Muay thai the best martial art?

Question

Just curious because the best pound for pound fighter right now in MMA ANDERSON "THE SPIDER" SILVA uses muay thai and nobody can beat him standing up so far

Answer 1

It's the best in the Muay Thai ring, and it's great for conditioning.

In a MMA situation, you'll probably need to suplment with either ground fighting or defense against ground fighting.

In a street situation, I don't think Muay Thai teaches much if any knife defense technique, since the practitioners don't typically bring weapons to the ring.  Maybe Krabi-krabong would handle this better (the fighting art Muay Thai is based on).

Answer 2

No such thing.

You wouldn't know because you're probably one of those people that watches TV and thinks they know everything about Martial Arts.

Answer 3

brazilian jiu jitsu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ-5g7qO1...

Answer 4

Once again the "best martial art" question rears it's ugly head. No, muay thai is not the best martial art because there is no such thing as the "best" martial art. The closest you are going to get to a "best" art is to do exactly what people in MMA do and what Bruce Lee was calling for in the 60's by mixing many different arts and then taking what works best for you from each. All martial arts should be respected because they can all help make you a better person and give you a greater understanding of yourself and your fellow man. Anderson Silva is a bad man, no question and no doubt, but that is because of how hard he trains and how much dedication he has not because he does muay thai.

As for nobody in mma practicing TKD...wrong answer...Stephan Bonnar is a black belt in TKD and has the good spinning back kick and wheel kick to go with it. I know there are some others with TKD backgrounds, but can't think of which ones right now.

Yes you are right about Lyoto Machida, he does adapt his Shotokan for MMA, but Anderson Silva also adapts his Muay Thai for MMA. Have you ever seen a muay thai match? Anderson has a lower base and leans back from the hips more than you do in Muay Thai, it helps to defend against take downs. All strikers do that because if you stood up as straight inmma as you do in kickboxing, boxing etc you would be super easy to take down.

Enough with the best martial arts questions people it doesn't exist!!

Answer 5

Nope MY TIE is just my tie, it's only great for setting my shirt off!

Answer 6

Taekwondo has everything!!!!!!!

Answer 7

Take two styles of martial arts, and two dudes cloned from the same man.  Meaning genetically they are identical and yes, they are natural athletes and all that junk.  One dude trains in one style, 4 hours a day, so does the other dude.  Dude number 1 gets in a fight, happens roughly after he has completed his 12th year of training, and he's 23 years old say.  Dude number 1 gets in a fight, and when its over, he walks away in good shape, and barely breaks a sweat.  Clone number 2 also gets in a fight, and he also walks away in better shape, but, he is sweating bullets.  The martial art of dude number 1 is clearly the superior one.  So yeah, there is such a thing as a "best" martial art.

If the style, after years of training, and you are forced to use it, leaves you sweating bullets, it is not a good style.  If you barely break a sweat defending yourself, competency gained from years of training, then obviously it is a superior style.  There is such a thing as a "better" martial art I mean, you're not going to compare a Samurai Katana with a B-52 are you?  They're both weapons you know.  Pit a Samurai against an F-22 pilot piloting an F-22 with full compliment, clearly enough, the Samurai's Kenjutsu isn't going to help him much.  Because the F-22 pilot's "martial art" is clearly superior.  The term "martial art" is defined as "proficiency with a weapon."  We tend to associate the term only with unarmed combat, when in fact unarmed combat emphasizes the bare hands and feet as weapons.  Kenjutsu is a martial art.  So is learning how to handle an AK-47.  But, because of the mysticism attached to them by movies the term "martial art" is "sacred, mystical, and exotic!" whereas firearms no one sees as a "martial art" because its not "exotic" like east Asian unarmed forms.

Please, fellow posters, do not make that mistake; for all intents and purposes anybody who knows how to handle a firearm is a "martial artist."  It takes just as much knowledge, if not more so, to competently handle firearms, as it does to learn Judo, or Tae Kwan Do, or any unarmed form of combat.  As a general rule I have observed that books on firearms generally tend to be, well, quite extensive.  And this is only the mechanics of the weapons; they don't even cover combat, or door to door shooting, or cover tactics, they don't cover any of those things.  Why, playing GTA IV, I probably commit a myriad of errors a trained police officer or soldier would spot.  Reason being, I'm not a trained gunfighter.

The point I am trying to make is yes, even in the world of unarmed combat, some styles are indeed better than others, in the same way that some weapns are better than others if your intent is outright destruction.  Say you have a murderous sociopath, say, Niko Bellic, when the dude controlling him is having a really bad day.  In fact GTA is my version of "anger management."  So anyway; Niko could do it the hardway, and gun down every single pedestrian, or, he could do it the easy way and lug grenades everywhere, and fire rockets.  See?  One "martial art" is clearly better than another.

You can not determine which is better and which isn't based on sport competition either, reason being, too many rules, too many restrictions.  You judge a style based on energy efficiency, the speed at which it can apply that energy efficiency, and most important of all, the survival rate of its practitioners assuming they are not attacked by 100,000 ming soldiers out to burn their temple.

peace.

Answer 8

Please read the following sentence 100 times.

THERE IS NO "BEST" MARTIAL ART!!!

Thats it, there is no argument.

Please get that through your head and everyone who insists on saying their martial art is the best. MMA fighters get different levels of success with their different martial arts base.

Answer 9

I don't think MMA is the best context to talk about the best forms of fighting...as it isn't a well rounded system its an accumilation of lots of different styles.... I think its also a lot about machismo (being hard and fast, brute force, being big muscley etc etc) rather than a healthy approach to self-defence.

Muay Thai, is great for learning hard kicks and punches, buts its not a full martial art system... I think the best martial art system is around now is Koryu Uchinadi as it is a well rounded system, it includes groundwork, impact drills, fitness, conditioning, blocking drills etc... it has practical applications for realistic self-defence.

If you don't have access to learning Koyru Uchinadi then I would say doing muay thai or boxing for learning impact and when it comes to developing groundwork you can't beat traditional wrestling, both submission and greco-roman. I would learn both of these. (and do)

Answer 10

Nope. There is no such thing as a best martial art.

Why are you letting MMA judge whether an art is good or not? Don't ever do that. MMA is a sport and it has rules. And also it depends on what you mean by best. Like best for what? A street fight sure its good but not the best. It depends on the practitioner. For self defense? Probably not. Karate is more for that.

Answer 11

No. There is no such thing as a "best" martial art. They all serve different purposes for different peoples needs. Some may just want inner peace, some may want coordination, some may want self defense. So the question really can not be answered. Many will have their opinions on which is the best. It all depends on the person and what they want to achieve. This art will be the best for them.

Answer 12

I have trained Muay Thai and a few different styles of Karate, mostly Okinawan.  Muay Thai is a very good sport kick boxing art, however several styles of Karate have everything in it that Muay Thai does and then some.   Several karateka, especially from Kyokushin branch have done very well in MMA.  

Answer 13

The BEST martial artist in MMA right now is actually FEDOR , then Anderson. Compare Records , win streak , FEDOR is undeafeated , has never been even close to being defeated. Fedor beat Sylvia a guy who out weighed him by about 30 pnds , and was 7 inches taller than him in 30 seconds. Anderson beat a guy who was his same weight in over a minute. Anderson also almost lost to Travis lutter via ground and pound in that second round , but the bell rung. Fedor is the best!

  And Since I train Muay Thai myself i would say its the best , because it is so simple and realistic , it does not rely on kata , or unrealstic fast reflexes. Its just simple use your 8 limbs to knock out the other guy. But a Muay Thai fighter could be helpless if he fights a really high calibur wreslter , because whats he gunna do when hes on his back?

I think for mma the best combo is Wrestling , BJJ , and Muay Thai.  

Answer 14

It depends on what you are lloking for Paul.  If you want to go do MMA, I would seriously suggest you start with the two main grappling arts Wrestling which teaches takedown techniques and the advatages of being on top or BJJ which teaches similair things but dominance from the back position.  When it some time to learn stand up, I would start with Muay Thai Kickboxing, with classes in Modern Boxing for hand speed development (look at Anderson Silva!) and Tang Soo Do for leg kicking development.  Once you have completed those four things, then I would suggest Judo and Akido for in close grappling, clutching, and throwing techniques.  All in all you learn the first two over a period of 2 years, learn the next 3 over a period of 3 years, then spend six months on the others.  But you would be able to enter the ring after 3 years and have a reasonable chance.

Answer 15

Fedor Emelianenko, also considered the best pound for pound fighter, doesn't use muay thai, he uses combat sambo for his striking, and boxing and nobody can beat him either

All martial arts have merit.

Chuck Liddell uses Kempo and kickboxing, that works very well for him.

Lyoto Machida uses Shotokan karate, that works extremely well for him.

Cung Le uses sanshou, he's undefeated.

Answer 16

u obviously thought to start with that muay thai is the best martial art and ur not willing to listen to anyones answers.... wot was the point in even asking this question if ur jus gunna disagree with everyone who answers, nd who ever agrees with u you'll give them best answer lol pratt, nd like everyone else said theres no best martial art, only good practitioners!  

Answer 17

No such thing as a best. Depends on the fighter as much as the style.The vast majority of martial artists aren't interested in competing in it, Shaolin monks for example.