Tae Kwon Do vs. Muay Thai

[Reno]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk7O8ELJDvU

From the expression on his face, it looks like the TKD fighter really enjoys getting his butt kicked.

[Rude]

BAHAHAHA!!! they threw in the towel!!!

the funniest part of that whole thing was when the TKD guy tried to throw punches

[Kain]

OK, I don't know much of anything about martial arts, but that Muay Thai guy was doing a lot of kicking. What type of fighting is Muay Thai exactly?

[Reno]

It's a style from Thailand that's fairly big in MMA right now. The most commonly taught version of it now is basically kickboxing.

If you've seen Ong-Bak or The Protector with Tony Jaa, it's the style that he uses.

It's also the style of Sagat from the Street Fighter games. Bruce from Tekken 2 and 5 is a Muay Thai fighter, and Brian from Tekken 3, 4, and 5 has elements of it in his style as well.

Classic Muay Thai seems to focus on the knees and elbows as primary weapons a lot more than most martial arts, though that's not to say they don't do punches and kicks as well. As I said, the type that's most common now is slightly different, with more of a kickboxing emphasis and therefore gravitating toward punching and kicking more than knees and elbows.

For a better explanation than what I've provided, here's the wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_thai

[Reno]

To be fair though, that TKD guy is either not very good or at least hasn't got much full contact experience. For a TKD fighter that's actually more skilled, check out this guy by the name of Serkan Yilmaz:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBdtzh8y7sc

I recommend watching this one with the sound off though, unless you're a fan of rap.

[Kain]

Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up.

[black heart]

isn't Serkan Yilmaz supposed to be the best TDK practitioner ever? in full contact at least?

[Reno]

There are definitely those who would say that. And in my opinoin fighting for points isn't real fighting, so contact is the only way to go.

[Kain]

Whats wrong with points? Again I don't know the difference.

[Reno]

Well, in point fighting, your goal is basically just to make contact. A punch that connects will count for, say, one point, while a kick will count for double. Because of the way it's scored, it's more important just to touch your opponent with your attack than it is to really cause any damage. Therefore it's basically a fancy game of tag.

[Kain]

Ah OK, so Karate Kid basically. In contact it's more like boxing where you want to knock your opponent out?

[Reno]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Rude]

gunblade said:

isn't Serkan Yilmaz supposed to be the best TDK practitioner ever? in full contact at least?

you know why he is good? he uses his amazing foot skills and mixes punches in too. thats the problem with most TKD fighters. they have no punching skill

[Reno]

But aside from that, his kicks are much faster and more accurate than the other dude. His speed is absolutely unbelievable.

[Rude]

jinntolser said:

But aside from that, his kicks are much faster and more accurate than the other dude. His speed is absolutely unbelievable.

very true. his kicks are incredible