Hints and Tips - How to win a Muay Thai Fight?

[achilles95]

Hey guys,

Only just started Muay Thai and was wondering if any experienced Muay Thai fighters could share hints and tips for improved fighting they've picked up.

would be appreciated thanks.

 

[oddball]

During sparring, watch what those you spar against do, and try to imitate later. You ARE going to get beaten nearly every time you spar, so might as well learn from it.

 

[King]

Sure thing, here are some points I jotted down over the years:

-Always keep your hands up. Not to say keep them plastered to your face that you can't see anything. Keep them chin/cheek-ish level to allow yourself space to watch your opponent; then move them higher as you get closer to protect yourself from elbows (if that's allowed).
-Parry long/far punches or move towards your opponent as you block to jam up their punches. Moving back while blocking gets you rushed and overwhelmed.
-Don't be afraid to take shots. Being hit doesn't mean you are losing.
-Remember to breathe and control your breathing. You'll burn out faster if you're breathing too fast.

My Ajahns words:

"A person cannot be strong with everything. Some people are good with punches but weak with knees. Some people good with knees but weak with kicks..." Etc.

So basically when you're feeling out punched then try kicks; if you're out kicked then go for clinch and knees; and if you're out clinched then try punching. Find their weakness and exploit it, don't be goaded into fighting them at their comfort level. Pull them into yours.

Also ask somebody to video tape your fight so you can watch yourself in action. It can really help you see which technique needs more tweaking.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

hit the other guy harder and more often than he hits you....

um more seriously, if you can figure out range you'll have a big advantage over most of the fighters i've worked with or against. learn how to move safely and quickly from kick range to punch to elbow and back out.

it's tricky footwork and lots of fighters really never master it.

 

[thaistyle]

This seems to be a common question in muay thai for the beginner. Here are a few things that helped me over the years. Maybe they will help you too.

1. Listen to your Kru. He has been in your shoes.
2. Keep your hands up.
3. Try to relax when sparring and fighting. Extremely important.
4. Control your breathing.
5. Don't fight angry, control your temper. Getting mad can cloud
your judgement during a fight or sparring session causing you to make mistakes.
6. Learn from your training partners. Advanced or beginner.
7. Focus on technique and form during training.
8. Train, train and train some more.
9. Be the guinea pig anytime your Kru demonstrates new techniques. You will be surprised how much this helps you learn.
10. If all else fails, see number 1.

 

[Kieran]

Thaistyle pointed out the most important ones there, so pay attention to that post!

I would advise videoing your sparring sessions, this is what we have started doing and we have spotted weaknesses and strengths that we didnt know we had after watching the video.

When sparring, mix it up a bit. One thing we do is one guy can only punch and his opponent can only kick. Makes you think about what you are doing and is quite good fun.

The most important thing I've been told that has helped loads is:

If you just can't get a technique and it is starting to frustrate you then leave it alone for a while and work on something else. It dents your confidence if you spend a lot of energy on something while not seing an advancement so do something you know you can do for a while and leave your other technique alone until you feel confident enough to try it again. In my case I get really angry at myself if I can't get something and leaving it for a week helps me a lot!

 

[Odin]

here's a good tip, if you can when fighting fighters from one camp ask to fight in the middle or at the end of the fight card, when you watch the fights you can usually tell what combos the fighter your fighting is going to throw since usually all fighters from the same camp will have drilled the same combo's before they fights.

Remeber until you reach the big time non of the fighters will have personal trainers.