Yes and no. Muay Thai really doesn't emphasize defense. When I was first training in it my coach explained to me that often Thai judges will score an exchange for the person who stands in the pocket the longest even if they aren't the one necessarily winning the exchange. There's a lot of importance put on being able to stand and deliver in Muay Thai because the stance needed to defend against the constant leg kicks slows you down and cements your feet in place. Western boxing makes a much, much better use of head movement to keep you safe while exchanging.
But yea in a bar fight I'd rather lean into my Thai more than anything. Heavy strikes without the fancy footwork makes it deadly efficient and it's especially good for self-defense because it makes use of the clinch unlike most other striking sports. Every real fight involves a bit of grappling so knowing how to parry a clinch attempt into elbows is great
yeah for self defense like IRL as I've been researching I think peek-a-boo boxing, muay thai, and bjj would be really good for being really broad in terms of what you can do, of course thats a ways off though
The reality is in a mixed gym you’re going to be using aspects of all of the arts known by the coaches and the other trainees regardless of which sport you’re officially learning. I started in wrestling and it was years before I got into mma that I realized I was already sampling heavily from judo and bjj in my wrestling move set just because I had trained with other people that knew those systems and taught me their moves
Yes and no. Muay Thai really doesn't emphasize defense. When I was first training in it my coach explained to me that often Thai judges will score an exchange for the person who stands in the pocket the longest even if they aren't the one necessarily winning the exchange. There's a lot of importance put on being able to stand and deliver in Muay Thai because the stance needed to defend against the constant leg kicks slows you down and cements your feet in place. Western boxing makes a much, much better use of head movement to keep you safe while exchanging.
But yea in a bar fight I'd rather lean into my Thai more than anything. Heavy strikes without the fancy footwork makes it deadly efficient and it's especially good for self-defense because it makes use of the clinch unlike most other striking sports. Every real fight involves a bit of grappling so knowing how to parry a clinch attempt into elbows is great
yeah for self defense like IRL as I've been researching I think peek-a-boo boxing, muay thai, and bjj would be really good for being really broad in terms of what you can do, of course thats a ways off though
The reality is in a mixed gym you’re going to be using aspects of all of the arts known by the coaches and the other trainees regardless of which sport you’re officially learning. I started in wrestling and it was years before I got into mma that I realized I was already sampling heavily from judo and bjj in my wrestling move set just because I had trained with other people that knew those systems and taught me their moves