As a practitioner of Muay Thai, I can say that this style is considered to be one of the most brutal styles of martial arts in the world. Muay Thai is one of the oldest styles in the world with at least two-thousand years of history. The reason Muay Thai is one of the most sought out martial arts styles in the world is due to its brutality and simplicity.

Muay Thai is defined as the "science of the eight limbs" with good reason. Practitioners of Muay Thai are trained to use eight limbs of the bodies: legs, knees, fists, and elbows. In a sense, Muay Thai can be considered an umbrella term. There are many different types of Muay Thai as they are many types of Kung-Fu.

The most common form of Muay Thai is sport Muay Thai which uses gloves similar to that in Western Boxing. Practitioners are trained to strike with the hard bones of their bodies such as the knees and elbows. Those are some of the hardest bones in the human body. In terms of kicking, Muay Thai fighters attack with the shins instead of the feet for spin kicks and roundhouse kicks.

There are two kicks that use the shins instead of the feet: the Thai roundhouse kick and the Thai spinning sweep kick. Getting hit by a Thai roundhouse is similar to getting smacked by an aluminum bat. You can do a lot of damage to your opponent's legs with the Thai spinning sweep kick. Both types of attacks are fairly easy to use. Thai fighters are trained to hit certain spots in the body.

Due to the nature, Muay Thai fights are extremely brutal. However, Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. Professional Muay Thai fighters have the same celebrity status as entertainers and sports stars in the United States. Muay Thai is considered a main livelihood which explains why many take up the path of being a Muay Thai fighter.

In short, Muay Thai is one of the ancient styles of fighting. One must be careful when training in Muay Thai and one must be careful when sparring against someone in Muay Thai.

This style is one of the most sought out styles to learn in the world of mixed martial arts. Due to simplicity and brutality of Muay Thai, the style is part of almost any mixed martial arts school curriculum. Many UFC and Pride FC fighters have recognized the superior of Muay Thai over traditional styles such as Tae Kwon Do and Karate with good reason.

Muay Thai fighters are good at both long-range and close-range striking. In close quarters combat, the Muay Thai fighter has the advantage in striking and a bit of grappling. If you are not a good grappler and you get into a close range fight with a Muay Thai fighter, it will not be pretty on your end.

Overall, Muay Thai is a style with very much substance. This is one style that deserves the utmost respect.

There are variations of Muay Thai. The Burmese use Lethwei which is merely Muay Thai with headbutts. There is no significant difference between the styles. In the past, Muay Thai did have headbutting attacks but were disallowed.

The Royal Thai Army uses Lerdrit which is the military form of Muay Thai. Punches are taken out and replaced with joint locks, grapples, chops, and palm strikes.

While Muay Thai is mainly used for sporting events, it should not be discounted as a possible self-defense style. In self-defense, you do not care how much damage you cause your attack. You simply hurt your attacker hard and retreat. Muay Thai can deliver that.

For this reason, Muay Thai is not only a deadly style but a superior style.

Learn more about this author, Can Tran.
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