People love to watch fights and are a big fans of martial arts. Martial arts have been got a remarkable rise in popularity this year. Two of the most popular martial arts include Muay Thai and Kickboxing. To an average person, these two martial arts may look the same. However, there are examples of highly successful MMA fighters who have got training and learnt techniques both of Muay Thai and Kickboxing as these two martial arts share a lot in common. On the other hand, there are also a lot of striking differences between Muay Thai and Kickboxing that you should also know when you are comparing these two.
In this article, I will explain to you about these two types of martial arts and the main similarities and difference between Muay Thai and Kickboxing so that you can know about them in brief if you are also a fan of martial arts.
About Muay Thai
Muay Thai is quite an aggressive type of martial arts that entirely focuses on dealing powerful blows using punches, elbows, knees and kicks. It includes powerful leg kicks which are designed such that they can damage the muscles of the opponent’s calves and thighs to make it difficult for them to manoeuvre. The elbows are used to open up the cuts in the opponent’s face and it uses the clinch to control a fight and also limit the damage you take during a fight.
Muay Thai teaches a lot of defence tactics and the Muay Thai fighters rely on setting up powerful and fight finishing blows so that they can quickly dispatch an opponent. Getting trained in Muay Thai is quite intense and requires both physical and mental toughness.
About Kickboxing
Kickboxing has many of the same techniques and fundamentals which you will find in pure boxing. If you see a great kickboxer, he would most likely feel comfortable in the boxing ring fighting under regular boxing rules while the same thing we can’t say about Muay Thai fighters. Like Muay Thai, kickboxing also focuses on kicks as well as punches but it also has a heavy emphasis on footwork and movement in general. The kickboxers are often seen circling and advancing in and out with fluid ease. In kickboxing, the head movement is also fundamental and it has a wide range of strikes which include sometimes verging into blows such as axe kicks and spin kicks which are almost exotic.
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Similarities between Muay Thai and Kickboxing
The following are some of the similarities between Muay Thai and Kickboxing due to which they look similar.
- Both Muay Thai and Kickboxing are very strategic, teaching footwork, setups and other techniques which are used to evade blows from the opponent and land blows oneself.
- Many techniques taught in Muay Thai are similar to techniques taught in kickboxing especially the fundamentals are similar.
- Both Muay Thai and Kickboxing are fine striking martial art and they have proven the most effective at the highest levels of competition multiple times.
Main differences between Muay Thai and Kickboxing
Many people think that these types of martial arts are all the same but it is not so. There are a lot of differences between Muay Thai and Kickboxing which are mentioned below:
- The main difference that you will notice between Muay Thai and Kickboxing is that Muay Thai is an eight points striking system that involves striking with elbows and knees as well as kicks and punches while kickboxing is a four-point striking system that involves only punches and kicks.
- Muay Thai is quite an aggressive type of martial arts that entirely focuses on dealing powerful blows using punches, elbows, knees and kicks.Kickboxing has many of the same techniques and fundamentals which you will find in pure boxing.
- Another difference is the way of the fighters move and attack. As in Muay Thai, the movements of the fighters are primarily forward. They look for opportunity e-content an opponent gives them an opening then they aggressively advance and strike while the movement of kickboxers generally tends to be a bit more fluid and defensive in nature. They use their footwork and angles a little more to set up a tax rather than relying on aggressive forward motion and counterattacks.
- There is also a difference in the type of strikes in the two martial arts. Muay Thai prefers simple and powerful strikes while kickboxing is about a wider range of strikes.
- The manner of kicking of Muay Thai fighters and kickboxers also differs. Muay Thai fighters are taught to land laws using the middle portion of their shin vile kickboxers have a wide range of kicks in which they use the foot, lower shin and middle shin alike.
The Final Words
Muay Thai is often seen as a more complete martial art as it includes the clinch, elbow strikes, and knee strikes while kickboxing does not show the same. However, a person can get training in both martial arts. Muay Thai fighters can use kickboxing to improve their movement and can also learn skills and techniques taught in pure boxing. Meanwhile, kickboxers who are also trained in Muay Thai are benefitted from counterattacks and the aggressive nature of Muay Thai.
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Overall, both Muay Thai and Kickboxing are two highly efficient martial arts that are arguably the best two striking martial arts of the present time. Besides having the key differences you can still choose any of them as per your desire. I hope this article was helpful and you have got the difference between Muay Thai and Kickboxing.
