Whose Muay Thai impresses you most in MMA?

[Malcontent]

Not talking about K1, just MMA.

Amir Sadollah for me. Really effective Muay Thai for MMA.

[Allan Shrek]

Anderson Silva or Shogun Rua.

Shogun's use of Thai boxing against Machida was excellent and Anderson is a mega pimp who can do what he likes with his hands, feet, knees and elbows.

[BenA]

Anderson Silva
The Griffin fight was just a masterclass

[Wiegieboard]

Domestically it'd have to be James Doolan.
In foreign fighters it would have to be Shogun.

[AdamB]

Terry etim!!! Pat Barry ..

[David Swann]

Daley


10

[AdamB]

Daley


10

How could I forgot him!!!

[Josh H]

Don't forget about Mr Alves

[thaison]

Florian
Daley
Saddolh has looked great recently
allan belcher
shogun

[ocuana]

Dude from UFC1 who got sparked by the big fuzzy j.j dutchman

[thaison]

orlando wiet

[frase3000]

anderson silva by far
wanderlei silva
amir sadollah
jon jones

[jumpinjackflash]

paul daley.. defo..

[RedBaron]

anderson silva is on another level

[Waterboy]

Genuinely surprised that the only person to mention Terry on this thread so far is another Kaoboner. He won a Bronze medal in the King's Cup in Bangkok before he fought MMA, only losing a split decision to the Gold medallist.

Belcher uses Muay Thai ok, but he defo looks like a guy who just spent a few months at a camp in Phuket at some point in his career and that's it.

Alves has insane leg kicks, but doesn't really take much else from Thai as far as I can see.

Daley's an amazing striker, but has more of a K1/grenade-hands style?

A Silva is the total package, everyone goes on about him fighting in boxing, but it would be cool to see what he could do in a straight Muay Thai fight.

GSP anyone?

Not seen him, but heard good things about Doolan.

EDIT: oh, and Jose Aldo FFS!

[Jay]

Not mch love for Wand?

Muay Thai wrecking machine in the Pride FC days.

[BlueRabbit]

Jose Aldo. manhoef?

[Waterboy]

manhoef?

Those leg kicks were destroying Lawler until... well, you know.

[Sengoku]

Daley
Andre Dida
Thiago Alves
Pat barry
Overeem
Manoeff!!!

ANDERSON SILVA - THE BEST

jose aldo
shogun
Sadolla - not bad!

[Yak]

actually whilst daley is 'dutch rules really now' his early fights in cage rage for me had the best adaptation of true MT - still think he throws the best proper thai elbows in the game ....

silvas is good, etims also v good....

jon jones has phil nurses style through and through....put him in a pair of thai shorts and hes a lanky version of phil !

best thai though (non ufc) ramba m16 somdet....even in his MMA he throughs killer bodykicks....

[Jimmy Boogaloo]

I thought Mark Glover's Thai was fucking incredible against One-Two Pastou.

[Dave78]

Rob McCullough has a nice style to watch, very technically good

[steve_langford]

can we get some vids posted guys? Im keen to watch some of these guys in action

[groundskeeperwillie]

gotta be jose aldo

[ocuana]

Indeed my serious answer would second razor rob. His muay thai is fantastic. Few years back, might have said yves edwards. Love that fella.

[Jim_Williams]

What is 'True Muay Thai'?

Just because the Dutch tend to use there hands more doesnt make it a different style.
Pacqiaou(?) and Mayweather have completely different styles but both are boxers.

[blanker]

What is 'True Muay Thai'?

Just because the Dutch tend to use there hands more doesnt make it a different style.
Pacqiaou(?) and Mayweather have completely different styles but both are boxers.

dutch style kickboxing was as much Kyokushin karate mixed with boxing as it was muay thai, or so i am told. traditionally muay thai dosnt have alot of punchs at all apart from streight punchs and swings and if you watch some of the old fights its just two guys standing in the middle of the ring trading blows until one drops. Today there alot closer as thay have adapted to each other.

[briant_gumble]

actually whilst daley is 'dutch rules really now' his early fights in cage rage for me had the best adaptation of true MT - still think he throws the best proper thai elbows in the game ....

silvas is good, etims also v good....

jon jones has phil nurses style through and through....put him in a pair of thai shorts and hes a lanky version of phil !

best thai though (non ufc) ramba m16 somdet....even in his MMA he throughs killer bodykicks....

He rarely throws the power roundhouse though usually just the left kick.

If your going to go with people like that then malaipet should be up there although I think he's mainly cross trained in groundfighting not TDD.

Josh thomson is probably not the chief MT guy in mma but he used lots of nice strikes in his first fight with gilbert melendez that you rarely see like front kicks to the body and head.

[briant_gumble]

What is 'True Muay Thai'?

Just because the Dutch tend to use there hands more doesnt make it a different style.
Pacqiaou(?) and Mayweather have completely different styles but both are boxers.

I kind of agree this can get nauseatingly semantic.

I'd say if you look at the way yod hits the pads at 15 seconds in you can see he doesn't focus on keeping a tight boxing guard or anything like that just focuses on thumping the pads as hard as he physically can;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUAUoHtsc48

If he had cross-trained boxing like many K-1 fighters and buakaw did for max then returning his hand to his face and keeping a tight boxing guard might be higher on his list of priorities.

The results speak for themselves because yod knocks a lot of guys out with his hands.

[Iconoclast]

Those leg kicks were destroying Lawler until... well, you know.

Manhoefs leg kicks in that fight immediately made me want to take Muay Thai seriously.

[ocuana]

Manhoefs leg kicks in that fight immediately made me want to take Muay Thai seriously.

Did you? 10char

[NoSoul]

don't know if he comes from a thai or kickboxing background or whatever, but sam stout's striking in his fight against Joe Lauzon in ufc 108 was awsome! some of the best combos put together i've seen in a long time. 2nd and 3rd rounds in particular.

[Yak]

well not really

true muay thai (ie as in the sport that comes and is fought in thailand is judged differently to both dutch kickboxing and mma)

scoring is on effect , incorportates elbows, doesnt allow leg sweeps (ie foot to foot) uses clinching etc...so to say 'who has the best mauy thai' is subjective to your own interpretation

terry etim has good muay thai as he has fought under proper thai scoring system and has a perfect build for it....

others whilst incorporatin muay thai skills arent muay thai fighters

mma requires you to adapt.. due to take downs and things like no downward/spike elbows etc.....

a lot of these guys have never fought real muay thai (real is meant as in under thai scoring criteria) doesnt mean they can fight or arent good kickboxers....

for me Paul Daley has always been someone who has had aggressive thai boxing and throws (for me) great elbows....Ross Mason too back in the cage rage days...

a lot of guys who fight would no doubt do very well in thai however would prob be in the camp of 'wwin by KO or lose on points' under thai rules..

same as being a great mma grappler doesnt mean you would win the mundials in a gi or ADCC.....(hence my disagreement over the 'its all the same thing')

[Iconoclast]

Did you? 10char

Yes, very much so.

[ocuana]

Well done to iconclast for taking the plunge.
.
Thanks to yak for typing what i was thinking. Second for Etim's Thai style.

[DIAMONDBACK]

silva shogun gsp alves daley used to like pete spratt liked his destruction of lawler with mt. domestically james doolan has to be 1 of the best

[Xanthic]

I thought Mark Glover's Thai was fucking incredible against One-Two Pastou.

+1

At domestic level, Glover's Thai against Afnan Saeed was brilliant.

Uche Ihiekwe's Thai for MMA is pretty sharp too.

[Keerin]

Rambaa Somdet, Jose Aldo are my favorite stand up fighters to watch, outside of the obvious.

[Yak]

rambaa is awesome and bar the few thais who fight in art of war, is prob one of the very very few who actually throws pretty much the same (technique wise) in mma as he did in the ring (obv this has its pros and cons) but nonetheless is quality to watch

some of the funniest ring entrances back in bangkok too.... nutcase...

[Waterboy]

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=videoPlayer.home&gid=80205

[Soreshins]

Jose Aldo has looked good

Manhoef's leg kicks were looking great against Lawler until he got caught

One person who i think is underrated for his muay thai is Sam Stout. He destroyed Lauzon in his last fight and always uses decent muay thai technique in his fights.

Ben Saunders had great clinch technique against Marcus Davis too.

[Yak]

however as nice as they all are to watch

....not a patch on the real thing ;-)

[Xanthic]

however as nice as they all are to watch

....not a patch on the real thing ;-)

I dont know about that. I would like to see an MMA trained stand up fighter against a pure Muay Thai guy under Muay Thai rules. I just think the explosiveness and pace of the MMA guy would overwhelm pure Thai guys. The hands would be better too and there wouldnt be as much standing on one foot in the first 2 rounds trying to feel each other out.

[Yak]

not to sure about that either

sure there are some good thai guys in MMA

but not every thai fighter starts slow...just shows a lack of knowledge on the sport to be honest

go look at Porsanah or Pakhorn - both come flying out the gates
or the recent fight between Wanheng vs Khounsok for the Lumpinee Light Weight title - they were spangling each other with everything from the first bell

Anuwat Kaewsamrit is a big puncher - Bovy Sor Udomsom doesn muck about and back in his prime was smashing people from the start

dont think the pace or 'explosiveness' would mean much - unless you have the skill to back it up


all depends on the fighter in question but on the whole Ill go with the thai guy - different sport..... ie proper clinching (which makes a world of difference), elbows etc etc.... plus the scoring isnt just about aggression

i.e watch Ramon Dekkers vs Chanoy ...dekkers tried to punch as per usual and Chanoy elbowed his nose off....

still be fun to watch but still its a very different sport......
plus the 2 guys dont have the takedown option.... its stand and fight for 5 rds..... so hard to compare I think

[Dave78]

Rob McCullough has a nice style to watch, very technically good

Oh...Kit Cope of course too, goes without saying really lol

[Yak]

Kit Cope? oh please.........

[Dave78]

Kit Cope? oh please.........

23-1 in MT and a world champ + bare knuckle champ. Sure, his MMA record is far from great, but his MT unquestionable surely?

[Xanthic]

not to sure about that either

sure there are some good thai guys in MMA

but not every thai fighter starts slow...just shows a lack of knowledge on the sport to be honest

go look at Porsanah or Pakhorn - both come flying out the gates
or the recent fight between Wanheng vs Khounsok for the Lumpinee Light Weight title - they were spangling each other with everything from the first bell

Anuwat Kaewsamrit is a big puncher - Bovy Sor Udomsom doesn muck about and back in his prime was smashing people from the start

dont think the pace or 'explosiveness' would mean much - unless you have the skill to back it up


all depends on the fighter in question but on the whole Ill go with the thai guy - different sport..... ie proper clinching (which makes a world of difference), elbows etc etc.... plus the scoring isnt just about aggression

i.e watch Ramon Dekkers vs Chanoy ...dekkers tried to punch as per usual and Chanoy elbowed his nose off....

still be fun to watch but still its a very different sport......
plus the 2 guys dont have the takedown option.... its stand and fight for 5 rds..... so hard to compare I think

I have a pretty sound knowledge of Muay Thai and from my understanding and experience of the sport, predominantly the first couple of rounds are used as feel out rounds with the other 3 being where the fighters open up.

Clinch fighting is an art form within itself, the control and science of the clinch is lost amongst alot of people but I think with MMA guys using modern day sport specific training, doing fight specific sparring and conditioning rather than the standard ‘bounce on a tyre, run 8 miles a day, 30 minutes warm up, 3 hour training sessions etc’... MMA guys may handle themselves alot better in the ring against a Thai guy than most people would think.

I also always wondered about building a super Muay Thai Thailand based fighter... Caveman style training, super conditioning, explosive from start to finish...

[Yak]

same guy who posted crap over the internet about John Wayne Parr and his wife? fair play he beat Alex Gong, was meant to be in contender but would have got handled by everyone in the house in my opinion, american muay thai guys all say far far better fighters than him in the states too. Kits not even fought the same level of fighter as someone like JWP......

Kit Cope has fought pretty much DOMESTIC opponents his whole career at heavier weights. world champ in name - but please the IMPTO 'world' champ - he won a cpl of barenuckle fights on a songran (new years) show in thailand... where you just turn up at the burmese border and have a tear up.... not quite the same as fighting quality opposition in the sports home country

big gulf between those achievements and being a stadium champion or actually fighting the best at the weight....

[Yak]

first rounds are usually like that agreed but doesnt mean the thais cant do it, same as the 'thais' cant box stuff when they occupy plenty of the western boxing rankings at the lowest few weights

being trained using western sports science is great but still if you cant clinch - you cant clinch ;-)

not trying to be argumentative though, agree the training methods could be improved but still it works, very few westerners can challenge the thais at the lower weights, mma fights train multi discipline and so n my view wouldnt have the tools or knowledge (on the whole)

however an mma fight isnt the best showcase for true thai technique so its a bit like assessing how well someone would do at the mundials purely from how they grapple in an mma fight...different things

mma guy training striking isnt the same as you are aware of takedowns, cant commit to body kicks, lack of upright clinching, lower stance etc,
seen plenty of mma guys - even ufc names training (and having sparred a few of them) and whilst being competent are not on the same level as the top thais..... but there are a number of guys who have good skills who fight in mma (due to having a background in MT and the pay being vastly different too)

[Dave78]

^^^^ granted i think Cope's a cock, but i still rate his MT!

+ Jamie Varner
+ Jon Jones
+ Punk Thompson

[briant_gumble]

I have a pretty sound knowledge of Muay Thai and from my understanding and experience of the sport, predominantly the first couple of rounds are used as feel out rounds with the other 3 being where the fighters open up.

Clinch fighting is an art form within itself, the control and science of the clinch is lost amongst alot of people but I think with MMA guys using modern day sport specific training, doing fight specific sparring and conditioning rather than the standard ‘bounce on a tyre, run 8 miles a day, 30 minutes warm up, 3 hour training sessions etc’... MMA guys may handle themselves alot better in the ring against a Thai guy than most people would think.

I also always wondered about building a super Muay Thai Thailand based fighter... Caveman style training, super conditioning, explosive from start to finish...

I've got a beef with the whole thai's aren't fast or explosive there are countless examples of thai's throwing incredibly fast, hard, kicks punches, knees and elbows.

Just by visual inspection they throw everything faster than mma fighters even if they are a lot lighter.

I just can't see anyone in mma work the thai pads like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8dIsPTWyic

I believe there's russian mma fighter called Fedor emmelianenko who uses long runs amongst other old school training techniques who's pretty damn successful.

I do agree with the thai's being predominantly slow starters and can get caught out with agressive punchers though (even though there are a few of these types in thailand).

I think a lot of that has to do with the betting on rounds in thailand and thai's not quite having the same "there is no tommorrow" attitude where they can lay it all on the line like there is in other combat sports because chances are they are going to fight again in three weeks.

[AndrewC]

same guy who posted crap over the internet about John Wayne Parr and his wife? fair play he beat Alex Gong, was meant to be in contender but would have got handled by everyone in the house in my opinion, american muay thai guys all say far far better fighters than him in the states too. Kits not even fought the same level of fighter as someone like JWP......

Kit Cope has fought pretty much DOMESTIC opponents his whole career at heavier weights. world champ in name - but please the IMPTO 'world' champ - he won a cpl of barenuckle fights on a songran (new years) show in thailand... where you just turn up at the burmese border and have a tear up.... not quite the same as fighting quality opposition in the sports home country

big gulf between those achievements and being a stadium champion or actually fighting the best at the weight....

What he said!! Cope's Muay Thai over rated. JWP would pick him apart.

[Jimmy Boogaloo]

At domestic level, Glover's Thai against Afnan Saeed was brilliant.

I need to see this, Saeed is no slouch himself.

[AdamB]

Domestic level- uche ihkewiu and pietro menga

[Jimmy Boogaloo]

Domestic level- uche ihkewiu and pietro menga

says he's got no fights? interested to learn more about this.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Uche-Ihiekwe-53117

[Jay]

He's a semi-pro mate.

[Jimmy Boogaloo]

aha. I see a trip to youtube in my near future. cheers

[Waterboy]

says he's got no fights? interested to learn more about this.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Uche-Ihiekwe-53117

Uche's last fight: http://xr.com/pd4a

Glover v Saeed here (http://www.p4tv.com/player_window.php?link=@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&video_filename=bus-f8.flv&event_video_folder=bus-flash&video_id=722&fighter_id1=912&fighter_id2=913&video_title=Olympian%20MMA%20Champioship%202,%20Bu siness%20As%20Usual,%20Pro-MMA%2070kg&video_description=Olympian%20MMA%20Champioship%202 ,%20Business%20As%20Usual,%20Liverpool%20Olmpia%20 3rd%20October%202009)

Agreed with what you said about Afnan as well - I seriously can't believe how bad his record is though? He has really solid MT, and great ground as well. I remember training with him like 8 years ago and he was good then.

Glover is a freak though, crazy talent. :D

[Dave78]

What he said!! Cope's Muay Thai over rated. JWP would pick him apart.

"Whose Muay Thai impresses you most in MMA?" JWP doesn't compete MMA though does he?? :confused: Or have I missed something?!

[Dave78]

Uche's last fight: http://xr.com/pd4a

Glover v Saeed here (http://www.p4tv.com/player_window.php?link=@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&video_filename=bus-f8.flv&event_video_folder=bus-flash&video_id=722&fighter_id1=912&fighter_id2=913&video_title=Olympian%20MMA%20Champioship%202,%20Bu siness%20As%20Usual,%20Pro-MMA%2070kg&video_description=Olympian%20MMA%20Champioship%202 ,%20Business%20As%20Usual,%20Liverpool%20Olmpia%20 3rd%20October%202009)

Agreed with what you said about Afnan as well - I seriously can't believe how bad his record is though? He has really solid MT, and great ground as well. I remember training with him like 8 years ago and he was good then.

Glover is a freak though, crazy talent. :D

Uche's hands look heavy, he looked a whole weight class bigger than that other lad tbh too

[AndrewC]

"Whose Muay Thai impresses you most in MMA?" JWP doesn't compete MMA though does he?? :confused: Or have I missed something?!

You're right he doesn't, I was referring to Yak's post where he mentioned when Cope was calling out JWP on a forum.

For me in MMA, it's got to be:

A Silva
Thaigo Alves
Daley
Jose Aldo
Shogun

I also think Alan Belcher's Thai is promising; it seems to get better with each fight.

[Yak]

no he doesnt but we digressed off the path as mentioned that MMA 'striking' is different to Muay Thai - in fact a lot of 'muay thai' teachers even in this country dont understand what real muay thai is - or especially the scoring techniques - just because Joe Rogan says they have great MT isnt gospel ;-)

- but those are arguments for another time

who uses 'some' muay thai techniques in MMA is prob a better question...

but anyway

Kaobon guys look sharp (great thai heritage in Colin)
Daley - great elbows as well as his dangerous hands

also liked how Scott Jansens elbows were being used in his last UCUK fight.... working with Alan (Keddle) not unsurprising

[Waterboy]

I thought Mark Glover's Thai was fucking incredible against One-Two Pastou.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=462154575045&ref=mf

That's the fight, don't know if you can see it without being a 'friend'??