[SamuraiRat]

The only formal training I've ever had has been in boxing. Obviously it's easy to KO someone in a boxing stance(statistically). When I was looking for a place to train MMA, I noticed that Muay Thai is taught with stances similar to boxing. Even in lots of MMA fights(mostly in America) I've noticed this. I know y'all will refer me to Silva vs. Leben, but I was wondering if pure traditional Muay Thai has KO punching power in its stances.

[Eric Castile]

it does, but it depends on how you use it, for mma, of coarse because the golves are so light, in traditional muay thai if you train with the right people the can help improve power but i would worry about it ,get the technique down and use kicks to set up punchs that will help bring the kos...but technique over power, because with technique will come power ,boxing differs because the fighter knows your gonna punch him in the head or body, with MT you can use the kicks and clinch to set up shots, but im no expert so

[blanko]

the simple answer? NO. Muay thai hands are terrible from a boxing piont of view. And there are reason's for this. In muay thai punches are a means to an end (usually knees/elbows/ and to an extent kicks) and are used to set up these weapons.

[Eduardo R.]

Very traditional Muay Thai generally uses the hands for defence and the legs/elbows for offence but as it's being mixed more and more with western boxing there are definately a lot of KO punching muay thai fighters. The more modern K1 style stance has a balance between punch and kick power and you see a lot of hard punchers in K1 and K1 MAX. For a tradtional Muay Thai fighter with good hands check out Anuwat Kaewsamrit here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPHLOvgBPsI

Edit: Suriya also had really good hands and I believe held a world title in boxing, couldn't find any videos of him except http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuP0wiTg2x4 where you can see him whoop Masatos ass a bit.

[axe murder]

hes right watch anuwat kaewsamrit

even yodsanklai fairtex uses his hands a lot

[Kozma]

How common are elbow KO, TKOs in muay thai?

Originally Posted by Kozma

How common are elbow KO, TKOs in muay thai?

extremely.

[damastakilla]

Hmm... I have got a pretty decent punching KO power, I punch for the most part. I do kicks and knees rarely so they will be more unpredictable. Muay Thai punches(from where I train at least) are the same as the boxing, jab, cross, hook, uppercut. I do the traditional boxing stance as well.

[blanko]

yes muay thai has the same punches as boxing. It's the footwork/stance and philosophy of muay thai that "makes" those punches less powerful.

[Bamaispriceless]

Originally Posted by blanko

yes muay thai has the same punches as boxing. It's the footwork/stance and philosophy of muay thai that "makes" those punches less powerful.

Depends heavily on where you train. I train at a SBG which is a MMA gym, and we have alot of KO Fighters/MT'ers there. I honestly can't say if our stance is different than in boxing, but we use basic punches alot more than elbows.