Muay thai in mma?

Question

Is it just me, or does everybody make a huge deal about muay thai in mma?

Most of the time when i watch mma i see really none..a few low kicks, no muay thai stance...not really anything...i know muay thai is a supplement..but i really dont see much "real muay thai" in mma

(i know there are exceptions ie Anderson silva etc.)

can someone enlighten me, or am i completely thinking out of wack?

Answer 1

Depends where you look really. UFC doesnt have alot of muay thai fighters, but Elite XC on the other hand does, (example: Cung Le) And so does M-1.

Answer 2

No there isn't anything wrong with your thinking and no you don't really see a whole lot of true Muay Thai in MMA. I think the main thing is that Muay Thai is a brawling style of stand up fighting and it blends well with MMA. The thing is that some of the traditional Muay Thai stances and hand positions have to be changed for MMA because of the possibility of the shot, so the stance has to change a little and be lowered as well as the hands to defend against the take downs and that in turn changes much of how it looks and how it is carried out.

Answer 3

Cung lee is a San Shou fighter. Look it up. This is why you have to be careful with the answers you accept on here, because many actually have no clue.

Answer 4

Usually when they talk about muay thai they mean  the clinch. usually happens when one of the fighters goes for a takedown but is not successful. The guys don't use the traditional muay thai stance but when in the clinch they do use knees (ie. Anderson Silva) and elbows (like Kenny Florian) to do damage at such close range.

Answer 5

Kicks, Punches, knees from the standing clinch that are used in mma are from Muay Thai, they just don't look like they do in a Thai boxing match. You wont see too many elbows as they leave you open to takedowns due to their range.

Answer 6

Not many high-level fighters in MMA have an obvious fighting style.  Guys that are one-dimensional don't have success anymore.  MMA training camps have, for the last couple years, been training pure MIXED martial arts.

Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling all have very different stances in the stand up game.  MMA practicioners have combined them into a generic stance which optimizes striking while maintaining distance to prevent a takedown.

So a lot of individual "styles" won't be visible, but the techniques emplyed in each of those styles have been mixed together into a truly MIXED martial art that enables each fighter to have the best chance to win.