Is Muay Thai Good For Street Fighting and Self-Defense?
Over the last decade, Muay Thai has been on a rapid rise mainly due to the role it plays in modern MMA. People from all parts of the world have finally realized how effective Muay Thai is, not just inside the cage, but for self-defense as well. This is the main reason why we can see more and more people joining Muay Thai these days.
In the end, we are talking about, perhaps, one of the best striking styles. It will train you to use all limbs as weapons to throw kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. But above all, there’s no playing around in Muay Thai, and each technique you learn in the gym works on the streets as well. This is the main reason why Muay Thai is good for street fighting and self-defense.
Keep reading this article to find out more about what makes Muay Thai great for self-defense. We will also explore the downsides as well.
Muay Thai uses all limbs as weapons
Muay Thai is also known as “the art of eight limbs” as its fighters use all limbs as weapons (apart from the head). Students learn how to throw boxing combos, hard kicks, and fight in the clinch using elbows and knees. In some way, Muay Thai is a total package when it comes to fighting on the feet and striking.
This is great for street fighting because it means you can mix things up. Instead of swinging punches like a mad man, you will know how to set them up or mix them with the kicks. Not to mention that it prepares you for all scenarios on the feet.
Even if you face a skilled striker, they would all have a hard time dealing with Muay Thai techniques on the feet. We don’t even have to bring up what would happen if your opponent has zero martial art training.
But as we are about to see in the next sections, using all limbs as weapons has many other benefits.
Muay Thai covers all the ranges
One of the key things in street fighting is to know how to fight in all ranges. This is crucial since street fights are often all over the place. You can find yourself fighting in a bar, parking lot, or even a small room. So knowing how to fight at all ranges is one of those things that, in most cases, decides the outcome of the match.
If the fight is in an open space, you can use footwork to move around and keep your range. The best way is to mix footwork with kicks to both keep your range and do damage. Some of the most famous are teeps to the midsection, front kicks, or low kicks.
Even if the opponent finds a way to cut you off or close the distance, you can still blast them with sharp boxing combos. But, things get even better if they come even closer and decide to get a hold of you.
You see, Muay Thai is often seen as the most brutal striking art because of its insane clinch work. One of the basics is to learn how to wrap your hands around the opponent’s neck, and pull the famous “Thai Clinch”. From this position, you can start blasting the opponent with wild elbows to the side of the head, or knees to the stomach. A person who is not trained in Muay Thai would have little to no chance of escaping from Thai clinch.
And we don’t have to bring up how much damage you can do with these strikes. Striking with the tip of the elbow can go through the skin like a knife through the butter, opening deep cuts and severe bleeding. And a single well-placed knee to the stomach is often enough to drop the opponent down.
Muay Thai is an ideal mix of technique and power
Street fighting is not a pro match in which you must outscore the opponent or win any type of point. Neither it is a place where you fight under rules. No, it is a very dangerous place, and the main goal should always be to finish the fight as fast as you can. You don’t want to play around too much because the opponent might have some type of weapon or their friends might decide to jump in. In other words, you either run or swing for a KO.
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Muay Thai differs from other arts since it puts a lot of emphasis on power. You will learn how to throw each strike with pinpoint perfect technique, and a lot of power. If you watch a Muay Thai match, you can see that fighters are not throwing volume or have high output. No, the key is to create an opening and blast the opponent as hard as you can.
Whether it’s an elbow or roundhouse kick to the ribs, Muay Thai is all about throwing with violent intention. It helps you develop that perfect mix of proper technique and huge force that often results in brutal KOs. In our view, this is close to ideal for street fighting where the goal is to escape out of trouble as fast as you can.
The only downside here is that you can really hurt the attacker. An average person who messes up too much with Thai boxers, in most cases, ends up looking like they have just survived a car crash. This is bad because the last thing you need is to go to a police station to answer some questions. Out on the streets, it is a thin line between self-defense and using too much force.
Muay Thai teaches you how to stay calm in a fight
Don’t get us wrong here, Muay Thai doesn’t include any type of meditation or other rituals that may help you clear your mind. Instead, students learn how to stay calm in a fight through various live drills. You see, training puts a lot of emphasis on sparring, and live drills which you will do all the time. Although this sounds dangerous, it isn’t.
Sparring is one of those things that separate martial arts that work in real life from the ones that don’t. The only way you can know if the techniques you learned work in real life is to test them in a gym against a partner. Not to mention that you can’t develop timing and reactions without it. We all think we are Mike Tyson on the heavy bag, but things change a lot when you are sparring against a moving target that fights back.
This is why sparring is crucial as it simulates real fighting. Even though you are in a safe place, your mind will, at some point, forget that you are sparring. It will give you that sudden rush of adrenalin and fear and enter a panic mode like you are in a real fight. This is notably true for beginners who tend to freeze or get lost in the first sparring sessions.
But over time, your mind will get used to it, and you will know how to keep your focus in the heat of the moment. Having a clear mind is the only way you can make rational decisions, and apply techniques you know.
What are the downsides of Muay Thai in street fighting?
Although Muay Thais is among the best styles for self-defense, it is not ideal. There are more than a few cons in our view, and here are some of the key ones you should be aware of:
Ground fighting- you won’t learn how to fight on the ground in Muay Thai as the art focuses on standup only. Still, you learn how to defend or execute various trips and throws, and keep your balance. This is often enough to keep the fight standing against an average person trying to take you down. But it won’t help you much against skilled wrestlers or BJJ fighters.
Dirty tactics — as we know, there are no rules in street fighting. When the survival instincts kick in, people are ready to do everything to escape or save their lives. This includes eye-gouging or landing strikes to the groin area or throat. Muay Thai won’t teach you how to defend or use dirty tactics like some other arts like Krav Maga. But on the flip side, people tend to overlook the fact of how hard it is to land these strikes on a skilled fighter.
Weapons- Muay Thai won’t train you how to deal with any type of weapons or disarm the attacker. If the opponent pulls a firearm or a knife, you should run or throw your wallet just like any other human being would. The bullet always wins in these scenarios.
Multiple attackers — Muay Thai trains you to fight under the rules and only against one person. Still, no one can’t convince us that a skilled Thai boxer can’t handle two or three average humans with no martial art training.
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