[Jake Martin]

Originally Posted by Gold Bond

Let me break it down for you: There are like 20 + belts, and many promotions. K-1 is sort of the Pride of Muay Thai, but without elbows. I hope this helps.

I don't know why but I found this hilarious.

[cali_chute_boxe]

It's not muay thai fight if there is not clinch and elbows.

Patiwat made some very good points also! The one I liked most is regarding fighters from Isaan vs those from the south of Thailand.

I would have loved to see Sombat Banchamek (Buakaw) fight more in the stadiums. He can still fight at Raja, It's just that finding opponents for him will be very difficult. Not to mention the major decrease in his purse!

[MTnewbie]

Originally Posted by patiwat

Some other tidbits.

- Muay Thai doesn't get the viewership in Thailand that PRIDE or K-1 get. During the Muay Thai broadcasts, you'll see commercials for fertilizer, mens underwear, pickup trucks, foot cream, and other products that aim more for the rural viewership. It's not really considered a "premium" sport.

- You rarely see Bangkokians and Thai-Chinese fighting too often. The sport is dominated by people from the rural South and Isaan (the Northeast). Bua Khao is from Surin in the Northeast. Some people will claim that there are regional styles, but I think that's more based on regional stereotypes (Southerners being more aggressive, Isaan people having more heart, etc.).

- Muay Thai fighters get interesting awards for fighting technique or for taking damage. During the big shows, there will be special awards for Mae Mai Muay Thai (แม่ไม้มวยไทย; old school Muay Thai) moves that are difficult to land, like reverse elbows (sok klab), spinning back kicks (jarakhay faad haang), roundhouse kicks to the neck (tae kaan khor). Fighters are also paid for bleeding, by the stitch.

- Muay Thai fighters fight a lot and start really young. It's not common to have >100 fights by the time you're 22, if they survive that long. The minimum age for the major stadiums (Lumpini and Rajdamnern) is 15.

- Other well known stadiums include the Omnoi, Channel 7, and Siam stadiums.

- Muay Thai fighters don't get paid that much. You're considered an A-level draw if you get 100,000 THB (about US$3,000) a fight.

- Muay Thai fighters often get paid in gold. At the ends of big fights, you'll see them get gold chains. The chains are measured in baht weights, with 1 baht being equal to about 15 grams. At the end of the Isuzu D-Max tournament, the winner got gold chains weighing 80 baht (that's over a kilogram!).

- A Muay Thai fighter with excellent punching is usually recruited into western boxing. Khaosai Galaxy, Olympic gold medal winner Somrak Khamsing, and multiple time champ Sot Chitlada all fought Muay Thai before western boxing.

- Their last names are almost never their real last names, but the name of their gyms. So Khaosai Galaxy fought for Galaxy gym, Bua Khao fights for Por Pramuk gym, etc.

Interesting information, thank you

[indigoluxe]

Yeah I'd kind of add that K-1 isn't like Muay Thai without knees and elbows.

It's more like Kickboxing with low kicks, and a small amount of legal knees.

[canadian mongoo]

HUH?

K-1 is modified rules kickboxing/muay thai

there are lots of muay thai promotions...as there are in all combat sports

boxing....wbo,wbc,wba and ibf etc
kickboxing...ikf,wka,iska,wako etc
mma...ufc,wec,hfc,tko etc

its always been that way ...its up to the fighters and fans to decide which titles mean something....

New a guy who won the pka rocky mountain world middleweight title. in the 80s...huh


Train to compete not to win some paper title or tin belt.....if you just want titles print one off yourself or have someone make you a belt to show off....its almost the same thing...

[patiwat]

Originally Posted by blackstorm

K-1 is STAND UP FIGHTING. Its like MMA but for STAND UP. They have muay thai fighters, shootoboxing fghter, kickboxing, karate and more. They have a set up rules for the fights that are unique and not suppose to favor any style.

Correct.

Don't forget: K-1 didn't start off as a kickboxing or Muay Thai promotion. It started off as an offshoot of Kyokushin karate.

Over the years, it seems that the most effective style of stand up fighting is a variation of Muay Thai (although karateka might disagree).

[Maroli]

Originally Posted by patiwat

Some other tidbits.

- Muay Thai doesn't get the viewership in Thailand that PRIDE or K-1 get. During the Muay Thai broadcasts, you'll see commercials for fertilizer, mens underwear, pickup trucks, foot cream, and other products that aim more for the rural viewership. It's not really considered a "premium" sport.

- You rarely see Bangkokians and Thai-Chinese fighting too often. The sport is dominated by people from the rural South and Isaan (the Northeast). Bua Khao is from Surin in the Northeast. Some people will claim that there are regional styles, but I think that's more based on regional stereotypes (Southerners being more aggressive, Isaan people having more heart, etc.).

- Muay Thai fighters get interesting awards for fighting technique or for taking damage. During the big shows, there will be special awards for Mae Mai Muay Thai (แม่ไม้มวยไทย; old school Muay Thai) moves that are difficult to land, like reverse elbows (sok klab), spinning back kicks (jarakhay faad haang), roundhouse kicks to the neck (tae kaan khor). Fighters are also paid for bleeding, by the stitch.

- Muay Thai fighters fight a lot and start really young. It's not common to have >100 fights by the time you're 22, if they survive that long. The minimum age for the major stadiums (Lumpini and Rajdamnern) is 15.

- Other well known stadiums include the Omnoi, Channel 7, and Siam stadiums.

- Muay Thai fighters don't get paid that much. You're considered an A-level draw if you get 100,000 THB (about US$3,000) a fight.

- Muay Thai fighters often get paid in gold. At the ends of big fights, you'll see them get gold chains. The chains are measured in baht weights, with 1 baht being equal to about 15 grams. At the end of the Isuzu D-Max tournament, the winner got gold chains weighing 80 baht (that's over a kilogram!).

- A Muay Thai fighter with excellent punching is usually recruited into western boxing. Khaosai Galaxy, Olympic gold medal winner Somrak Khamsing, and multiple time champ Sot Chitlada all fought Muay Thai before western boxing.

- Their last names are almost never their real last names, but the name of their gyms. So Khaosai Galaxy fought for Galaxy gym, Bua Khao fights for Por Pramuk gym, etc.

ter phen khon thai mai?

[anorak]

Originally Posted by patiwat

- Muay Thai fighters get interesting awards for fighting technique or for taking damage. During the big shows, there will be special awards for Mae Mai Muay Thai (????????????; old school Muay Thai) moves that are difficult to land, like reverse elbows (sok klab), spinning back kicks (jarakhay faad haang), roundhouse kicks to the neck (tae kaan khor). Fighters are also paid for bleeding, by the stitch.


- Muay Thai fighters often get paid in gold. At the ends of big fights, you'll see them get gold chains. The chains are measured in baht weights, with 1 baht being equal to about 15 grams. At the end of the Isuzu D-Max tournament, the winner got gold chains weighing 80 baht (that's over a kilogram!).

The awards for the k.o's with those type of techniques dont realy happen that often and are usually pretty much limited to the t.v fights, you don't tend to see the fighters to do too much of that on the regular mid week stadium shows as the gamblers prefer to see the straight forward solid techniques. As for the paid to bleed, again this is only on certain t.v shows, where a certain brand of medicine will give the fighters money, about 500 baht a stitch. They will get a little bit on the regular shows, but this is more to cover medical expenses.

It isn't that often they get paid in gold, maybe two or 3 of the big tournaments the fighters will get it in the final fights

[manofwar1]

Originally Posted by patiwat

Some other tidbits.

- Muay Thai doesn't get the viewership in Thailand that PRIDE or K-1 get. During the Muay Thai broadcasts, you'll see commercials for fertilizer, mens underwear, pickup trucks, foot cream, and other products that aim more for the rural viewership. It's not really considered a "premium" sport.

- You rarely see Bangkokians and Thai-Chinese fighting too often. The sport is dominated by people from the rural South and Isaan (the Northeast). Bua Khao is from Surin in the Northeast. Some people will claim that there are regional styles, but I think that's more based on regional stereotypes (Southerners being more aggressive, Isaan people having more heart, etc.).

- Muay Thai fighters get interesting awards for fighting technique or for taking damage. During the big shows, there will be special awards for Mae Mai Muay Thai (แม่ไม้มวยไทย; old school Muay Thai) moves that are difficult to land, like reverse elbows (sok klab), spinning back kicks (jarakhay faad haang), roundhouse kicks to the neck (tae kaan khor). Fighters are also paid for bleeding, by the stitch.

- Muay Thai fighters fight a lot and start really young. It's not common to have >100 fights by the time you're 22, if they survive that long. The minimum age for the major stadiums (Lumpini and Rajdamnern) is 15.

- Other well known stadiums include the Omnoi, Channel 7, and Siam stadiums.

- Muay Thai fighters don't get paid that much. You're considered an A-level draw if you get 100,000 THB (about US$3,000) a fight.

- Muay Thai fighters often get paid in gold. At the ends of big fights, you'll see them get gold chains. The chains are measured in baht weights, with 1 baht being equal to about 15 grams. At the end of the Isuzu D-Max tournament, the winner got gold chains weighing 80 baht (that's over a kilogram!).

- A Muay Thai fighter with excellent punching is usually recruited into western boxing. Khaosai Galaxy, Olympic gold medal winner Somrak Khamsing, and multiple time champ Sot Chitlada all fought Muay Thai before western boxing.

- Their last names are almost never their real last names, but the name of their gyms. So Khaosai Galaxy fought for Galaxy gym, Bua Khao fights for Por Pramuk gym, etc.

There is a ton of old school information (and misinformation in this post). Example, pay in gold is almost NEVER done anymore, and 100,000 THB in your dreams. Average fight is about, 3000 Baht (about 90 USD). Even "A level" are low paid. Muay Thai fighter with good boxing going into boxing? I guess you can make that call based on a few fighters, but that's extremely vague. Minimum age for Lumpini officially is 15, but the "unofficial" age is more like 13-14, you'll see 90-100lbs. kids fighting in Lumpini regularly ( just saw it the other week ).

[atemijutsu]

its like boxing. theres so many promotions with their respective belts. thats why belts dont really mean anything. MMA is different because theres only 1 main promotion atm, being the UFC, so their belts mean a bit more, although if they continue to hand out interim titles that will change.