# Thai boxing/striking in a linear stance



## chrissyp (Nov 26, 2017)

So I was wondering if anyone can give me a list of muay thai fighters, who have more of a boxers/linear stance than square stance? I know Darren Till does, and from what I can gather, Samart Payakaroon does this... I see more and more guys, in MMA at least fight in this particular style. Sage northcutt and Stephan Thompson are prime example of strikers who use this style for full contact fighting. I believe conor mcgregor follows this example too.

I was wondering if anyone could give me pointers for using this style against traditional thai boxers? I know to watch out for low kicks. I also found, in MMA sparring atleast the traditional karate foot sweep is a great technique to use in said stance on fighters coming in...

What would some techniques in particular that would excell from this stance? Hook kicks and side teeps in particular come to mind. use my in and out/foot work to create angles instead of striking head on?


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## Danny T (Nov 26, 2017)

chrissyp said:


> So I was wondering if anyone can give me a list of muay thai fighters, who have more of a boxers/linear stance than square stance? I know Darren Till does, and from what I can gather, Samart Payakaroon does this... I see more and more guys, in MMA at least fight in this particular style. Sage northcutt and Stephan Thompson are prime example of strikers who use this style for full contact fighting. I believe conor mcgregor follows this example too.
> 
> I was wondering if anyone could give me pointers for using this style against traditional thai boxers? I know to watch out for low kicks. I also found, in MMA sparring atleast the traditional karate foot sweep is a great technique to use in said stance on fighters coming in...
> 
> What would some techniques in particular that would excell from this stance? Hook kicks and side teeps in particular come to mind. use my in and out/foot work to create angles instead of striking head on?


Take a look at Dutch Style Muay Thai. Due to the rules they tend to fight under they generally have more of a boxer stance. Darren Till trained for K-1 which is different from Muay Thai in Thailand Samart Payakaroon is retired hasn't fought since 1994. Was a switch stance Nak Muay and a southpaw boxer. In his later years of fighting he seems to have gravitated to more of a boxer's stance when in the right lead probably due to the amount of boxing he competed in. Northcutt and Thompson both have strong backgrounds in karate styles not muay thai which would explain their stances.


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## drop bear (Nov 26, 2017)

He angles off a bit. Not exactly sideways but not traditionally front on.


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## DanT (Nov 27, 2017)

Although it's not Muay Thai, in Sanda the stance has two feet in a straight line, similar to boxing.


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## chrissyp (Dec 11, 2017)

DanT said:


> Although it's not Muay Thai, in Sanda the stance has two feet in a straight line, similar to boxing.


I see that! I like that! The biggest problem I think this stance is fighting someone with nasty leg kicks. I've done mostly Muay Thai, so it's nothing new to me. Over the past few years, due to circumstance, I had to switch to Shotokan. While I didn't like that it wasn't full contact, it opened me up to so many new ideas and techniques, and i'm trying to find the best way to combine the best of each. I know the ONLY way that will happen is from trial and error, but some insight on those who've thought or done similar is always helpful !


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## drop bear (Dec 11, 2017)

chrissyp said:


> I see that! I like that! The biggest problem I think this stance is fighting someone with nasty leg kicks. I've done mostly Muay Thai, so it's nothing new to me. Over the past few years, due to circumstance, I had to switch to Shotokan. While I didn't like that it wasn't full contact, it opened me up to so many new ideas and techniques, and i'm trying to find the best way to combine the best of each. I know the ONLY way that will happen is from trial and error, but some insight on those who've thought or done similar is always helpful !



You would need the worlds best teep or stopping side kick. So they can't leg kick you to death.


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## chrissyp (Dec 11, 2017)

drop bear said:


> You would need the worlds best teep or stopping side kick. So they can't leg kick you to death.


I'm working on a side teep, and my foot work, like angle out of the way, in/out with my striking...take advantage of the more elusiveness that I can get from the stance. Lyoto Machida does a technique where he simply picks his leg up and steps over leg kicks. Something i'm going to be practicing a lot.


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## DaveB (Dec 11, 2017)

Pivoting away on the lead foot after making an attack, can be useful.
And spinning back kicks as a counter attack.

Tekki shodan has some useful kick defence.


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## chrissyp (Dec 11, 2017)

Ok, now I remember the technique I was thinking of for leg kick defense. we called a "quick change/quick step/ball change" where you'd switch you lead and back legs...example, someone (in orthodox) throws a back leg kick to my lead leg (also in orthodox), I would do a ball change, removing my lead leg out of fire, and would fire back with a kick of my own


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## Headhunter (Dec 11, 2017)

Slightly off topic but here's a video of a former glory kickboxing champion giving ways on how to deal with that type of style


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## chrissyp (Dec 11, 2017)

Headhunter said:


> Slightly off topic but here's a video of a former glory kickboxing champion giving ways on how to deal with that type of style


TY! While the style i'm working on is Similar to Daniels and wonderboy, i'd say it would be closer to Darren Till.But that was very insightful! I do know the low kicks can be a problem, but the difference between me and wonderboy (other than i'm not that good lol) is I tend to be the agressor.


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## DanT (Dec 11, 2017)

Muay Thai Stance advantages:

-Easy to check leg kicks
-Easy to throw front kicks

Sanda Stance advantages:

-Better mobility
-Easier to throw side kicks
-Easier to throw hook kicks

Also in terms of the hands:

Traditional Muay Thai tends to keep the hands eye level and parallel in front of your face. 

Sanda keeps your back hand on your jaw, and your front hand extended in front of you 12-18 inches, covering your mouth relative to your opponent.


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## Headhunter (Dec 11, 2017)

chrissyp said:


> Ok, now I remember the technique I was thinking of for leg kick defense. we called a "quick change/quick step/ball change" where you'd switch you lead and back legs...example, someone (in orthodox) throws a back leg kick to my lead leg (also in orthodox), I would do a ball change, removing my lead leg out of fire, and would fire back with a kick of my own


Yeah that's a basic Muay Thai technique because it's better to avoid rather than check because even if you check them it'll eventually start to hurt


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## drop bear (Dec 12, 2017)

chrissyp said:


> TY! While the style i'm working on is Similar to Daniels and wonderboy, i'd say it would be closer to Darren Till.But that was very insightful! I do know the low kicks can be a problem, but the difference between me and wonderboy (other than i'm not that good lol) is I tend to be the agressor.



The interesting thing about wonderboy is he has effective hands. Which is crap for the other guy because that is where you want to dominate with a kicker. So if you are busting a nut trying to get inside their kicks and then busting a nut in the hands exchange you are set for a bad day.


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