Is Muay Thai the most brutal standup discipline & is there anyone who trains harder?

Question

Muay Thai vs. other disciplines, who wins and why? I have seen quite a few Muay Thai fighters fighting other disciplines and it was no contest. The Thai fighters walked right through their opponents with devastating leg kicks while easily absorbing the assault of their opponents (A flying leg kick just isn't the same as a baseball bat (shin) to the ribs). Fortunately for their opponents clinching and elbows were not allowed. As for training, is there anyone who trains/strenghtens the body and mind like Muay Thai fighters?

Answer 1

What you are trying to imply is that Muay Thai is the best standup art.
Now: Muay Thai is one of the most aggressive arts period, and it has good training, but the direct crushing power is not always a person's goal: That's why there's so many attributes to describe fighting. If your opponent has better crushing power than you, you have to change your staretgy: It doesn't mean they are more skilled than you on all fighting attributes, and if you think carefully, you might find a way past that.



If you can break a baseball bat with your shin: Cool, break a leg while you're at it if you want, but if someone can't, you can't insinuate that they are less of a fighter because of it. There's thousands of strategies, and thousands of points on the body that can be attacked, and while hardness is usually a good method, a lot of people do well with circular striking, softer but still linear, and even the philosophy of striking hard on soft places, and soft on hard areas for example. Fighting in a ring is complex: Survival in the streets is even more complex.

I've learned just a small bit of Muay Thai, but I don't go either way in saying that it is the best or it is the worst. I know it's a grand standup style (It's seriously really good... I wish I could train in it again to add to my standup experience) for self-defense and competition, but again: The training has a lot to do with how good it is.
As for other disciplines: Not necessarily arts, but there's many styles that adopt training that is at the same level, or that may exceed it. Seidokan and Kyokushin Karate, for example, both have Muay Thai elements within them (And they are great styles as well). On the other hand, Capoeira training isn't directly based around fighting ("Martial Acrobatic Dance"), but it is arguably the most physical martial art.

Traditonal Karate and Kung Fu classes sometimes adopt iron body (And/or Iron Palm Training), which on the basis of kicking may not be as good as desensitizing the nerves by kicking a tree (Or even a punching bag [I contend that the training of those arts that is intense usually deals with strong leg conditioning, but a more poweful hand conditioning: You don't usually kick a makiwara board, but you CAN for example]), but with enough training, and the right person, they can stand up well.

It heavily deals with the practitioner, but Muay Thai starts strong, and finishes strong. You may not find in that in some schools of other styles (Which may or may not be a bad thing, when you consider how different we all are) due to many things. You don't see children and the elderly taking Muay Thai too often, but do you see that in San Shou Kung Fu (By the way: Another style that has the potential)? What about Karate?

Muay Thai is a great standup art, and it has some of the best training, but no style is ultimate. And speaking of kicking:

Jeet Kune Do kicking is based around the combination of the "Baseball bat" wave style of Muay Thai, and the more Japanese/Chinese/Korean style kicking. The combination of both elements exist on a level, so that you have the precision to hit a small area like a hammer. A baseball bat to the ribs: Great attack. A precise strike to the ribs: Also a great attack. You have to think about those things, and the intent of a person, before you make judgment calls. I'm personally more of a subduction man myself, but x person might want a knockout (Or even death...), y might want to do enough to escape a situation, and z may want to throw and/or apply a submission/joint lock/joint manipulation. There's way too many variables to simply say one style beats the rest. We're just flooded with some schools that don't have the best training these days: That's not style dependent.

Don't forget Muay Boran either! :p

Answer 2

Most Brutal Muay Thai Fight

Answer 3

Aside: Muay Thai is a very agressive and offensive fighting style. And it can be very effective. But it also takes a heavy toll on the people who practice it. Today's great Muay Thai figher at 22 is tomorrows old man on crutches at 32.

Answer 4

well it is pretty effective and a popular choice among many mma fighters but can i say its the flat out best? like you probably hard it depends on the person. san shou is becoming a more widely accepted form of kickboxing, i hear yaw yan is making its way into mma, kyokushin: style georges st pierre does check out the guy who created it mas oyama hes a bad man.

also one of the most feared strikers in mma crocop doesnt use muay thai and his kicks devastates almost anyone he connects with

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NoBiueeRpiI

p.s. i love thai boxing so dont think im being bias against thai boxing

Answer 5

I'm sure there is a style that beats muay thai, but maybe not because it is better but rather because it plays on muay thai's weaknesses. I doubt there is any one ultimate style, every one i know of has primary focuses, so as long as you are trained in a style that exploits the primary weakness of a style you can beat the mainstream of the figters in the style. As for what you are saying about muay thai stomping throgh the others, the only reason it would do that is because the other fighters were unskilled or only focused on their favorite moves... i.e. TKD focuses on kicks, muay thai kicks legs out, an unskilled aikido person might only rely on whatever type of grapples and throws they do rather than doing strikes and taking advantage of the situation when they can do whatever it is they do, I've watched a lot of muay thai wins over other styles and all the guys in the other styles were just trying to focus on their favorite moves. you said somethin a flying kick... if your kick is in the air, IMHO it is going to be a heck of a lot weaker than a grounded kick because you have nothing to get leverage and push off with. I've had people do flying kicks on me and they all just felt like pushes because basicly the people were just pushing off me, while if you are on the ground you have something keeping you in place so your hit goes forward instead of sending you backwards... and I'm not pretending to be an expert this is all just simple logic. back to the thing about no best styles... some of my friends can beat friends i cant beat in a fight, but i can beat the firends who beat the other friends... I.E. my techniques keep distance and use my opponents momentum against them, my friend nathan is a lot stronger than me and stands up straight for most of his moves until he gets yme to the ground, so he has a good strong base and i cant do didly squat... once on the ground his strength and groundfighting skills beat me. another friend, ryan, uses his weight against people. he weighs almost twice as much as me, so while he tries to use his weight to bring me down he does things like launching himself forward at me, so i pull and he falls flat on his face and i choke him out... but my friend nathan pushes so he just gets bowled over and ryan just uses his weight instead of strength (this is a 280 lb guy, nathan is 170, I'm 160, once he is on top of us we dont stand a chance) to roll nathan on his side then just puts all his weight down which puts a ton of pressure on nathans chest and nathan taps out. ryan cant get me on the ground so i ebat ryan, ryan beats nathan, nathan beats me. get it kind of?

EDIT: and each of us has our favorite moves.... mine is the rear naked chokehold, nathans is an arm bar, and ryans is that chest one i was tellin u about.

Answer 6

um, shaolin monks train harder. they train everyday by hitting the abdomens, the head, the shins, and also implies elbows, knees, and other things. though many people dont know of this.

Answer 7

boxing is fair brutal i guess it depends on who is fighting some people are just nuts if u know what i mean