Muay Thai is a popular sport based in the ancient hand to hand arts of Thailand. Oftentimes, Muay Thai is called Thai Boxing or Thai Kickboxing and that is essentially what it is: the indigenous striking arts of Thailand boiled down to their essentials with a few tools banned for sportsmanship. Muay Thai has had its evolutions over the decades as it spread across the globe, but the overall structure remains the same. So how does it stack up in terms of defense?
Let’s look at the guards of Muay Thai first. Muay Thai has a number of different guarding methods. These are more dependent on the fighter than the art, just like Western boxing. You’ve got long guards, dracula guards, shells, high guards, but it all boils down to keeping your shoulders high, chin low, and hands in front of your face.
The long guard and the high guard are the two essential shapes of Muay Thai guards, the others are variations of the two. The long guard is essentially keeping your head protected with one hand while the other is outstretched towards the opponent. This outstretched hand can be used to probe, parry, and stick to your opponent. It also lets you connect to an oncoming opponent and take up the clinch. The high guard in Muay Thai is the same as the high guard in Western boxing. Hands up near your brow, shoulders high and rolled forward. Where the long guard is more of a transitional shape, the high guard is where you spend a lot of your time.
Nak muay often hold their weight in a 70/30 distribution, though there are plenty of fighters who are closer to 50/50. The 70/30 split gives the lead leg a faster reaction and makes that front kick snap like a whip. But it does make angulated evasions a little tougher. It’s a very tall stance when compared to some boxers and karateka, but it’s also very balanced. The feet stay shoulder width apart and Muay Thai rarely uses footwork that brings it closer than that. You can absolutely off balance a nak muay, but it’s certainly harder than a Taekwondo practitioner.
Shield Block: This technique works just like in Western boxing. Bring up your glove to defend the head against strikes. Nak muay are quite skilled at pairing the shield with evasive footwork to reduce the impact. One problem I do see often is that they are so used to blocking with the glove on that they don’t effectively block when they are gloveless. Luckily this is an easy fix, you just have to put in reps with smaller gloves or bareknuckle.
Body Shield: The body shield is an effective technique that can protect the body without losing too much head protection. Essentially you are still protecting from attacks with the fleshy portion of the forearm, but this time you are tightly covering the ribs and protecting the core. The body shield is an essential tool for self defense and the great part is you don’t drop your hands too low. A lot of other body defenses open you up to headshots and this one reduces that likelihood.
Defensive Teep: The teep is a front kick in Muay Thai, with various forms. Some people treat it as just a front kick, others say that it is its own beast. There are many ways to hit the teep, but I would like to just give two examples of the teep’s use here. The first is a kick to the chest and the second is a kick to the leg.
If you want to move a guy, don’t kick him in the belly. That bends him over. Kick his chest to knock his balance backwards. This type of teep makes space and gives you the chance to control where the fight goes. The kick to the leg is another thing.
When your opponent starts their kick you can shut it down quickly with a teep to the thigh. The teep works best at the thigh, because it requires less precision than stopping at the shin. This method hits the part of the leg that moves the least in its arc. You’ll also be hitting muscle when you kick the thigh; if you try at the shin, you’re kicking bone. Even if you’re successful that still hurts.
Leg Checks: A leg check can be a very useful defense against a kick, especially leg kicks. Leg checks work well because they aren’t stationary and can be done within larger motions. This means that leg checks can be linked into combinations or evasive footwork. A lot of arts block kicks very statically, but Muay Thai’s leg checks can make or break rhythm.
Super Shield: The Super Shield (aka Full Shield) is a block using the same side arm and leg meeting to block a kick. It’s essentially a body shield and leg check together. This is that full body block that most people associate with Muay Thai. Oftentimes it is blocking a kick coming at an unknown angle. Maybe it’s to the head, maybe the body, either way you don’t want to wait and find out. When executed with the proper pressure, this block can handle an incoming attack and set you up to counterstrike. The problem with the super shield is that you are left on one foot with a lot of your body weight crunched in a single area. If you don’t have proper pressure, you will be knocked back or even knocked down. This doesn’t mean the Super Shield is a bad block. It just has its drawbacks.
Destruction Blocks: Muay Thai makes excellent use of destruction blocks. The most common is using the knee to block the opponent’s shin. This is the defense made famous by Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva at UFC 168. While most destruction blocks won’t break the shin, it is a possibility. This defense is the most important destruction block to learn, but it isn’t the only one. You can also take your knee or foot to the front of the thigh, to bruise the quadriceps. It’s a lot harder to kick when those muscles are seizing.
Spearing Guard: A variant of the long guard, the spearing guard in Muay Thai is often used to handle wide hooks. Essentially you raise both arms high and spear them forward into your opponent’s attacking bicep and the respective collarbone. Though not as popular as other tools, it can still be useful as the spearing guard keeps your shoulders high to protect the head and the forcefulness of such a technique often handles the opponent’s momentum. Plus you’re right there ready to clinch and throw some knees.
Catching Kicks: Catching kicks can be done well, but I don’t always agree with Muay Thai’s method. It’s more of an overhook method, which increases the risk of taking the kick’s force on your ribs. Muay Thai does teach stepping in, past the point of greatest impact. That does reduce the chance of taking real damage, but I think plenty of us have seen a bad catch go wrong.
Blocking into Sweeps: Muay Thai makes excellent use of leg sweeps, either with a block or a catch. One shouldn’t seek to catch a leg, but when it shows up, you’ve got to act quick. Sweeping your opponent can be a useful reaction, either to control your opponent on the ground or to give yourself the time and space to escape. Muay Thai sweeps emphasize weight distribution and timing more than other kickboxing arts. Muay Thai’s sweeps are on par with Sanda’s. These two arts probably have the best sweeps in striking.
Scooping a Leg: I’m not a huge fan of this one. It certainly can be effective, but scooping a knee or kick puts your hand low and opens your head. It can be married with an attack from the other hand, but you have to be certain and well timed. The move is a bit high risk for my tastes, but I can’t deny it is a useful technique.
Scooting the Hips: Scooting your hips back from a kick can be done and done well. A benefit of this is staying in range to counter and gain momentum. Yet it requires a distinct understanding of your ranges and the length of your opponent’s legs. The other issue with scooting your hips is that it keeps you in that same striking range. Not two sentences ago I said that was a good thing, but sometimes things are good and bad. If you can strike them, they can strike you. When considering self defense, it’s all the way out or all the way in.
So how does this look as an overall defensive plan? Pretty darn good actually. Muay Thai has a mastery of foundational techniques and fighters generally keep strong defenses. The art makes good use of offensive defense, in terms of destruction blocks and marrying defenses with striking. It’s very hard to find fault with Muay Thai, it’s quite an effective art. Does it have holes? Certainly. It’s a pure striking art, so it has no groundwork defense. It’s sport background often means that the nuances of fighting against a larger opponent get lost in the mix. I’d even dare to say that it over extends itself with its kicks and that is a defensive issue by itself. But for any gripes I have, I’ve got to give Muay Thai an A- for its defensive tools.