To Westerners, Thai martial arts is Thai kickboxing or, as it is more commonly known, muay Thai. However, muay Thai is technically not a martial art. Instead, it is a sport that’s been around since 1930. Its techniques are taken from the more lethal art of muay boran, which originated from the older fighting style of ling lom (air monkey) via the ancient mother art of krabi krabong (stick and sword fighting).
Thai fighting arts evolved because of the country’s historical conflicts with Burma. Muay Thai’s ancestral arts were first described in King Ramkamheng’s (1275-1317) Book of War Learning. In 1560, King Nareusan was captured by the Burmese. He was released when he defeated the top Burmese boxers. It was this event that brought about the birth of muay Thai. However, a similar story describes how Nai Khanom Tom took on 12 Burmese fighters while imprisoned in Burma and was released in 1560.
Although the ancient forms of muay Thai are Buddhist in nature, ling lom has its foundation in the Hindu legend of Ramayana, specifically the monkey god Hanuman, wherein the muay Thai fights traditionally re-enacted the battling gods.
– February 14, 2013
Anyone who watched the Oxygen network’s Fight Girls reality-TV series remembers Felice Herrig. She fared well training under Master Toddy and actually defeated her opponent, a Thai champion. Soon afterward, she made the jump from muay Thai to MMA.
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– November 11, 2011
Back in 1983, I heeded the call of Uncle Sam and joined the U.S. Army. Basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, was easy enough and mostly fun, what with the M16 rifles, M60 machine guns, hand grenades, Claymore mines and LAWs (light anti-tank weapons). A martial artist interested in state-of-the-art
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– October 11, 2011
Chael Sonnen isn’t your typical politician. For one, he actually answered our questions. But more important, the All-American wrestler from Oregon taught us some of the best tricks from his playbook.
Despite his reputation as one of the UFC’s loudest stars, he doesn’t have a bad word to say about
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– September 30, 2011
I selected 10 systems that I’ve practiced and found to be self-defense worthy. It’s hard to say just one art does it all. The best advice is to try them all and get in combat shape. Ultimately, it’s not the art that’s important; it’s the individual. It’s not the technique
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– August 8, 2011
Almost every day at Black Belt, we’re asked the same question: “What’s the best martial art for self-defense?” To find out the answer, we asked Dr. Mark Cheng, an expert in Chinese medicine and martial arts.
“I chose the following arts because of my personal experience with them,” Dr. Mark Cheng
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– June 29, 2011
Antonio Graceffo takes you to the Philippines in this martial arts travel-video supplement for his Destinations column, appearing in Black Belt magazine. Graceffo explores a variety of martial arts styles and gives an overview of the fighting and training scene in this island nation. Included are his experiences training in
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– March 24, 2011
Col. Nattapong Buayam, a former Thai spec-ops hand-to-hand and weapons instructor, trained elite troops in Southeast Asia on the combative essence of krabi krabong (Thai traditional weaponry) and muay Boran (the forefather to muay Thai) for decades. The aggressive footwork and rapid-fire weapon attacks make it a nightmare to defend
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– March 24, 2011
Antonio Graceffo takes you to the other side of the world in this video supplement for his Destinations column, appearing monthly in Black Belt magazine. In Part 1 of his trip to Thailand, he discusses martial arts training and the variety of styles available to partake in, including muay Thai,
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– March 23, 2011
Richard “Mack” Machowicz, an ex-Navy SEAL and former host of the cable-TV series Future Weapons, as well as a student of taekwondo, muay Thai, kali, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Paul Vunak’s jeet kune do, shows how counter a muay Thai kick in this exclusive footage from the cover shoot for
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– March 23, 2011
Even if you’re not a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, by now you’ve probably heard about the ease with which Georges St-Pierre systematically dismantled B.J. Penn at the UFC 94. The victory is just part of a five-bout winning streak for the 27-year-old Canadian karateka. If that doesn’t sound
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