blocking

[cfr]

Does Muay Thai have any parrying/ redirecting of punches? Or is it purely keeping your
hands up in front of your face? Watching a few UFC's, I couldnt help but wonder if the
boxers/ kickboxers would have benifited from parrying/ redirecting punches while they
were getting smacked in the head. Dont get me wrong, Im interested in MT. But Im curious.

at my gym, we practice western boxing blocking & parrying techniques. modern muay thai gyms (most gyms at least) are slowly but surely adopting/integrating western boxing style punching & blocking techniques.

those ufc guys probably never practiced parrying.. because in MT, there are many techniques for redirecting punches and kicks. also there are also grappling the punches and countering them.

one of my instructors does techniques for Muay Thai magazine, you should check those out

ufc is sort of a special case because there are virtualy no limits on grappaling and the rules of the fight favor grappaling over striking when you hit the ground, because of this the style of fighting has changed somewhat from boxing, they might have trained not to throw out a parry because of the potential for their opponant to grapple their arm and posably get a good takedown or an armbar..

[Damian Mavis]

Ya like little Tiger said, most MT academys are teaching western boxing as part of the curriculum. I think this all came about when the Eurpean (Holland I think) guys started competing in Thailand and beating the crap outta the toughest fighters with punches. They would eat a kick or 2 to get in and then box them out. Honestly I don't know if MT before the boxing influence had alot of parrying and redirecting with the hands.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD