What are the differences between these different types of kickboxing? Are there any more kinds?

Question

dambe, savate, muay thai, american kickboxing, sanda

To me it seems like sanda = muay thai, except w/o elbows and knees

american kickboxing looks like sanda w/o any throws/takedowns

dambe is pretty intense

savate looks really artistic

so i was wondering if yal could elaborate on the styles for me, particularly w/ strengths/weaknesses/differences of each one, and if there are any more please let me know!

Answer 1

I've never heard of Dambe but I can compare Muay Thai with the other. First look at the techniques employed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai#M...

American Kickboxing - Is basically Muay Thai but opponents are only allowed to hit each other with fists and feet, striking above the hip Using elbows or knees is forbidden and the use of the shins is seldom allowed. This is in contrast to Muay Thai where the use of elbows and knees are allowed; in fact some Muay Thai practitioners consider kickboxing a "watered down" version of Muay Thai.

Savate - Similar to American kickboxing but they can hit each other below the hips but you can only kick with the heel. The kicks employed are therefore different. In competitive savate, there are four allowed kinds of kicks, and five kinds of punches.

Kicks:

fouetté (literally "whip", roundhouse kick making contact with the instep), high, medium or low

chassé (side or front piston-action kick), high, medium or low

revers (frontal or lateral "reverse" or hooking kick making contact with the sole of the shoe), high, medium, or low

coup de pied bas ("low kick", a front or sweep kick to the shin making contact with the inner edge of the shoe, performed with a characteristic backwards lean) low only

Punches

direct bras avant (jab, lead hand)

direct bras arrière (cross, rear hand)

crochet (hook, bent arm with either hand)

uppercut (either hand)

Sanda - Is basically Muay Thai but with out elbows. Kneeing can be allowed but only if both agree to it. There is a lot more emphasis on the grappling aspect, though. As said above they are more likely to employ throwing or triping techniques at clinching to get their opponent down as this scores more points (and to be fair it's better in a street fight because then you can just kick his head in). Infact out of all you've mentioned this is the one that has the most grappling. They also tend to use the side kick more frequently as opposed to a thai boxers low roundhouse kick.

Answer 2

Muay Thai is the art of using 8 limbs.  Foot, Hands, Knees, Elbows.  There is clinching involved which allows fighters to grasp their opponent and deliver knees and strikes to the body and head.  It is a popular hard fighting style that many MMA fighters cross train in.

Sanda is a Kung Fu sporting martial art, that almost looks like a combination of muay thai and judo / wrestling.  I like Sanda a lot due to it's incorporation of the throwing and takedowns.  

Dambe - honestly I have never heard of.

Savate is a French Martial Art that primarily uses kicks to beat opponents.  Despite it's extremely g*y uniforms and artistic style, it is an effective martial art.

Out of the three listed, I believe Sanda to be most effective in a real combat scenario, simply because of the fact that they have takedowns and train the transitions between striking and throwing.

Matt

http://www.martialfighter.com

http://www.fightauthority.com