WHY MUAY THAI? WHY NOT MUAY THAI?

By Adrien de Fontenay

“Why Muay Thai?” is a question I get asked a lot, so I’m going to try answering it definitively – by telling you why it wasn’t any other martial art.

Like many kids, I tried my hand at martial arts. I grew up on Kung Fu flicks and fighting movies, and like their protagonists, I wanted to be a bad ass. At the tender age of six, I ventured into Judo – my first door into the world of martial arts.

Image Source: MMA-Today

I was living in Beirut, Lebanon at the time. My instructor taught at my elementary school. He was young, fit, and charismatic. An absolute giant in my eyes at the time. I couldn’t tell you what I learned but I remember feeling incomplete. I remember thinking, “when am I going to hit stuff?” – not realizing that Judo is mostly throws and doesn’t really practice any strikes.

The only distinct memory I have with my Judo instructor was when we were sitting on the ground after practice one day and he was moving ar...