Muay Thai Styles – Clinchers and Knee Specialists

From Muay Thai Guy

An aspect of Muay Thai that is just as essential as being able to kick and punch is knowing how to clinch and knee.

Anyone who’s trained in a Muay Thai gym in Thailand will know that clinch practice is a daily part of training just like skipping rope or heavy bag work.

Two Muay Thai fighters of the past and present who dominate using the clinch are Dieselnoi and Yodwicha.

In this article I will try to give an explanation of what a clincher/knee specialist is in Muay Thai also known as Muay Kao or “knee fighter.”

What does it mean to be a “clinch” fighter?

Typically clinching and kneeing go hand and hand.

People with a boxing background tend to get confused when they’re introduced to Muay Thai clinching. In boxing, clinching tends to be a defensive position used to conserve energy rather than expend it. In Muay Thai it’s...

Pro Fighter Paul “the Reaper” Banasiak Explains Common Mistakes and Tips for Checking Kicks

From Muay Thai Guy

Fighting is flow. Positioning enables the flow.

It is a flow between offense and defense, and what enables this flow is positioning. If your posture is off when you’re parrying a punch, your countering well be slow. Your positioning is what enables the fluidity of your movement. Imagine a powerlifter who starts his deadlift with a rounded back. He will be slow off the ground and he will be even slower as the bar moves up.

Consider deeply how each position connects to another. Consider how you will flow from a check to a counter roundhouse kick, from a parry to a rear straight. Learning to flow from position to position is learning how to pass the baton. If you’re in a 4 x 100-meter relay, don’t know how to pass the baton, and end up dropping it, you’re screwed. However, if you do know how to flow from position to...

Everyone Should Know These KEY Muay Thai Sparring Tips, Drills and Strategies 

From Muay Thai Guy

“The combatant should be alive in sparring, throwing punches and kicks from all angles, and should not be a co-operative robot. Like water, sparring should be formless. Pour water into a cup, it becomes part of the cup. Pour it into a bottle; it becomes part of the bottle. Try to kick or punch it, it is resilient; clutch it and it will yield without hesitation. In fact, it will escape as pressure is being applied to it. How true it is that nothingness cannot be confined. The softest thing cannot be snapped.”

– Bruce Lee

Getting nervous about sparring for the first time?

Make sure to read my 10 Muay Thai sparring tips for beginners – A checklist for your first spar!

Muay Thai Sparring Tip #1: Have A Game Plan

Way too often I see fighters go into sparring sessions without any sort of strategy. Most fighters just step into sparring without any...

 AVOID TIGHT HIPS IN MUAY THAI WITH THESE BRIGHT TIPS

From Muay Thai Guy

With our culture centered around sitting at work, on the computer, or even during our leisure time, it’s very easy to find yourself having tight hips. When you have tight hips, doing many things feel like a chore – going up stairs, stretching, sometimes even walking. In Muay Thai, having tight hips means you…

1) …are not able turn your hip over properly when kicking.

2) …are not able to push your hips to where you want it to during punching, kneeing, and clinching.

3) …probably have bad balance.

4) …can’t generate enough power with your strikes.

There are many ways to increase hip flexibility, though. All it takes is some work, patience – and time.

IMPROVEMENT #1: Pay attention to your posture

Muay Thai Flying Knee Technique Tutorial and Tips

From Muay Thai Guy

If you were to throw and land an awesome technique like the Muay Thai flying knee, you’ll feel like an official badass.

Although this advanced technique may seem difficult at first, if you break it down into a step-by-step movement, you should be able to throw it comfortably and correctly in just a few training sessions!

Learning how to throw a flying knee is cool and all, but make sure when you are fighting you use it sparingly and cautiously since it does leave you open for counters. Although it’s a great surprise attack that can be used to strike your opponents head or body, it shouldn’t be the only technique you focus on during training and fights. Remember – the basics win fights!

How To Throw a Muay Thai Flying Knee Video Tutorial

Click here and subscribe to my youtube channel for more awesome technique videos

There’s a lot that goes into...

 STRENGTH & WEAKNESS OF THE MUAY FEMUR FIGHTER

From Muay Thai Guy

Asian MMA.

Femur (prounounced “fee-meuu”) fighters are the technical fighters every Muay Thai fan thinks of when they think about “beautiful” Muay Thai. These are the fighters that are exciting to watch and you want to emulate their techniques in your own training. Some well-known femur fighters are Saenchai, Sangmanee, Nong-O, Littewada, and Samart.

Femur fighters are slick and have insanely high fight IQ. They have great eyes and use the first round or two to figure out what their opponent’s weaknesses may be. Femur fighters generally look to score, but will go for the knockout if they see it.

The amazing thing about femur fighters is that they’re generally well-rounded – they can use all of their weapons with ease. Once they’ve figured out how to beat their opponent, they seemingly land everything at will.

The reason femur...

The Muay Thai Guys Podcast – Episode 49

From Muay Thai Guy

What style of training do you prefer?

Are you more about the traditional Muay Thai style where the focus is on pad work and clinching?

Or are you more about the Dutch kickboxing style that revolves around partner and sparring drills for the majority of class?

OR are you a hybrid style that includes Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA, boxing and other martial arts?

It’s important to know the pros and cons of each style so that you’re able to constantly evolve and improve in all aspects of your fight game. In this weeks podcast episode, Paul and I discuss what our favorite styles of training as well as the benefits of each one.

Here’s a brief rundown of what we talk about in this episode:

Training Style #1 – Muay Thai

This style is obviously the most familiar to the audience.  It’s primarily endurance based that involves the strict, structured day to day program of running,...

 HOW TO THROW LOW KICKS WITH SPEED & BAD INTENTIONS

From Muay Thai Guy

Muay Thai Citizen.

The low kick has been a tried-and-true method for damaging opponents and breaking their will in fights. It stops incoming aggressive fighters in their tracks (literally) and starts chipping away at one of the most vital limbs needed for fighting and even standing.

When done properly, the low kick can do a lot of damage. It can serve as the origin of a spectacular TKO. The low kick is familiar to many but not executed to its fullest potential by most. Just how do the best low kickers do it?

Let’s take a closer look at a couple of Muay Thai’s best low kickers and how they use this tool to their advantage.

(Title image credit to Evolve Vacation.)

I. COMMIT, JUMP, PIVOT

Like almost all kicks in Muay Thai, there needs to be a step of some kind involved to deliver the low kick. This step is much different than a step for a middle kick, though. With a middle...

THE MUAY THAI LEGENDS OF THE GOLDEN ERA

By Anton Kooshnir

Almost every sport has its “historians” that can pull out great moments and personalities concerning their sport (or favorite team) from literally any era out of their mind.

But in most sports, fans and “historians” usually agree on a time period that pretty much serves as the sport’s “business card” from a certain point. Maybe it’s because people like to romanticize about the past so much…

In Muay Thai, that time period is usually believed to be between the mid-late 80’s and the early 90’s of the 20th century.

Most Muay Thai fans (and by fans I mean people that spend at least a little time educating themselves about the basic history of Muay Thai) know of, or at least heard of, legends like Samart, Sakmongkol or Jongsanan. These fighters made the biggest waves in the...

Is It Realistic To Have My First Muay Thai Fight at 45?

From Muay Thai Guy

I’m a firm believer that it’s never too late to start training Muay Thai. When you begin your Muay Thai training not only will you learn a beautiful (and practical) martial art, but you’ll also be improving the entire spectrum of your health, so why not give it a go?

Now training Muay Thai is one thing, but fighting and actually stepping in the ring to willingly get punched in the face is next level shit. That is when age becomes a real factor due to the high risk of being seriously injured.

Is it realistic to have a fight even if you picked up Muay Thai at a later age? What should a typical training regimen look like when preparing for a fight? These are the questions that Nak Muay Nation fan Chris Large asked me for this weeks Muay Thai Monday Q&A… and here are my answers:

Funny enough, this question is by far one of the most common...