THE VALUE OF ACCURATE, PERFECTLY TIMED LEG KICKS

If you've ever watched Muay Thai fights, you’ll notice that the first round or two often starts rather slow, with neither fighter committing to that many attacks. Usually the action gets picked up in the 3rd round, and that is exactly what happens here in round 3 of Sean's short-notice fight in Thailand.

In most fights, from boxing to MMA, and wrestling to Muay Thai, the opening rounds or minutes of the bout are spent trying to get a read on what your opponent is trying to do or how they react. However, if you have a two-month training camp to get ready for a single opponent, you can already know a lot about them and not even have to spent that opening round or few minutes feeling them out.

In the world of Muay Thai, and specifically Thailand, where the nak muays are fighting almost weekly, there is not enough time to prepare for your opponent. There may not even be footage of them fighting. There are even times...

Pro Fighter Paul “the Reaper” Banasiak Explains Common Mistakes and Tips for Checking Kicks

Fighting is flow. Positioning enables the flow, it’s

It is a flow between offense and defense, and what enables this flow is positioning. If your posture is off when you’re parrying a punch, your countering well be slow. Your positioning is what enables the fluidity of your movement. Imagine a powerlifter who starts his deadlift with a rounded back. He will be slow off the ground and he will be even slower as the bar moves up.

Consider deeply how each position connects to another. Consider how you will flow from a check to a counter roundhouse kick, from a parry to a rear straight. Learning to flow from position to position is learning how to pass the baton. If you’re in a 4 x 100-meter relay, don’t know how to pass the baton, and end up dropping it, you’re screwed. However, if you do know how to flow from position to position,...

Low kicks are a vital addition to any striker’s arsenal. Not only do they set up and expose opportunities for strikes, eating one on your thigh is no picnic in itself. . .

HOW TO THROW LOW KICKS WITH SPEED & BAD INTENTIONS

The low kick has been a tried-and-true method for damaging opponents and breaking their will in fights. It stops incoming aggressive fighters in their tracks (literally) and starts chipping away at one of the most vital limbs needed for fighting and even standing.

When done properly, the low kick can do a lot of damage. It can serve as the origin of a spectacular TKO. The low kick is familiar to many but not executed to its fullest potential by most. Just how do the best low kickers do it?

Let’s take a closer look at a couple of Muay Thai’s best low kickers and how they use this tool to their advantage.

(Title image credit to Evolve Vacation.)

I. COMMIT, JUMP, PIVOT

Like almost all kicks in Muay Thai, there needs to...