This is a question we get all the time from potential newcomers the sport of Muay Thai. The answer will inevitably be yes, but it depends on how serious you get involved. What level you go to and whether you go ahead and fight or not will have a big impact because that is the most dangerous element of the sport. There are tons of people who just take up Muay thai for the enjoyment, high levels of fitness, conditioning, endurance and the fact that it is a highly effective martial art.

Another thing to keep in mind is that life itself is a very dangerous sport, and no one makes it out alive anyway. So, for that reason I would say that if you’re thinking about Muay Thai, then don’t let the perceived dangers of the sport stop you from lacing up a pair of gloves and giving it a try one little bit, it’s perfectly safe for beginners.

 

All Sports Are Dangerous

When you look at all sports, there are horrific injuries that you can take from any of them and Muay Thai is no different.

If you think about the leg breaks that very rarely happen in Muay Thai, you could probably see 20 leg-breaks in a sport like soccer for every one that you would see in Muay Thai and nobody thinks about whether or not soccer is dangerous.

Even a gentle sport like golf will carry it’s fair share of injuries, from dislocated shoulders to torn ACLs and even golf cart accidents but that is not to say that you can’t enjoy the sports without worrying about the inherent dangers.

 

Is walking into a Muay Thai gym as a beginner dangerous?

Definitely not, when you walk into a Muay Thai gym as a beginner, any coach that’s worth their salt will quickly be able to tell what level you are at and they will never ever throw you in at the deep end.

 

What to expect at Muay Thai class

A basic Muay Thai class will start off with a warm up like some jogging around the gym and maybe a few rounds of skipping and shadow boxing. These basic exercises are not dangerous at all unless you go over on your ankle which isn’t very likely.

 

Bag Drills

You might then move on to some bag drills where your opponent will hold the bag and you will hit the it with straight punches or fast kicks for a minute before swapping over and giving your partner a go. You might do this for a couple of rounds and again this is not dangerous at all but highly fun and great cardio.

 

Pad Work

Pad work, you may work pads with your partner or your partner will hold their gloves in front of them for you to perform punches, kicks, knees and elbows and again this is not dangerous at all. I’ve never seen an injury on the pads from all my time in Muay Thai.

The only risk here is slight pain in the wrists and forearms from catching heavy kicks, or possibly your partner missing the target which is very rare, and again this is not very dangerous.

 

Dutch Style Training Drill

Training drills where you and your partner will practice different combos on each other while wearing protective shin pads and big gloves.

If you’re a complete beginner your partner should go light with you and this is a great chance to improve your skills. The biggest risk is taking a soft punch in the face, so again not dangerous at all.

 

Sparring

As you advance in your Muay Thai journey and learn some good combos that you can repeat over and over again with good power and technique, you might be invited to spar in your gym against other opponents that are on the same or a higher level than you are.

 

Again you shouldn’t worry about this, just make sure to not hit anybody harder than you want to be hit yourself and remember that the more experience fighters have been in your position before so they won’t want to go extra hard on you to teach you a lesson or anything.

They will want you to grow, have a good experience and improve your skills as well.

 

Sparring is the fastest way to increase your Muay Thai skills

 

Amateur fighting

As you progress in your gym and move through the ranks and become a skilled Muay Thai practitioner that can hold their own in spars against the best fighters in the gym, you may choose to go on and have some amateur fights and this is where things can get a little bit more risky.

Amateur fights usually have slightly bigger gloves and you’ll be wearing shin pads but of course there is a risk that you could be knocked out but you can also knock your opponent out although this is quite rare in the amateurs.

By the time you’re ready to go for amateur fights you should feel confident in your ability and you should see this as a challenge that you want to take on regardless of the risk because you see the reward as something that is worth taking some risk for.

 

Professional fighting

Professional fighting in Muay Thai is quite dangerous, in many countries they will have different classes, like C-Class won’t have any elbows but when you get up to the top level, the risk of getting caught by elbows is quite significant and is something that will happen to you if you fight enough.

It’s just up to the individual whether they see that as something that they’re willing to forgo because they enjoy fighting and they love the feeling of winning against a worthy opponent.

 

Risk Of Broken legs

Broken legs is probably the biggest nightmare of any Muay Thai fighter although they are rare, this is probably the most dangerous injury that you can pick up in the sport.

This usually happens when a fighter leads with their low kick which is something that you’re not supposed to do in Muay Thai.

You should always set up your kicks with a jab so that your opponent can’t see it coming and raise their leg to block your kick, potentially leading to this dreading injury in rare circumstances.

 

Long term brain damage

For Muay Thai fighters that go through hundreds of rounds of heavy sparing year after year and take heavy punishment in the ring time and time again, there is a substantial risk that they will develop some long-term brain injuries because of all the punishment they received over the years, depending on how many times they have been knocked out or how many concussions they get.

 

If you are Muay Thai fighter for a long time. There is some risk of picking up long term brain damage.

 

The subject of brain damage is the reason we always recommend to only spar 70% to 80% unless you have a fight coming up within the next 3 to 4 weeks.

You can push it harder for maybe one session a week leading up to a fight. The goal is to improve the software without damaging the hardware and going 100% when there is no fight coming up doesn’t make any sense.

 

You could always take up a grappling sport

If the risk of receiving bangs in the head in sparring and Muay Thai fights put you off, you could always try a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class where are you can learn a really effective skill without taking any of the punishment.

It is worth nothing that Brazilian jiu-jitsu was king in the early UFC due to the skill of the Gracie Brothers. Nowadays Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu are key skills and a big part of all MMA fighters training to enable them to compete at the highest levels in the UFC.

 

Is Muay Thai more dangerous than boxing

On the surface it may appear that Muay Thai is much more dangerous than boxing but if you look at the numbers they tell a different story.

You may also think MMA is much more dangerous than boxing, but boxing comes out time and time again as the one that reports the most deaths.

The evidence appears to suggest that the 12, 3 minute rounds in boxing where a fighter is getting beaten up by a padded glove that is not enough to knock them out but the repeated blows to the head over and over again can cause serious trauma, leading to death in the ring and more serious brain damage when you look at the longer term.

Muay Thai fights are 3 rounds or 5, 3-minute rounds and a lot of the kicks will be to the body and there won’t be as many punches to the head as in boxing.

Some of the harder blows like elbows, will result in a instant knockout ending the fight where as a boxer can go on taking severe punishment for several rounds and the impact through the padded glove isn’t enough to knock them out which is actually more dangerous to the fighter.

 

Conclusion

Muay Thai is dangerous when you get to the top levels but this is the case in any sport, football has its injuries, soccer even has its injuries especially at the top level, hockey has injuries, horse riding has injuries and the list goes on.

Any sport that you get involved in is going to have some level of danger and risk, it’s just a case of finding what you like and deciding that the risk is worth taking for all the rewards and benefits you can get out of a sport like Muay Thai over your life time.

Muay Thai and karate both have their roots in Ancient Asia. Muay Thai comes from Thailand and karate originates in Japan.

People like to compare different fighting styles all the time and that is no different with Muay Thai and karate.

Having tried out both karate and Muay Thai classes, I found Muay Thai to be much more enjoyable, it was much tougher and a more hands-on workout. It was also faster to learn effective fighting skills that you can use in any situation. Karate on the other hand involves a lot of practicing strkes in the air and not really striking an opponent too much. If an advanced Muay Thai fighter and Black belt expert in karate have a fight, it may be a close one to call because both guys are so skilled, but in my opinion if you give the average person 6 months training in either discipline, all other things being equal, the guy who is trying Muay Thai will win 99% of the time.

 

There are a number of reasons why I think this but first, let’s look at the history of both these ancient martial arts.

 

Muay Thai history

Muay Thai was first developed by the military in ancient Thailand to defend the country from Burmese Invaders in a style known as Krabi Kaabong where they would fight with swords in each hand in the Muay Thai style and this then developed into Muay Boran, which was similar to the Muay Thai we see today except they wrap their hands in rope to protect their hands but this causes awful damage to the opponent.

Muay Thai went on to become very popular with the royal family in Thailand and exhibitions started popping up all around the country where they began to use gloves and a ring and the Muay Thai that we see today was born.

 

Karate history

Karate originated in Japan around the 17th/18th century in the province of Okinawa and various different styles emerged that all come under the umbrella of karate which translates to ‘the way of the empty hand’.

Karate really became popular in the 20th century being included in various school programs and with public demonstrations happening all around Japan, the first American dojo opened in 1945 and now it is a worldwide sport regulated by the WKF with a distinct set of competition rules.

 

Muay Thai Vs Karate Styles

Muay Thai is a very aggressive, come forward style that basically looks to smash anything in its path with heavy roundhouse kicks, punches, elbows, knees and clinch.

The stance is square on and Muay Thai fighters are usually happy to take one to give one. They kick hard with their shins, and blocks are performed by connecting the elbow to the knee.

Karate is a much more elusive style, a karate master will look to evade attacks and then summon all of his power into one shot to inflict as much damage as possible with a single blow and end the fight as quickly as possible.

They mainly focus on straight punches and in a lot of competitions, punches to the head will be not allowed and for this reason, karate fighters may keep their chin up in the air instead of tucking it in like a boxer or Muay Thai fighter.

 

Muay Thai is a more effective martial art in my opinion

If you get two guys that have been training for 5 years in either of these disciplines, they will surely be tough competitors and be able to give each other a stern test. But if you walk into Muay Thai gym, you are going to be learning effective moves and practicing them with a partner from the very first day.

Karate classes will involve a lot of shadow striking and very nice light practicing with a partner.

 

In Muay Thai you will be hitting bags as hard as you can to build up your weapons for war, far more quickly than in karate.

 

Once you advance further in Muay Thai, you will begin to spar properly cause you will have shin pads, gum shields, 16-ounce gloves and maybe you will have a head guard to protect yourself, so you can practice a real fighting situation within 1-2 months of taking up Muay Thai, or maybe even sooner.

Since there are no punches to the head emphasised in karate, then it’s going to take a long time for you to build up your techniques to a level where you can really be competitive against someone that’s trained in Muay Thai.

Since Muay Thai has been infused with Western boxing, it has become an even more devastating martial art as you’ve virtually taking the best parts out of the 2 leading striking sports and combined them for the king of stand-up fighting in Muay Thai.

The focus on heavy punches to the head that you will train in Muay Thai from day one and training how to block both punches and kicks, will be far more suitable for a real-life situation than training lightly for karate and trying to avoid your opponent with that elusive style.

Muay Thai also has the clinch which is a form of stand up wrestling where the fighters will clasp their hands around each other’s necks and bodies and manoeuvre for position to land heavy knees and if they can get both hands around the neck and bring the head down they will quickly be able to end the bout with knees to the head.

With that being said, there have been some very successful karate Fighters in the UFC, but these are the highest level guys and they combine those techniques with Muay Thai training, grappling, jiu-jitsu and maybe even more fighting styles.

Lyoto Machida is probably the most famous karate fighter from the UFC who won a fight by knockout with a beautiful karate kick to his opponent’s chin once.

Chuck Liddell and Baz Ruten we’re also black belts in karate, but these guys are all also heavily trained in Muay Thai.

Virtually every fighter in UFC will train in Muay Thai and Muay Thai Fighters can rack up 100’s of professional fights in a career.

Two of the best to ever do it will include Saenchai who only a lost handful of fights out of around 400 and I had the pleasure of seeing him fight in Cork, Ireland.

Buakaw is also a very famous Muay Thai champion and he also fought in K1 and was champion of the world at K1 multiple times. He is a really tough fighter with all around great skills and some of the best conditioning we have ever seen.

 

Muay Thai training is a lot more fun

When you consider Muay Thai compared to karate, you’ve got a lot of things in Muay Thai that are really enjoyable and can get you in great condition like hitting the Thai pads, hitting Focus pads, practicing teeps on the belly pad, whacking the bags, practicing drills with a partner with all your protective gear, shadow boxing, sparring and even getting into amateur and professional fights and that’ll be closest thing to a stand-up street fight that you will get in any sport besides UFC.

 

If I had to pick one sport to train it would certainly be Muay Thai rather than karate.

 

Check out this exhibition between a karate expert and a Muay Thai professional, these guys aren’t really focussed on punches to the head, and it is more of a kicking contest.

You can see that the Muay Thai practitioner is able to land his low kicks much more easily and when he does throw a couple of punches to the head he quickly ends the bout.

If you include punches to the head in this bout, it is probably going to be over a lot more quickly as you can set up the low kicks much more effectively with a strong jab.

 

 

When everything is said and done, there is a reason that all the Muay Thai gyms in Thailand are packed with westerners and that is not the case with karate, because Muay Thai is the most effective stand-up fighting martial art that exists in the world today.

 

Muay Thai is also known as the Art Of 8 Limbs and its fighters utilize punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to inflict as much damage as possible on their opponent and there is also the clinch to consider which is an art form in and of itself.

One of the main questions people have before getting involved in a martial art is how effective it is for self-defense and the answer for Muay Thai is, very effective. Muay Thai is well known as the king of stand up fighting and the variety of hard and effective strikes makes it second only to MMA for self-defense in my opinion and maybe even number 1. Muay Thai isn’t like other martial arts that are average at best for self-defence like Karate or Taekwondo, you will learn how to perform seriously effective strikes in Muay Thai from your very first class.

 

History Of Muay Thai

Muay Thai has a colorful history, it evolved from the Thai Military version called Krabi Kabong where, Thai Soldiers used a Muay Thai style with swords in either arm to protect the Thai province from Burmese invaders and if they dropped their swords, they would continue to fight with just their hands and feet.

Muay Thai and developed into competition between the Thai Soldiers without the weapons but where they would wrap their hands with ropes and where they would wear each other down with all eight limbs until only one man was standing. This form of competition was known as Muay Boran and is very similar to the Muay Thai we see today in the ring.

In the 20th century, muay Thai became very popular with the royal family in Thailand and exhibitions were carried out using a full size ring, gloves, and costumes similar to what I still seen today.

If you’re considering whether Muay Thai is effective for self-defense you should look no further to the fact that Thailand used it to defend itself in ancient times.

 

Does Muay Thai work in a street fight

The best defense in a street fight is to not get into one in the first place but we understand that these things do happen and you want to be able to defend yourself if it does ever happen to you.

Anybody that can fight effectively is very rarely going to be involved in street fights as they don’t have anything to prove, but a person who is training Muay Thai will beat an untrained person almost every time, 99.9% of the time.

Punches and low Kicks are the best weapons to use in a street fight and if you get in close you can also use elbows but you’re risking serious damage to the other party then that you might have to deal with for years to come.

You don’t want to risk high kicks or teeps in a street fight because you risk your leg getting caught and if it goes onto the ground where Muay Thai training won’t be as effective.

 

Some Of The Key Benefits Of Muay Thai For Self Defence

Increased Confidence

Training in Muay Thai for 6-months will really increase your confidence in your own abilities and it will make you feel less of a target for anyone who wants to pick on someone.

As we say people that are trained in fighting rarely are involved in street fights and when they are, they end them quickly.

The fact that you know how to throw powerful punches, low-kicks , knees and elbows will give you a lot more confidence that if anything happens you will be able to defend yourself and that is half the battle.

 

Effective Techniques

The first day you step into a Muay Thai gym, you’re learning skills that you can directly use in the ring or in a street fight but a street fight is always going to be much more risky as there are so many external factors involved.

Some of the best combos you can use would be the jab to the head and a low kick with your rear leg, if you land enough low kicks, then it will cause damage to your opponent’s leg and they won’t be able to stand properly before you can finish them off or completely take out their leg.

 

Promotes Solid Defense

You won’t only learn how to attack in Muay Thai calls but you’ll also learn how to defend yourself and one of the key elements of defending yourself is to keep enough distance between you and your opponent.

It doesn’t matter how much weights you lift out how big you are if you’re going to allow someone to just stand right in front of you and land the first punch. One of the keys to defending yourself is to always keep your distance, and someone who’s untrained that swings at you can, can be avoided or blocked and you can just let them tire themselves out or pick them off with effective shots.

 

Never let someone who is being aggressive get in your face and always maintain your distance.

 

 

Muay Thai vs Boxing For Self-Defence

I think both of these martial arts are almost as effective in a street fight because you want it to be over as quickly as possible, and a boxer can throw one punch with lightning speed and end a fight, but so can a Thai boxer.

 

If the fight goes a little bit longer, Thai boxing has a huge advantage because of the low kicks, you’re Opponent will not be able to take any more than 7 low kicks before they will not able to stand effectively anymore, so once the initial scuffle is passed and distance is being maintained, the low kicks is the most effective weapon you can use for hitting and not getting it back.

 

Another thing that will play a part when it comes to boxing vs Muay Thai is the stances.

 

The Muay Thai stance is much more square on than a boxer. Standing square on will make it harder to take you to the ground and boxers are particularly prone to the front leg kick and takedowns from MMA because of how they stand to the side which makes the target as little as possible for the sport of boxing but it is not as effective in a street fight as it opens them up to other weapons from other sports.

 

Muay Thai vs MMA

MMA is always going to be the pinnacle of self-defence once you are at a good level in all the disciplines involved because so many fights end up on the ground and knowing how to choke your opponent out or get them into submission holds is probably the best way to end a fight without doing any permanent damage which you might be dealing with the years ahead in courts and with the police.

That being said if there are buddies involved, the ground game won’t be as effective as friends will just jump in and escalate the situation but one-on-one a good ground game will always come out on top once it goes to the ground.

 

 

Muay Thai And A Grappling Sport

If you are ready already trained in judo, jiu-jitsu or wrestling, Muay Thai will be the perfect way for you to complete your arsenal and make you almost unstoppable in a street fight against someone who hasn’t trained before.

The risk with just Muay Thai is that the fight goes to the ground but if you are also comfortable there then you shouldn’t have to worry about anybody who might give you problems or hassle on the street.

 

Perfect Muay Thai Combo For Women

It is very important in today’s world for women to be able to defend themselves and Muay Thai offers the perfect combo for women to strike out against a bigger attacker and remove themselves from the scene quickly and effectively. That combo is a jab to the head and the knee to the balls. The Jab will distract and the knee will render your opponent useless for at least 5 minutes so that is a good advantage of taking up Muay Thai for females.

 

What to expect from a Muay Thai Class

If you’re just going to a Muay Thai class and you’re trying to figure out what to expect when you show up to a class, the best way to put this is that you can expect an intense workout that will burn close to 1000 calories in a single session and you will learn effective self-defense as soon as the class starts.

The structure of the class might start with a warm-up doing, laps of the gym in a jog, possibly with some sprints.

 

Good Combos

You will then move onto drills with your partner or hitting the pads with your partner. This will involve learning the basic combos of Muay Thai. That will be the jab and the right kick, I want to when throw a 1-2 and a left kick.  Jab, right kick, left knee is another great combo as is, Double right kick or double left kick. Left Kick and then right kick and all other variations of Punches and Kicks are all good combos and you will usually throw the left hand and then right kick or the other way around.

Kicks are quite hard to learn, you need to get your footwork right, pivoting on the ball of the foot as you turn your hip over for maximum force.

 

Bag Drills

The class might then involve bag drills where your partner will hold the bag for a minute while you throw fast punches or kicks as quick as you can before swapping over and doing this 3 to 5 times until you are completely exhausted.

 

Core Excercises

The class my time finish up with some core exercises, different variations of sit-ups and possibly some planks.

The Fighters in the group might do some light sparring and the beginners will hit the bags just to finish up the workout.

 

How often should I train Muay Thai

You should be aiming to train Muay Thai 2 to 3 times a week so you can learn all the effective techniques as quickly as possible.

The more you practice a kick the more you will engrave it in your muscle memory and you will be able to perform the kicks by habit over time.

There is a lot to learn in Muay Thai and each class should have a different theme if you’re in a good gym.

One day you may be focused on pad work to build up your punching and kicking skills, where you can really put a lot of power into the pads and strike with your full force as your partner will be able to use the cushioned Thai kick pads to take away all the force.

 

Dutch Style Drills

Another class might involve dutch style drills and this is where you and your partner will both have Muay Thai shin pads, gloves and possibly gum shields, and you can practice all the combos you’ve learned and your partner will be able to block the shots with their shin pads and gloves and this is also a great way to improve your games together.

 

Clinch work

Some days in the Muay Thai gym might be dedicated fully to Clinch. This is when the Fighters get closer together and wrestle for position so that they can land knees and elbows or get a favourable break from the Clinch to land a punch. This is a full art and skill within itself and it will take a good amount of sessions for you to improve at the Clinch.

 

Sparring

The ultimate test of your skills will be in sparring and this is where you will know whether you’re ready for a street fight not because it is the closest thing to a real fight you can get. Of course you will be wearing the protective gear, like a gum shield, Muay Thai shin pads, 16oz sparring gloves and you can go 70% to 80% off your full force with your partner who should also be your friend and you shouldn’t be looking to try and hurt each other but on training improve your technique.

 

If you are experienced in Muay Thai sparring an inexperienced fighter will have no chance against you on the street.

 

How long will it take to get good on Muay Thai

 

It should take about 6 months to get reasonably good at Muay Thai but if you stick with it then the benefits are endless.

I say it will take about 6 months because you need to learn all the basic skills before you can even start to spar and it will take about 3 months of good sparring for you to become proficient enough to handle yourself in any situation involving self-defence or a street fight.

Certain things will help you to improve more quickly like if you come from a boxing background or even if you played another sport like football, all soccer, hockey where you would have built up your hand-eye and hand-foot coordination and competitive edge so that you can pick up the moves a little bit more quickly.

Boxing will really help fror Muay Thai as you will have much better footwork than a regular beginner, you’ll be able to throw fast and hard punches which is also very effective but you will still need to learn all the kicks and the proper techniques of kicking, keeping and meaning. Plus you will need to reset your stance into the more square on Thai style stance.

Muay Thai and Boxing are two completely different sports so even if you’re good at 1 you will still be a beginner in the other.

 

 

Pros Of Muay Thai For Self Defence

 

• Super Effective Strikes
• End It Quickly
• Leg Kicks are almost impossible to defend
• The King Of Stand Up Striking Sports

 

Cons:

• Could Do A Lot of Damage To Your Opponent
• No Ground Game
• Could Struggle Against Muay Thai

 

 

Conclusion

If you’re anything like me, grappling will bore you and you prefer to stick with the Thai boxing or boxing and if you’re going on a purely self defence basis you would have to go with Muay Thai. You should always be careful that you could end up doing serious damage to somebody using the techniques of Muay Thai if you do get in a fight, so always always try your best to avoid any physical conflicts.