TKD and Thai boxing

[Sohan]

I'd like to also add that the Thai fighters I've worked with are very grounded and balanced while also being very mobile. It's hard to knock a good Thai fighter over, and they can still get around the ring with great swiftness---perhaps they are not as slippery as a western boxer would be, but as E & K said, they do have a tendency to suck it up and absorb, because they can.

With respect,

Sohan

[bushido_man96]

the boxing foot work is much more mobile. thai boxing is brutal - just suck it up and take it, basically. consequently, there's not a whole lot of evasion, mainly absorption, rolling with the strikes and parries.

OUCH! Kind of like blocking, myself.

[bushido_man96]

I do remember from the TKD vs. Thai boxer video that circulated on the forum. The Thais were especially keen at catching a hanging kick, and then sweeping out the other leg very not nice like. I thought it looked very cool, and devastating.

[elbows_and_knees]

I do remember from the TKD vs. Thai boxer video that circulated on the forum. The Thais were especially keen at catching a hanging kick, and then sweeping out the other leg very not nice like. I thought it looked very cool, and devastating.

that's called a cut kick. we do block - we check leg kicks. In all honesty, if you try to "block" a thai roundhouse kick to the midsection or higher, your arm is gonna get hurt. the safest thing to to is cover and absorb it, if you have to take the kick. Ideally, you'd rather catch it or evade. There is some evasion, just not a lot.

[bushido_man96]

It sounds like a good time.

[Dragn]

I was 2nd degree TKD black belt before I took up MT and MMA.

At first I found alot of bad habits from TKD were messing up my MT. So I really tried to forget my TKD and focus on MT for a while. Once my MT basics got strong I started intergrating some of my TKD kicks into my MT.

I find it to be a very effective mix. Fast snappy TKD lead leg kicks can set up power hits and catch opponents off guard. I've found my back kicks and ax kicks to be very effective too.

fast triky foot work also helps to set up techs. But If you're going to fight MT you need to use a MT stance and have solid MT footwork. The side on stance of TKD will get your legs destroyed by low kicks. So you have to adapt all your TKD techs to a more square stance.

I use about 90% MT now, but my TKD background certainly developed my kicking prowess to a level above my MT peers. It gives me a versatility in my technical ability which enhances my MT skills.

I Know of a few other top kickboxers who came from a TKD background too.

[bushido_man96]

That is good stuff. I would love to have the opportunity to take up Thai boxing a few days a week; I think my TKD would improve tenfold.

[legkicker]

Lots of Muay Thai guys have a Tae Kwon Do or Karate background. TKD is huge in Thailand, yeah I'm very well aware that muay thai is the national sport but TKD is still huge. I'm not a TKD practitioner but I have trained with and under a few top Muay Thai people that are anywhere from 4th to 7th Dan black belts in TKD, too. One of them that comes to mind is Master Toddy. They combine some of the TKD kicks into the Muay Thai and modify some of them.

Like Elbows said I wouldn't reccomend using TKD footwork in Muay Thai, I have yet to seen that done effectively. Hey, I'm not a TKD hater and I wouldn't use Karate footwork in Muay Thai, neither.

One possible "bad" thing I have noticed since I got into muay thai a decade ago is that I'm so accustomed to a squared fighting stance that it's very hard for me to ever be in a side stance when I'm doing Karate. I don't feel comfortable in a side stance at all.

[bushido_man96]

There is a guy that is a 6th dan in our system who became a pro fighter, and has been trying to do K-1. His name is Mark Selbee, and he has used his flexibility and kicks well in his fights.

[CTTKDKing]

I know most of us have seen the Muay Thai vs. TKD video, so that might be a good reference point.

It's very unfair to class all TKD practitioners based on a couple of video's where inexperienced TKD guys go head to head full contact with MT practitioners and lose. We had a 6 year veteren MT practitioner come into our school who kept making coments about how our methods were wimpy, and he missed his MT school. However when it came time for sparring they matched him with a 4 year brown belt and he got his butt kicked, and I mean really kicked. We're TKD people. LOL