Question by Jon: Is MUAY THAI superior to TAE KWON DO as a STANDUP fighting system?
Before you answer that, you may want to type in, “Tae Kwon Do vs. Muay Thai,” on Youtube. There is ample proof there that a competent TKD fighter can hold his own and even dominate a Muay Thai fighter. I think it comes out to about a draw personally.
Judomofo makes a good point that in those YouTube vidoes, Muay Thai, isn’t allowed to use their elobows or Thai clinch w/knees. It is a kickboxing match. But, most people on here just dismissed YouTube very quickly. Why? Did you see those fights? They were done between two highly skilled TKD fighters and Muay Thai fighters. Tkd won it’s share of those fights using pure Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai won their share too, about a draw.
A point may be made if you want to throw in elbows and knees for Muay Thai, why not allow Tae Kwon Do some of it’s full aresenal too? Tkd is handicapped as well in a kickboxing match.
Judomofo, I have seen all those videos on YouTube you listed. Yes, it shows Muay Thai winning those fights. What about the other half of the videos showing Tkd winning? They are there right with the Muay Thai winners as well.
Best answer:
Answer by Integrated Self Defense Services
The percentages of the competent fighters in Muay Thai outnumber the fighters in TKD. Overwhelmingly you’ll find more competent and skilled fighters in M.Thai merely because they train for competative fighting. Of course you’ll find great fighters in TKD, but they’ll be fewer and harder to find.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Depends how good each are. A good TKD guy, with realistic training should be able to hold their own against a fair muay thai guy. However, when it comes down to sheer power, stamina and conditioning, muay thai wins hands down. So a top of their game Muay Thai guy should be better weighted against a top of their game TKD guy.
I’ve taken a TKD shot to the head from a good TKD guy. I’ve also taken a muay thai shot to the thigh from a good Muay Thai guy. I’ll take the TKD shot to the head any day.
Oh I’ve also seen monkeys throw faeces on youtube. It doesn’t mean too much.
YOu are ABSOLUTELY correct. A skilled TKD fighter can kill a Muay Thai guy. All Martial Arts have their own valid place as a Martial Arts. I think it is wise for a person to be well versed in one type of the arts but there is alot one can learn from watching and trying to understand other Martial Arts. I don’t compare them like some stupid people on this forum who only give credit to their own martial art that they personaly do or prefer and these people will be wise to see the beauty in different style of other Martial Arts as there is alot to learn from all the different types. NOW if one is strictly street fighting such as in MMA they will inevitably have tried and incorporated the different styles into their routine and the knowledge to incorporate different Martial Arts into their street fighting in order to fight successfully. I believe that people who do Tae Kwon Do would benefit from learning wrestling, grappling, choking techniques such as they do in Judo (even if it isn’t allowed in TaeKwondo as a sport ( but for street fighting it will be beneficial to learn)so they could also be able to ground fight and people who do Judo should learn more fist work and footwork such as in Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Kung Fu and Muay Thai in order to fight upright and ofcourse it is always helpful to do some boxing for speed in your Taekwondo punching for example.. anyway I am going on a tangent now… cheers!
If we had a proper TKD style that trained to fight other styles rather than pit TKD vs TKD with point sparring, the fights outcome would be harder to predict.
Unfortunately Taekwondo in general has taken a dive & the sport art doesn’t resemble the trad art but merely shows a shadow of its former self.
Any decent TKD practicioner wouldnt go in using high kicks against a Muay Thai practicioner unless highly confident in his ability to correctly use them.
You realize that video was under a kickboxing ruleset that took away 50% of Muay Thai’s tools right?
Also which video are you talking about?
This one? (Thai fighter schools TKD in a full contact no head shots match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcoprF6_FOM
This one? (Another full contact amateur match, Thai fighter schooling)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbrYiy3Xe_A
This one? (Kickboxing match dominated by Thai Fighter)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2DKqErFqZU
My assumption and the only one I could find with a TKD fighter winning was this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9ZXos8LfQ
Again, kickboxing match. Clinch work not allowed, Elbows not allowed, heavily edited, and what appears to not be a very skilled Thai fighter.
I am not sure one heavily edited video provides “Ample Proof”. I am not saying that it is not possible, but in the grander scheme of things if you were to put a TKD fighter in Thai style rules, or even in a MMA match, the Muay Thai guy has way more tools at his disposal and ability to fight in ranges (such as the clinch) that a typical TKD fighter does not.
Do I believe an exceptional TKD fighter could hold his own against an mediocre Muay Thai fighter, absolutely. I don’t think there is ample proof or evidence of many TKD fighters school Muay Thai guys, frankly it goes the other way around.
But that is because Thai Fighters train for sport fighting, you put them in a sport fight by nature they are better prepared. Their competetions have a wider array of techniques, and targets they can do then TKD competetions do.
Still a fighter and his training methodologies are what is more important. Just on average across the board there are more weak training TKD places then there are weak training Muay Thai places.
You won’t find point sparring in any Muay Thai school. You won’t find full contact, hard sparring in every TKD school.
Training methodologies matter, a good TKD fighter who trains like a Thai fighter could be just as good as a Thai fighter, style name doesn’t matter.
I don’t think it comes to a draw. I think the huge amount of watered down TKD schools that have given TKD a bad name, and the huge amount of a tendency towards leaning away from hard contact sparring hurts TKD immensely.
This non-watered down, hard sparring and serious conditioning gives Muay Thai a definitive edge.
Take every TKD school out there, ALL of them. And make an average of their training techniques.
Take every Muay Thai school out there and an average of their training techniques.
By far, the average Muay Thai place has a more thorough and comprenhensive effective training regiment then your average TKD school.
There are exceptions to the rule, but as an average is how I look at it.
Like you say, it all comes down to the skill of the fighter. TKD is most effective in kicking range. If the TKD fighter can maintain that distance, he will control the fight. If the MT fighter gets into clinching range, all the TKD fighters most powerful kicks will be negated. This doesn’t mean that the TKD fighter can’t employ elbows and knees of his own; we all have the same body parts. But the MT fighter will be more accustomed to this.
Bottom line, although I am a former TKD student myself, I think MT wins most of the time, due to their superior conditioning, sheer brutality, and the fact that when they spar, it’s full speed and full contact.
Didn’t bother to look cause I agree with you. The only problem is there are so few truly comptent TKD fighters.
Alright i will always believe in these three philosophy’s
1) It is not the Martial Art, but the Martial Artist
2) Any martial art can be good if put in the hands of time, and practice.
3) Point sparring, fighting, and self-defense are three different things.
As martial arts there is no superior, they are both comprehensive systems with a range of devastating techniques, I know, I have trained in both.
As far as skilled fighters that is a difficult question. Tae Kwon Do is the single largest practiced martial arts in the WORLD, where as Muay Thai is only practiced in a few countries. However, traditional Muay Thai training is more likely to produce serious skilled fighters because TKD is the most infamous martial arts to have fallen into the “mcdojo” rut: many many schools teach merely the forms and sport of TKD and nothing more. So it really is a hard call, however, thinking purely mathematically the reality is that TKD has millions more practitioners than MT. So more than likely there are more TKD fighters in the world RIGHT NOW that could kick all of the MT fighters’ butts. So mathematically TKD has more superior fighters.
Happy Training
Oh hey should have put this in my first submission, but youtube evidence is NOT real evidence. Im sorry but youtube video is AMATEUR video and nothing else. Video itself is not even a reliable medium of measurement because it completely lacks statistics and only occurs in extremely public areas. You will never see the bouncer kicking out thugs on youtube, or the peacekeeper at Folsom prison bouncing criminals off the walls on youtube. TKD has been used in every arena of fighting from MMA to the street, don’t buy the hype, listen to the facts.
As has been said before, style isn’t as important as other factors. However, I believe Tae Kwon Do has an inherint flaw when being compared to other martial arts (namely boxing, kickboxing and muay thai style martial arts) simply because the boxer gets in past their guard, and then the Tae Kwon Do fighter doesn’t know what to do, and gets taken out. Check out 0.14 in this clip, or the whole thing for that matter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klx92Bls08I&NR=1
This video shows off perfectly why Tae Kwon Do is not one of my favorite martial arts. I don’t believe you should doubt another martial art or say anything bad about is (especially since there’s a Tae Kwon Do practitioner out there somewhere that can take me out) but I feel that is one weakness in style I see with most if not all Tae Kwon Do practitioners.
NEW EDIT: Talking about Tae Kwon Do in general is not good. There is a difference between WTF (World Tae Kwon Do Federation) and ITF (International Tae Kwon Do Federation). Read what I wrote below, and you will see that one cant just compare Tae Kwon Do to another style, but you also should take into account the organization that a school is a part of. This will LARGELY affect their training method.
Depends on the rules of the fight. A Tae Kwon Do guy would win if the fight was under WTF (World Tae Kwon Do Federation) rules. A Muay Thai guy would win in a Muay Thai fight. Why, Muay Thai fighters train for fights under Muay Thai rules, and MOST Tae Kwon Do guys train for fights under WTF rules. The one that is closer related to mma rules would win an mma fight.
Its like this. I have beaten a karate practitioner easily before under WTF rules, but I bet I would have got beaten in a point sparring match.
I like Muay Thai rule more than WTF rules, so I say Muay Thai wins most of the time in a street fight, but the rules of the fight is a VERY BIG factor. Muay Thai is closer related to a street fight. I mean, its sucks that punches are not allowed in a WTF match. If the WTF allowed punches to the face, Tae Kwon Do might be superior in a street fight.
trust me, ive seen both types of fighting, and i am myself a tae kwon do fighter, if 2 guys are facing and 1 is doing tae kwon do and the other is doing muay thai, and they both have the same amount of training experience, the person with the better conditioning and the better teacher will win. most tae kwon do fighters can kick really hard and probably kick someones head off, but they cant take a hit, im not sure why, my guess is because the teachers dont do enough conditioning and sparring, but in muay thai, the fighter is power conditioned and can take hits much more easily, and a muay thai fighters strikes are more practical and lethal, but a tae kwon do figher is mostly flashy kicks and high jumps, maybe good for a concert, but not soo good for a standup fight.
ugh.. because youtube is the judge of martial arts… I love and train in both arts. It just comes down to the practitioner.
taekwondo has a more speed in the kicks,but the muay thai has more power and best boxing,i think muay thai is definaly better,but any fighter has their “own” style