Back in the 13th century, Muay Thai was created by the military of Thailand as a form of unarmed combat. This martial art remained popular in Thailand and some surrounding countries until the 80s when it began to grow in popularity. Years later, after the growth of the internet put Muay Thai in the spotlight, it suddenly boomed in popularity and is the staple for various MMA and UFC fighters.

However, what about Muay Thai’s use in a self defense scenario? One question that is often asked by newcomers is whether Muay Thai is effective in a street fight, or whether there are better martial arts to pursue. This is because when thinking about starting a martial art, the number goal is often for self defense. Here’s a balanced look at the pros and cons of Muay Thai when fighting.

Why Muay Thai is effective for self defense

Muay Thai is brilliant for close range fighting

In terms of striking (punching and kicking) from up close, Muay Thai is arguably the best martial art out there. This is because it utilizes sharp parts of the human body that other traditional martial arts typically avoid. Specifically, we’re on about the use of elbows and knees. For instance, if you watch a boxer in a street fight, they will clinch and look fairly neutral. However, in the infamous Thai clinch, a Muay Thai practitioner will punish their opponent from this position.

This is because the Thai clinch is trained extensively in Muay Thai and an otherwise neutral position is turned to favor the Muay Thai fighter. Once in the clinch, the Muay Thai fighter will grab the back of the head and strike with knees and elbows to the head. This can easily knock out opponents and also cut them pretty badly. Often in street fights, there’s a fair amount of grappling from the feet so if you do happen to land here whilst knowing Muay Thai, then you’ll be in an advantageous position.

Muay Thai offers takedowns via foot sweeps

Whilst in the clinch, elbows, and knees aren’t the only options that Muay Thai offers. For example, Muay Thai also teaches foot sweeps which are a low risk, low energy way of taking down an opponent. It’s general consensus that if you do manage to take someone down in a street fight, you’ll probably win due to gravity and having more powerful punches. This is why Judo and BJJ are so effective whilst on the ground. The issue with most striking arts is that they neglect takedowns and whilst Muay Thai’s not as good in takedowns as most grappling arts, it’s still useful to know.

Often, people will sweep the feet which almost looks like an effortless kick. This isn’t a kick, nor is it effortless but it’s still effective. If you can do this then you can swing the fight in your favor. Perhaps you would lose against a bigger opponent, now you have the option to strike from the top or simply run and escape danger. As said, Muay Thai isn’t huge on takedowns, but compared to the likes of boxing and kickboxing it at least offers some options.

Muay Thai is proven in professional fights as well as the streets

Perhaps one of the biggest positives for Muay Thai is its proven track record. Over the years, there have been countless videos of Muay Thai working successfully by civilians. This is a good way of showing that a martial art actually works in a real setting with no rules. Sadly, the same can’t be said for all martial arts with the likes of Aikido, Tai Chi, and various others having no real footage of their techniques working in the wild. In terms of online videos, there are literally thousands that prove the effectiveness of Muay Thai.

As for Muay Thai in MMA, it’s also been proven to work. Remember, these are some of the most well trained fighters on earth and literally devote their lives to fighting and martial arts. Therefore, if Muay Thai can work on these – then it can also work on practically anyone. Some of the best ever UFC Champions to have relied on Muay Thai in the cage are the likes of Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and Valentina Shevchenko. If it’s good enough for these guys, it’s good enough for everyone.

Learning Muay Thai can be done relatively quickly

As far as learning goes, Muay Thai is one of the more natural feeling martial arts. Whilst athleticism and flexibility helps, most body types can train Muay Thai. This isn’t the case for certain other martial arts that can take years to understand. The likes of Sambo and Wing Chun spring to mind in terms of needing hundreds of hours of time invested to feel a payoff.

That’s not to say that Muay Thai can be mastered quickly, however in terms of someone learning the fundamentals and basics, you could do this within a year. In terms of casual training, this is relatively quick and arms you with a valuable skill relatively quickly. You won’t become an expert in this time, but it will give you enough skills to defend yourself.

Why Muay Thai isn’t effective for self defense

So far, we’ve established that generally – Muay Thai is great for self defense and has lots of positives. Now we shall look at its negatives and like any martial art, there are always some faults to be seen.

Muay Thai isn’t as good from distance

Obviously, Muay Thai can work from distance and has certain moves such as the teep kick and head kicks, but generally, it’s at its strongest when up close. Arguably, kickboxing, karate, and boxing are better from range as they teach more about distance management and so when compared with Muay Thai, they’re better from range.

Arguably, distance is really important for self defense as it means you can avoid strikes and avoid damage. For clear reasons, this is good against armed opponents or those who aren’t confident of getting into a full on brawl. This isn’t the biggest critique in the world, but it still exposes some of the issues with Muay Thai.

Muay Thai is bad on the ground

Like many striking martial arts, Muay Thai may be amazing from the feet but struggles massively when things go to the floor. One example of this is against a skilled Judoka or BJJ practitioner. For all your years of training, if you get taken down, little of what is taught in Muay Thai will help. Even if you’re against an untrained opponent, they may have trained a little wrestling or know tackles from football. This could land you in serious trouble if you’re taken to the floor.

This issue isn’t exclusive to Muay Thai but it’s certainly a problem. As a result, if you’re super paranoid of getting taken down, then you could always learn a grappling martial art to grow in confidence on the floor. Generally though, Muay Thai fighters aren’t known for their ground fighting and the emphasis is on stand up.

Muay Thai has little takedowns

Branching on from this criticism, it should also be noted that Muay Thai struggles to take opponents down. Thankfully, you should be ok from standing, but if you’re not then there’s no plan b. As mentioned earlier, there are some sweeps from the feet which are useful and realistic. However, in terms of wrestling or Judo throws, these are redundant in Muay Thai. As a result, Muay Thai isn’t great at grappling. Perhaps this is an unfair criticism seeing as it’s a system based on striking. Nonetheless, if we’re being hypercritical, Muay Thai struggles with its takedowns.

Conclusion

Overall, Muay Thai is very effective for self defense and is arguably one of the best martial arts to learn. It is commonly taught around the world, relatively cheap and more importantly, it works. Therefore, when answering the original question, it’s fair to say that Muay Thai definitely is good in street fights and in self defense situations. Generally, those martial arts that are developed for military use turn out to be very useful.

Of course, Muay Thai does have certain faults. As mentioned earlier, this can literally be applied to every other martial art out there, and looking at Muay Thai, this means a severe lack of grappling. Nonetheless, for the layman this isn’t a massive issue and generally Muay Thai is one of the better martial arts out there to learn for defending yourself.

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