Muay Thai and Roundhouse kicks. (Beginner Question)

[dfghjk]

Is the karate roundhouse kick illegal in muay thai or is it just not done?

Thanks in advance for answer.

[Kuma]

If we knew what you defined as a "karate roundhouse kick", we could help you out more.

[ThaiBoxerGene]

Do you speak of "It who shall not be named!" ? If so, then yes.

But kidding aside, typically any kick you are referring to, is most likely allowed in MT. If anything, MT allows more freedom in using more skin penetrating strikes such as knees, elbows, and full-body take downs.

[kansascityshuffle]

A mawashi geri is allowed in muay thai..any kick you do in karate minus kinteki geri is allowed in muay thai and vice versa (if you do knockdown karate). This is why you see so many knockdown karateka also train in muay thai, kickboxing, etc. because the two arts compliment each other so well.

In fact, I have known many people that hold muay thai title belts that actually don't train in muay thai. Unfortunately some schools advertise that they train muay thai just because they have fighters that fight under muay thai rules. One such gym that is now closed when I first started in muay thai would never allow their fighters to even fight with knees and rarely without shin pads LOL. So, they never even truly fought under muay thai rules (modified or full)

However, a karate mawashi geri typically isn't taught in muay thai if you train in a Thai muay thai gym. There have been trainers like Master Sken and Master Toddy who also hold high ranks in TKD and will teach TKD kicks that are modified as they see fit to work in muay thai. Or if your kru/arjarn holds past experience in karate they may teach you some karate style kicks.

The other side of the coin is you don't see a muay thai dtae (round house kick) taught in karate dojo..unless that senpai/sensei/shihan/etc. has a muay thai background. The gedan mawashi geri taught in knockdown karate is usually taught as more of a downward cutting angle or drop versus the muay thai dtae which is like swinging your shin like a bat horizontally to the thigh but sometimes taught to turn your hip over too but it's not as snappy as karate mawashi geri.

[bushido_man96]

I'd say the main difference is probably in the delivery. Like KCshuffle mentions, the Thai version likes to load up body weight into the kick, and not worry about a rechamber so much. Just drive that kick into the other guy's leg. I've also seen guys do the kick with that downward chopping motion, and I liked it, too. I think its good if the tool is the shin, but maybe not so much if the tool is the ball of the foot.