knockout power in his hands.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

Marat’s strategy the entire fight was to come forward with aggressive punches and try and get a knockout win. While this strategy is effective against Thai fighters who lack boxing skills, it is not a winning strategy against Yodsanklai.

Yodsanklai once again showcases why he is the best Thai fighter that is currently fighting foreigners at the higher weight classes. His mix of timing, power and speed make him a tough matchup for anyone, regardless of their fighting style.

Source: www.muaythaipros.com

Muay Thai Finds a Home in the UFC

Muay Thai Finds a Home in the UFC

Rarely will there be a mixed martial arts fan who doesn’t love a good knockout. The thunderous clap that’s heard when a head kick lands or the perfect thud of a punch connecting when knuckles meet jaw, the knockout is just about the purest form of a finish as there is in a fight.

Muay Thai & UFC

In MMA, many of the fighters that compete at the highest levels in the UFC have backgrounds in the striking arts.  UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva grew up as a Muay Thai fighter in Brazil and actually just recently opened his own Muay Thai gym in California.

Lion Fights, a Muay Thai-only promotion based out of Las Vegas, is tapping into the carnal nature of fans who love a good striking battle where fighters can use all of the weapons at their disposal and ultimately want a great knockout.

Unlike kickboxing, where certain rules prohibit the use of elbows or certain techniques from within the clinch, Muay Thai brings striking back to it’s most basic elements of knocking out an opponent by whatever means necessary.

“If you love stand-up fighting and you love the elbows and the knees, then you have to love Muay Thai.  At Lion Fights, we feel like we’re at the right time to brand Muay Thai with Lion Fights, and bringing in these major international stars and developing our own stars it’s making a mark,” Lion Fights owner Scott Kent told Bleacher Report.

“Kickboxing is what it is. K-1 had a great run and it’s still popular in Europe, but when you start taking away weapons and you take elbows out, it has an effect on the fighters themselves.  Muay Thai fighters don’t want to fight kickboxing rules because they want to use all their weapons.  Not only in Muay Thai but in MMA.”

Numerous MMA fighters have shown their support of Muay Thai by attending Lion Fights events in the past. Urijah Faber, Gilbert Melendez, Cheick Kongo and a number of other competitors have attended Muay Thai events because not only do they train in the sport when preparing for an MMA fight, but they love the art form that goes along with a great striking battle.

“We are lucky to be at the epicenter of the UFC world here (in Las Vegas), and we’ve been able to tap into that,” Kent said.  “The response from the fighters has been great because they all train Muay Thai and they can appreciate how it’s applied.  We love the support we get from the UFC and mixed martial arts.”

Several top fighters either already train in Muay Thai or have actually fought in Muay Thai bouts in the past, but like so many great Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors of the past, will the best strikers of today become MMA’s stars of tomorrow?

Kent says it’s inevitable that the temptation to move from Muay Thai to MMA will always be present, but he hopes to give strikers a home where they can ply their craft and not have to go anywhere else to look for a paycheck.

“Inevitably because of the size of mixed martial arts, the questions are going to come up,” said Kent.   “I’m not aware of a Muay Thai fighter that’s been really successful crossing over into mixed martial arts that hasn’t had a lot of cross training.  Now they have an avenue to get more sponsorships and make more money and we won’t lose those fighters to mixed martial arts.”

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

Source: www.bleacherreport.com