I sparred tonight with a muy thai guy and it was quite fun, opened my eyes to some different kinds of attacks that I didn’t look to guard against before (my background=shaolin). Specifically his shin kick to the back of my front leg and thequick punch through the face. (you see these in alot of ufc’s) Any ideas for defending against these kinds of attacks?
Overall it was about even, he didn’t like my traping or strikes from multiple angles:) My quads are gonna hurt tomorrow from those thai leg kicks tho
the trick with those leg kicks is to lift the leg he’s kicking st and change the angle it gets hit at. As for face punches, it’s jast typical of us gong-fu guys to be overly lax about keeping our hands up. Either we’re trying to hard to look cool, stay relaxed or our partners are just too polite to hit us in the face. BAD HABIT. must change.
Re: sparring w/ a muy thai guy
Originally posted by Jzf_K
Any ideas for defending against these kinds of attacks?
For whatever it’s worth:
Specifically his shin kick to the back of my front leg
In your style do you have a front kick done with the heel - toes out 45 degrees? If so try this with your lead leg targeting his Centerline - hope he has a cup on. Aim, if possible, at his upper support leg, which should be in the Centerline along with the jewels. As you intercept and your kick shoots out, his target, (your lead leg) has now moved - the 45 degree angle of the knee and leg will close the outside low gate and you attack his Centerline (support leg) at the same time. If you make good contact he will go flying backward and land on his butt.
the quick punch through the face.
In both cases of his kick and his straight lead (i assume) you may wish to step in (intercept) either with a kick (if he kicks) or an attacking bridge arm of your own. This may be best done by flanking him as you step. A more forward facing starting position (from outside) may at first feel awkward (don’t know your style) but may offer you more flexibility being able to flank either side more quickly. A flank may allow you to:
- Avoid his attack
- Stay in range
- Use your two hands against his one
- Issue an immediate counter
- Allow for an arm bridge
- Allow for a leg bridge
- Stay on the offensive
- Eat up his space
HTH
Practice blocking with your shins. raise your leg, and keep your foot pointed outward, not down. Once you have that down, you can try to use it with a counter. After blocking, drop the leg real fast and hit his supporting leg with a roundhouse of your own.
Another you can try is to throw a punch at him with the hand opposite the blocking leg. So, if you are blocking with the left leg, as you lift your left leg, pivot on your right foot and throw a strike with your right hand. You can use the energy from his kick to assist your punch. Instead of a punch, it can be a push, and you can capitalize on the opening if you off balance him. It’s similar to the taiji concept of yielding, I think.
As for the punch, work your parries and slipping.
What lead did you have? what lead did he have?
Originally posted by omarthefish
the trick with those leg kicks is to lift the leg he’s kicking st and change the angle it gets hit at. As for face punches, it’s jast typical of us gong-fu guys to be overly lax about keeping our hands up. Either we’re trying to hard to look cool, stay relaxed or our partners are just too polite to hit us in the face. BAD HABIT. must change.
Speak for yourself, dude!
Serpent,
I am speaking for myself. Sensitive?
If your hands are up then a few quick face punches shouldn’t cause any problems.
Sevenstar,
Better description than I could think of. BTW there’s a clip of a guy breaking his attackers leg with this technique on the download section at McDojo.com. Really horrifying.
YunChun,
You brought up my absolute favorite kick but the timing is tricky . You gotta be really quick with that one.
Originally posted by omarthefish
[B]Serpent,
I am speaking for myself. Sensitive?[/B]
No. What you actually said was:
As for face punches, it’s jast typical of us gong-fu guys to be overly lax about keeping our hands up. Either we’re trying to hard to look cool, stay relaxed or our partners are just too polite to hit us in the face. BAD HABIT. must change.
There’s a lot of plurals in there, generalising about “gong-fu guys”, not just yourself.
So, speak for yourself, dude! 
Originally posted by omarthefish
YungChun,
You brought up my absolute favorite kick but the timing is tricky . You gotta be really quick with that one.
I agree that you have to be quick as in intercepting, but IMHO less than other methods since the straight line nature of this counter going against the circular attack is intended to compensate for the reaction delay. As soon as this counter begins his target is gone and the line is closed, now add to this to the fact that the attacker cannot move his support leg (your target) and it adds up to my favorite too
Oddly enough we had a couple of guys who had trained in Thai boxing come to class last night.
Its the first time I have sparred with some one who did Thai boxing in a friendly way (I have been against 2 Thi boxers in the ring and got a real stiff neck of one in the first week i ever started training in Tai Chi). and it was very interesting.
their stricking and leg kicks were good but nothing special in san shou but what i was very imperesed with was their clinch work.
the smaller of the 2 guys was very hard to work against in a clinch and Im the kind of guy who normaly likes to work from a clinch. They were very good at covering up with the elbows whilst pulling me close enough to stop me kneeing effectively. they also sort of lifted from my neck to leep me off balance all the time.
All together very impressive clinch work and had the short guy (who was much better than his muscular friend) been a couple of inches taller I would have had real problems.
Anyway its good to hear that your practicing agfainst guys from other Martial backgrounds.
Well even if your hands are up, doesn’t mean a punch can’t get through. Hands up + react in time by parrying or evading.
shin-blocks are a necessity
no doubt. you don’t want to get in the habit of dropping your arms to block kicks. If you are already in the habit, get out.
shin-blocks are a pain in the shin!
Thai fighters
well i wouldnt stand there i would just attack and keep attacking, be the aggressor etc
try counter kicking and attack his kicking leg as well!
my 2 cents worth
FT
I was totally shocked the first time I received one of those kicks. Some one in my class said that out teacher knocked a guy out with one. A serious question: Do you think you could use chi to absorb the blow??? I mean you as in someone not you specifically necassarily
Originally posted by jun_erh
I was totally shocked the first time I received one of those kicks. Some one in my class said that out teacher knocked a guy out with one. A serious question: Do you think you could use chi to absorb the blow??? I mean you as in someone not you specifically necassarily
Just walk in to the darn thing. If you do it right the guy will fall over - sheesh. IMO round kicks are best left to tournement fighting.
LMAO @ Walking into a Muay Thai roundhouse. That’ll work real well if you can get them to kick in slow motion.
Originally posted by OneStrike
LMAO @ Walking into a Muay Thai roundhouse. That’ll work real well if you can get them to kick in slow motion.
My point is to step in! When someone does a round kick the target distance is critical - more so IMO than even other kicks, which are sensitive anyway. In order for the RK to work the defender must not change distance more than about 7-10 inches closer or more distant.
If the ‘defender’ steps in let’s say 10 inches (not much right?) Where will the kick land? It is jammed - the velocity of the attacking weapon is cut off AND in jamming the RK the balance of the kicker is also disrupted. The more you step in the more you will disrupt his balance - step in enough and he will fall on his a$$.
This is what intercepting is all about: The ‘defender’ must close in order to cut off the attack - breakdown structure and issue attacks. Counter attacks cannot be done very effectively by staying in one spot and ‘blocking’ or by retreating - both passive states.
don’t mt guys also have kicks that they hammer in with when they are in close? 
just something my friend told me today
Originally posted by friday
don’t mt guys also have kicks that they hammer in with when they are in close?
MT as most arts has weapons for the inside - they will normally try to clinch. Again, the important thing is to break them down and the way to best do this IMO is to intercept. That means going in - stealing balance and attacking as efficiently and quickly as possible.