Can Muay Thai be used in a street fight?

Muay Thai can certainly be used in a street fight.  It’s a powerful martial art that utilises the knees, elbows, fists and shins as weapons; for this reason, it’s called the art of the eight limbs.  The training involved improves your reflexes, and strengthens and conditions your body making you a much harder target.

Muay Thai Background

Muay Thai developed during the Siam kingdom (in what is now Thailand) during the 16th century and was practised by soldiers in the army.

It became known as an effective fighting style and was used heavily during the Burmese-Siamese War (1765-1767).  

Overtime, it evolved from purely a military combat system to a sport that was often featured as an event during local festivals and celebrations.

Later, during the 20th century, Muay Thai was heavily influenced by British Boxing and resulted in formal rules being put in place which governed each  fight.  

Since the 1980s, Muay Thai has become extremely popular and is practised throughout the World.

What is Muay Thai?

It’s a full contact sport and in many ways is a lot like boxing, only incorporating elbows and lower limb strikes.  Matches themselves are held in a boxing ring and the training involved is similar and includes hitting the pads and heavy bag, cardio work, and sparring.   

The kicks in Muay Thai are particularly devastating and are typically delivered with the shin rather than the foot as in karate.  Consequently, a great deal of time is spent conditioning the shin to strengthen them so that they can both deliver and block strikes.

Matches in Muay Thai can be quite brutal.  The clinch (when the fighters get so close they hang on to each other) is utilised as an opportunity to launch further offensive techniques:  the back of the opponent’s head is pulled down and is then pummelled by a sequence of high knees.

Punches and kicks are allowed to the head and matches are often won by knock out.

Let’s look at why Muay Thai is such an effective self defense system:

Psychological Conditioning

Muay Thai is a full contact fighting sport.   This is important as in a physical confrontation on the street, being hit can cause many people to freeze simply because they’re shocked by the degree of violence that they’re experiencing. 

The majority of people (fortunately) have never experienced violent aggressive behaviour and when they experience it for the first time, it will literally be a shock to the system.

Most people will be stunned into inaction if they’re attacked in a street fight and this makes them highly vulnerable.

The pain of being struck can also cause many individuals to give up any form of struggle whereas, in some scenarios,  perhaps they might have been better to fight on and look for an opportunity to escape.

Muay Thai fighters are used to sparring and are psychologically used to dealing with a physically aggressive confrontation. 

Muay Thai fighters have been conditioned to cope with the discomfort of being struck and are less likely to be immobilised because of the pain experienced during an attack.

Better Reflexes

Muay Thai fighters will spend a considerable amount of time practising blocking and using counter striking techniques.  So much so that they become reflex responses. This means that they can be performed unconsciously without the need for deliberate conscious thought.

The majority of street confrontations involve the element of surprise and are launched with little opportunity for the victim to have anticipated the attack.

In this situation, it’s likely that it will be your instincts and reflexes that will come into play in the initial seconds of an attack.

A trained Muay Thai fighter may be able to instinctively block, dodge or parry the surprise attack and if they are able to do so, the assailant would have lost their initial advantage.

Once the element of surprise has gone, there’s the potential that the conflict becomes much more even, provided that the attacker isn’t armed.

Physical Conditioning

Muay Thai training involves a considerable amount of time conditioning and strengthening the body.

Hours spent punching the heavy bags and pads toughens the hands.  This means the fists become hardened and are less likely to be damaged when throwing punches.

The shins are hardened in a similar way, enabling them block incoming kicks.

Source

The abs and oblique muscles are made stronger with sit ups and other ab work, toughening the core so that it can better withstand body shots.

A Muay Thai fighter is going to be in a much better physical condition than the average street criminal.  This increases the odds of coming out on top in an actual confrontation.

Muay Thai fighters will have trained their body to ensure that their bodies are conditioned to deliver effective strikes without being damaged in the process. 

Projection of Confidence

Perhaps most importantly, anyone involved in a tough, physical sport like Muay Thai will more than likely radiate a certain amount of confidence.

This translates into your body language, your posture and how you  carry yourself.

Humans are capable of picking up these physical cues on a subconscious level.  Criminals look for these physical cues when selecting their victims.  They typically will avoid people projecting a strong, confident presence. 

 

Related Reading:

Can you use elbows in Muay Thai?

What moves are illegal in Muay Thai?

23 Muay Thai techniques -beginner and advanced [with GIFS!]

Muay Thai Weight Classes

Muay Lao vs Muay Thai: is there a difference?

Bang Muay Thai: a new martial art style!