What’s The Difference Between Muay Thai And Kickboxing

What’s The Difference Between Muay Thai And Kickboxing

There is a common misconception that Muay Thai and kickboxing are the exact same thing. but in reality, there are significant differences between the two. Both sports share tactics and traditions, but how those skills are applied in a specific conflict depends on the fighter and the discipline.

Kickboxing, as defined, is any full-contact sport including the use of both kicks and hands, whereas Muay Thai, commonly known as Thai boxing, is a combat sport originating in Thailand that emphasizes both stand-up striking and clinching skills. Thus, Muay Thai may be broadly classified as a kind of kickboxing.

Here are some major differences between the two combat sports.

Difference Between Muay Thai And Kickboxing

In contrast to Muay Thai, which uses not only kicks and punches but also elbows, knees, and the 'full' clinch, kickboxing is a 4-point striking style based on the employment of just these two techniques (upper body grappling).

Secondly, the methods (moves and assaults) used by each combatant distinguish one sport from the other. Fighters in a Muay Thai dojo are instructed to wait for an opening to attack before charging forward forcefully. Opportunities to counterattack are crucial in Muay Thai, since they often arise after an opponent's punch. The kickboxing-style head movement, circling, and weaving are noticeably absent.

Kickboxing is based on boxing and makes use of hands, angles, and/or moves in conjunction with volume combinations, whereas Muay Thai is more about your timing that relies heavily on rapid and forceful counter-attacks. Kickboxers use a large number of combinations, whereas Muay Thai practitioners favour timing a single weapon attack.

As a result, kickboxers' motions are somewhat more defensive and fluid than Muay Thai fighters. To put it another way, unlike in Muay Thai, where coordinated and aggressive forward movements and counter-attacks are the norms, kickboxers depend more on angles and footwork to build up strikes. One may argue that fluid footwork plays a little more major role in kickboxing than Muay Thai, however, neither style totally excludes its utilization.

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