Is it possible to combine Wing Chun and Muay Thai?

Question

I've recently started to take Wing Chun for a two weeks now but I also have a heavy experience in Muay Thai as well. The reason I left Muay Thai is due to my studies and school. Now that Wing Chun is actually closer to where I live I realized that the punches are effective and it has helped me maintain a slow progress of balance.

I'm really liking this art and I was hoping if I could somehow combine Muay Thai with Wing Chun in my later sparring days. Wing Chun's stances are different as well as the punches and kicks however I feel a certain powerful combination among these two arts.

Compete with others? No, I want to compete with myself and see how two arts can blend into one. I detest boasters and honor the modesty--therefore if there are any answers such as... Jujitsu is the best; then you have proven your idoicy.

One 1/2 years of Muay Thai.
Six months of Karate
Three months of High School Judo

( P.S Thanks to Wing Chun it's teaching me not to be so darn stiff!!!) :D!!!

Answer 1

Yes you can as they are also related.In Thailand there is a martial art called Ling Lom(Flying monkey)Very similar stances and hand positions and if you look at the flying Knee climbing down elbow it look like a flying monkey.In the clinch in Muay Thai it`s called neck wrestling and to excel at it you need a lot of sensitivity .The elbow are almost identical and most of the footwork.I`ve been teaching them both since 1994 at
Rey`s Wing Chun/Muay Thai Academy in San Jose,Ca.In closing when you get to a point when you can make your wing chun work then you will see that thier is no limit in your abilty to blend with others.Great traning to you from Sifu/Kru Rey Garcia

Answer 2

Not only is it possible, it's been done for some time by a longtime instructor of Wing Chun, named Gary Lam. He is my Sifu's Sifu and has been training Thai fighters along with Wing Chun practitioners for decades, having found that the two arts can complement one another well. From what I know of Muay Thai and what I've learned while briefly studying Wing Chun, this is very true. Wing Chun deals with closer range attacks and defenses while Thai fighting has more distance to it.

My personal opinion is that someone proficient in Muay Thai, Wing Chun, and a good grappling style like BJJ would be formidable in MMA ring fighting since they would have the three ranges well-covered. But like I said, that's just my opinion; I haven't had a chance to test my theory on it personally. ;)

Answer 3

It's simple really.

You have heavy experience in Muay Thai, right? Then what you have to do is learn about the philosophy of "Jeet Kune Do" (Or the like). Jeet Kune Do isn't an art (Some techniques, but it's still more of a philosophy due to the fact that you make the art from what you know), but it's a philosophy of covering all fighting ranges, and throwing out what is useless. "Addition by subtraction" if you will. You could just do that on your own, but you have many choices on which direction you want to go, whether that means subtraction, addition from more styles, switching styles on your opponent to confuse them, et cetera...

If you've taken that much Muay Thai, then you might be able to really analyze how you choose to fight, and whether or not you change your style for different situations (A la the street vs the ring [Not that you have to, but you might]). You should think about what attacks from each style you really like as you progress in Wing Chun, and make your own blend. You might like Muay Thai kicks, but you might like wing chun's philopsophy of knocking your opponent off balance, while keeping straightforward with your balance. Or maybe you like wing chun hand strikes, but you'd like to throw elbows in the middle of your chain punches/flurries.

Good luck.

Answer 4

What is your main goal.If it is primarily self defense which 99% of the time are going to involve toe to toe fighting then emphasize WING CHUN in your studies.The best elements of MUAY THAI and best blended with other methods is it's elbow work and leg striking techniques which WING CHUN has plenty of.
If you try to move like a MUAY THAI fighter and use WING CHUN technique you will fail and trying to move from one to the other when someone is throwing flurrys of punches and kicks at you is dangerous.Depending on your opponent decide from the get go to do one or the other not combine both.

Answer 5

Of course you can combine them. I believe that's what true martial artists do.

No single martial art form is complete, so it is best to take a Bruce Lee approach and adapt as necessary, pulling movements from all styles you know.

Really, just do whatever feels most natural to you.