Looking at the differences between Muay Thai and Muay Boran

These days, most martial artists are aware of Muay Thai. However, very few people are aware of Muay Boran. In short, Muay Thai is the predecessor of Muay Boran which is one of Thailand’s older martial arts and influenced Muay Thai hugely. In other words, without Muay Boran then Muay Thai would not exist.

Put another way, Muay Boran is an umbrella term that encompasses martial arts covering the entirety of Thailand. Therefore, there’s a lot to look at and unpack when it comes to Muay Boran. On the other hand, Muay Thai is a striking martial art that is less broad and more specialized. In this article, we shall be looking at the key differences between the two.

Muay Boran was originally used in warfare

Hundreds of years ago, Muay Boran was created. The point of Muay Boran was that it would work in war on the battlefield. The idea was that Thai soldiers could be competent whilst armed and also whilst unarmed.

As mentioned earlier, this meant taking from various martial arts from around Thailand. Some of this meant using weapons, whilst other techniques included grappling and striking. Obviously, the striking aspects of Muay Boran would later become Muay Thai.

In other words, you could compare aspects of Muay Boran to other martial arts such as Hapkido or Vovinam. Like Vovinam, Muay Boran was originally created for warfare though – meaning its origins have practical implications and were meant for fighting in realistic settings.

Muay Boran uses Krabbi Krabong

Krabbi Krabong is also a martial art that originated from Thailand. This was created in 1936 and uses weapons. Usually, each Krabbi Krabong practitioner will be armed with dual swords, daggers, bo staffs, shields, and other weapons. Note, these weapons are of their time and these don’t include firearms.

As Muay Boran took from other Thai martial arts, it makes sense that Krabbi Krabong was included. These days, krabbi Krabong is not commonly practiced, even within Thailand. Arguably, this is because its fighting methods are no longer relevant in modern times. You could also apply this argument to many areas of Muay Boran which has also been left in the past to an extent.

Muay Thai is a sport

One of the biggest differences between Muay Boran and Muay Thai is that Muay Thai is trained as a sport. This is different compared to Muay Boran which has origins in self defense. Of course, there’s crossover between the two but primarily, the origins of Muay Thai is in a sporting setting.

This means that Muay Thai has a ring, points scored, rules and even a fight league. Muay Boran has far less rules and isn’t as organized. Obviously, this dates back to its early days which are firmly rooted in self defense.

For instance, if you were to choke someone in Muay Boran then this would be perfectly fine as it’s part of its curriculum, whereas if you tried this in a Muay Thai fight then you would get instantly disqualified.

Often, martial arts and their techniques are dictated by rules. However, for the most part, there’s a lot in common between the striking found in Muay Boran and Muay Thai. It’s the other stuff that differentiates the two.

Muay Boran also uses grappling and submissions

Aside from one of the key differences being the use of weapons, Muay Boran also involves submissions and grappling. The only grappling found in Muay Thai is the Thai clinch which means it’s not really used.

Having said this, grappling is used in Muay Boran quite a lot. Sadly, a lot of the grappling techniques are quite primitive compared to modern standards. So, don’t expect expert Judo throws or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu submissions. Instead, the grappling in Muay Boran is quite questionable at times.

For example, some of the grappling in Muay Boran resembles Aikido, which involves standing submissions and wrist locks. Generally, this isn’t very effective when being used in real fighting scenarios and lacks control. In other words, it’s no wonder that the grappling side of Muay Boran didn’t carry over into Muay Thai

Muay Thai took the best parts of Muay Boran and perfected them

These days, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many Muay Boran gyms, even in Thailand. The reason for this is that it’s fairly dated in terms of techniques, as seen with aspects of the grappling and weapons techniques.

However, what Muay Boran got correct was its striking elements. This means that Muay Thai took the best parts of Muay Boran and perfected them. Simply put, it may be easy to mock certain parts of Muay Boran – but without it, Muay Thai would have never been born.

For hundreds of years, striking martial arts have been developed, but few used limbs like Muay Thai which make it fairly unique in terms of knees and elbow strikes. Therefore, it’s good to give Muay Boran the credit it deserves in helping develop Muay Thai.

Is Muay Boran still effective and can you train such broad martial arts?

If you’ve been reading so far, then you’ll have figured that Muay Boran is a forgotten martial arts by today’s standards. As stated earlier, the weapons used are no longer used in modern society, whilst the grappling techniques are questionable as well.

So, in this sense Muay Boran is no longer relevant. Furthermore, if you want to learn the best bits of Muay boran, then you may as well train Muay Thai and avoid the less realistic aspects of Muay Boran. Because of this, you could argue that Muay Boran is mostly trained for traditional reasons these days.

This is one of the main criticisms aimed towards broad martial arts. Again, the likes of Hapkido and Vovinam have also fallen into this trap. This is, a martial art trying to teach too much instead of specializing in a few certain areas. In other words, it’s best to be a master in one area, rather than a jack of all trades when it comes to teaching fighting skills.

If ever you’ve trained a martial art then you’ll have noticed this. In many martial arts it can take years or even decades to master certain skills such as kicking or takedowns. This is where Muay Boran failed as it was too ambitious in teaching bits of everything. As a result, it wasn’t specific enough and cut corners on certain techniques.

Conclusion

In summary, Muay Boran can be seen as a very broad martial art that took from many styles across Thailand. At one time, this was a commonly trained martial art in this country and was used by soldiers. Over time, this style became less relevant and realistic to the society it represented, as wars were no longer fought with swords and shields.

However, one thing that Muay Boran birthed was Muay Thai. This was a unique style of striking that has boomed in popularity since it was exposed to the wider world. To conclude, Muay Baron practiced all sorts of martial arts under one system. However, Muay Thai is exclusively a striking-based martial art that was influenced by Muay Boran.

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