Mixed Martial Arts Forum banner

Muay Thai or TKD

51K views 274 replies 71 participants last post by  Spirion1 
#1 ·
I'm having an arguement with a guy on youtube who thinks Muay Thai sucks compared to tae kwon do. I think that the simple lack of protecting your face in TKD says it all. Tell me what you think is better
 
#3 ·
It depends on how the training is done. In the TKD place I used to go to (over a decade ago), we practiced full contact with punches to the face. So in that scenario, the lack of face cover wasn't quite an issue. If it was an Olympic or WTF style TKD place, then that would have been a no-no and it wouldn't exist. To risk sounding cliche', it really comes down to the practitioner.

Generally speaking, it's not the "style" or the techniques between the two that makes a difference. Rather, it's the way that training is done. Once you introduce live sparring situations, where techniques are continued past the initial set within a kata/poom, and all the chaos that comes along with that a person will learn how to fight and defend themselves to some level of confidence one way or the other. That would happen with TKD or any given style. Given that the majority of MT practitioners train with that in mind, and the majority of TKD practitioners don't. I would give the edge to the MT practitioner more often than not.
 
#6 · (Edited)
tkd v muay thai

i take tkd and i'm constantly being told to protect my face. i have seen karatekas protect their face w/ only one hand, with the other one at right angles to it, however. she was a 5th degree black belt so i don't think it was an accident.

we are only now starting full-contact sparring at green stripe level and up.
we have incorporated muay thai here and there because nearly everybody in the class is an mma fan and is bugging the sabunim to school us on knees, elbows, low leg kicks etc. it is a hell of a lot of fun.

i don't know if you can even compare a self-defense art to one that is more aggression-based; refer to onganju's post which is very insightful on that point.
 
#7 ·
swpthleg said:
i take tkd and i'm constantly being told to protect my face. i have seen karatekas protect their face w/ only one hand, with the other one at right angles to it, however. she was a 5th degree black belt so i don't think it was an accident.

we are only now starting full-contact sparring at green stripe level and up.
we have incorporated muay thai here and there because nearly everybody in the class is an mma fan and is bugging the sabunim to school us on knees, elbows, low leg kicks etc. it is a hell of a lot of fun.

i don't know if you can even compare a self-defense art to one that is more aggression-based; refer to onganju's post which is very insightful on that point.
I WANTED TO CLEAR THIS UP AND SAY I WAS TALKING ABOUT OLYMPIC TAE KWON DO
 
#8 · (Edited)
Honestly, TKD is more for younger guys.
It's the basics that will start you up for any other MMA.

Don't get me wrong I took TKD for 4~5 year and I know the masters and veterans are extremely phenomenal. Muay Thai is more of the shoot fighting while TKD focuses on kicks. Muay Thai usually only use Roundhouse/push kicks. Taekwondo use backick/hook-kick/spinkicks and such.



Edit: Oh yeah, lol I joined months ago and my first post is now, :p!
 
#9 ·
i took TKD for about 4 years and earned a high red belt.
I got into a street fight and was getting my ass kicked till i reverted to just sloppy punches and push kicks to keep the guy away from me long enough so i could land another hazy punch. Round house kicks and back kicks were for the most part useless and actually laughable from a bystander's POV.

Long story short i take Muay Thai now and in my opinion this is the best combat sport to practice.
 
#11 ·
i chose to take tkd b/c that's what the best regarded instructor in my town teaches.

keep in mind all of us don't live in a larger town or city where there's a bunch of martial arts to pick from.

we learn boxing along with tkd. b/c my teacher boxed all thru his time in the military. i think this separates us from many tkd schools
 
#12 ·
Jesus Christ, how the f*ck can ANYONE think that Muay Thai is even close to similar levels?? TKD is no where near MT in terms of striking, want proof? How many PRIDE/UFC/K-1 HERO MMA Fighters use TKD over MT as a stand up style? I bet there's a very very VERY small few and for those, how many are successful? NONE!
 
#13 ·
tkd is good for learning kicks.the old school kick boxers had much better kicks then todays kick boxers because they all came from a traditional karate style like tkd etc.so the kicks they learned from traditional style were a good tool ,but only if the tools were mixed in with more practical styles like kick boxing etc.its like having a good jab and right cross, they are great tools but if you cant keep someone from taking you to the ground those tools are useless.i feel the same about tkd. by it self i dont think its a real self defence, but as a tool you can add it to a more practical style and i think it can be a good tool to ad to youre tool box. the few times ive seen axe kicks in mma or k1 its been pretty good and messed some people up. but those guys were incorperating that into kick thai boxing etc.
 
#14 ·
i agree completely, turning or aerial kicks might look nice but they're not very effective.

the people at my school frequently train with one of the other instructors, in freestyle and catch wrestling. because they also feel that TKD is a useful foundation, but needs augmentation if there's to be effective striking and takedown defense. they compete regularly however, and I don't because the fees charged for adults to compete are ridiculous.

someone told me muay thai fighters don't chamber up their kicks, why is that?
 
#15 ·
***** Poker said:
TKD is awesome!

If you're an 11 year old girl and your parents wont let participate in any sports where you might get hurt.


Puh-leeze...

This is so utterly ridiculous that it can only be a troll.
i can admit that muay thai is much more effective in mma or what not but dont disrespect tkd all together you piece of shit maybe you should look more at the sport of tkd before you start saying its for 11 year old girls
 
#17 ·
actually some spinning kicks can be used, look at goerge st pierre. spinning back kick. he pulls it off every time. also an amazing guy from the old days, sugar foot peter cunningham trained with beny the jet.he he was a thai boxer who originally came from a traditional kicking style like tkd . that guy used to kill thai boxers. but he was a thai boxer with amazing tkd form. so again tkd can have some good tools but needs to be incorperated into a better fighting style like thai etc.

ps, i have no interest in tkd. im not a fan of it for fighting. i used to do it along time ago, and have moved on believe me. but i just want to be fair and say that some of the kicks they teach can be used in thai and mma. but only when its used by someone who also knows thai boxing / mma etc.
another example was a guy who knocked out maurice smith in k1 along time ago. he was a very good dutch /thai boxer and used an axe kick. maurice never saw it coming.
 
#18 ·
I took Tae Kwon do a long time ago but dropped out after I got my blue belt and have been doing Muay Thai ever since. I agree as well tae kwon do has limited use in the octagon. The only fighter I've seen that use it frequently in GSP and thats the Spinning Back Kick but it not always very effective.
 
#23 ·
well obviously.
that example you gave is pretty obvious.
these guys look like they've been doing it for awhile, otherwise they wouldn't be fighting each other, right?
one is better than the other in each video, so to me it's hard to tell which is actually better, even though I'm biased towards Muay Thai.
 
#24 ·
wrong post

Merforga said:
i took TKD for about 4 years and earned a high red belt.
I got into a street fight and was getting my ass kicked till i reverted to just sloppy punches and push kicks to keep the guy away from me long enough so i could land another hazy punch. Round house kicks and back kicks were for the most part useless and actually laughable from a bystander's POV.

Long story short i take Muay Thai now and in my opinion this is the best combat sport to practice.
well thai kicks are basically roundhouse kicks .i honestly dont think kicks in general are practical in a street fight. its usually to wild and smotherd for anything that would really make a difference. knees are a different story .i think the clinch and knee part of thai /dirty boxing and boxing are the most practical stand up styles for a fight and of course grappling is a must know. i feel all the other kicking stuff is more sport than practical. kicking in general leaves you open for a hard counter punch or take down.
 
#25 ·
I've taken both and personally like Muay Thai better. Almost seems like TKD is more for entertainment. TKD would still be a good basis for someone to start if MT wasn't available. MT seems to be hard to come by in the states. I train in Korea and it seems a little different than the ones I've seen in the states. We also go 5 days a week 2 - 3hrs a day rather than 2 days a week like I've seen at a lot of places in the states.
 
#26 ·
southpaw447 said:
I took Tae Kwon do a long time ago but dropped out after I got my blue belt and have been doing Muay Thai ever since. I agree as well tae kwon do has limited use in the octagon. The only fighter I've seen that use it frequently in GSP and thats the Spinning Back Kick but it not always very effective.
GSP does Karate.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top