Bullsherdog
Orange Belt
I am extremely curious about this. Before MMA (and perhaps local Brazillian Vale Tudo and other close equivalents to UFC in Japan), MT was renown for being the most "complete" martial sports. Boxing banned kicks and every other handstrikes (and even the types of punches you can use is limited), most full contact karate forbids punching the face, TKD has been turned to sports sparring, Savate removed knees and elbows and requires a kick for every 3-punch combo, American kickboxing requires kick above the waist and forbids clinching, practically every fighting system turned to sports that has a mainstream following has forbid elbows and knees except MMA and has plenty of restrictions in regards to what you can target and combinations.
MT on the other hand not only allows full hitting almost anywhere (except for groin and other weakpoints) but it left in elbows and knees to the point the entire sport develop counters and strategies for using them. In addition unlike most kickboxing styles, there is no limit to how many kicks you can throw or where you can hit how many times and minimal rules on sweeping.
I am curious why did Thailand go in this direction regarding fighting sports? The main reason elbows and knees are banned in other sports including hard brutal kickboxing styles and full contact fighting such as Savate and Japanese shootboxing is because of just how dangerous they are. Especially elbow where you can easily kill someone with a well timed thrusting strike. Its telling even boxing, a style known to have brutal bloody face injuries and broken bones esp the ribs finds the effects of elbowing someone so terrifying.
Is there any historical reason for this? I mean since Thai fighters historically took quite some time to train and required specialized methodologies, how was Thailand able to maintain a steady flow of fighters despite brutal injuries and death? Boxing lost popularity over recent years because of its brutality and even MMA is getting hacked and the UFC recently added more rules to prevent bloody faces, etc.
What is it about Thailand's culture or geographic features that allowed elbowing and kneeing to be used in sports in contrast to say Savate (which already has brutal steel toed shoes that can break your legs and arms and love up your stomach if hit directly) and Japanese kickboxing (which is basically Kyokushin full contact sparring with punches to the face-Kyokushin is already a brutal karate style with breaking bricks and punching through wooden platforms and most Japanese kickboxers are also Kyokushin practitioners)?
Why couldn't other styles like American kickboxing and Savate be able maintain the brutal elbows and knees? The only other purely striking ring fighting sport I know that left knees and elbows is Bokator in Cambodia. Other than that fighting sports all over the world outside of Thailand have forbidden these two tools until MMA exploded in popularity. What were the historical trends that kept knees and elbows in MT and perhaps a few other styles of nearby countries lthat are not as famous like Cambodian Bokator?
MT on the other hand not only allows full hitting almost anywhere (except for groin and other weakpoints) but it left in elbows and knees to the point the entire sport develop counters and strategies for using them. In addition unlike most kickboxing styles, there is no limit to how many kicks you can throw or where you can hit how many times and minimal rules on sweeping.
I am curious why did Thailand go in this direction regarding fighting sports? The main reason elbows and knees are banned in other sports including hard brutal kickboxing styles and full contact fighting such as Savate and Japanese shootboxing is because of just how dangerous they are. Especially elbow where you can easily kill someone with a well timed thrusting strike. Its telling even boxing, a style known to have brutal bloody face injuries and broken bones esp the ribs finds the effects of elbowing someone so terrifying.
Is there any historical reason for this? I mean since Thai fighters historically took quite some time to train and required specialized methodologies, how was Thailand able to maintain a steady flow of fighters despite brutal injuries and death? Boxing lost popularity over recent years because of its brutality and even MMA is getting hacked and the UFC recently added more rules to prevent bloody faces, etc.
What is it about Thailand's culture or geographic features that allowed elbowing and kneeing to be used in sports in contrast to say Savate (which already has brutal steel toed shoes that can break your legs and arms and love up your stomach if hit directly) and Japanese kickboxing (which is basically Kyokushin full contact sparring with punches to the face-Kyokushin is already a brutal karate style with breaking bricks and punching through wooden platforms and most Japanese kickboxers are also Kyokushin practitioners)?
Why couldn't other styles like American kickboxing and Savate be able maintain the brutal elbows and knees? The only other purely striking ring fighting sport I know that left knees and elbows is Bokator in Cambodia. Other than that fighting sports all over the world outside of Thailand have forbidden these two tools until MMA exploded in popularity. What were the historical trends that kept knees and elbows in MT and perhaps a few other styles of nearby countries lthat are not as famous like Cambodian Bokator?
