Stylized Striking: The Difference Between Muay Thai, Boxing and Brawling

The best part of MMA is it's diversity as a sport, even in it's individual elements there are distinct classes of fighters. Standing up, there are dozens of classifications of strikers, from the old school karate fighters like UFC 1 competitor and runner-up Gerard Gordeau to San Shou masters like Strike Force middleweight Cung Le. Over the years, these fighters have been streamlined to fit a few standard profiles (though some, like Le, are exceptions). Those molds are the Muay Thai striker, the boxer and the brawler. While these can be broken up into even smaller sub-divisions (clinch fighters, counter-punchers, stalkers, etc.) these three basic molds make a pretty solid umbrella for the modern striker.

Some fighters, like Brazilians Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, are viceral Muay Thai strikers, who work well in open range, where they use leg kicks and straight punches to wear opponents down, or in the clinch, where they use knees to their opponents body and head to end fights.




Muay Thai is actually a more recent development than boxing and brawling, coming in when top quality fight coaches like Marco Ruas started using Vale Tudo fighting as a way of employing classic Muay Thai striking techniques, like the thai clinch, knees to the body and shin kicks. Over time Muay Thai and the Vale Tudo (or "anything goes") philosophy has expanded to include stomp kicks to downed opponents and it's current fighter base includes UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.



Boxers started off slow in MMA, being thoroughly dominated as the result of a lack of ground skills, but it was quickly coupled with submission fighting and solid wrestling fundamentals to provide what is really a more street fight realistic style of employing the hands. While it still stays true to many of the technical philosophies of boxing, true boxing has sort of fallen out in MMA with the slowing careers of it's most well known employers, including former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver.



Since the decline in it's use, it has still become an important fact in MMA, especially for ground based fighters who want to improve their head movement and hand skills. While they employ a more open bodied stance to help them deal with leg kicks and stay ready for the takedown, they use many traditional training points and basic drills. Current notable boxing-based strikers in the sport include Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and top UFC heavyweight contender Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.



Brawling has always been a popular style, ever since the rugged earlier days of the sport when it was popularized by one punch warriors like Tank Abbott. While the practical aspect of brawling is questionable, fighters with the ability to take a punch and utilize their heavy hands have always been successful brawlers. It has fallen off the major event cards, because the sport has become more technical, but it is still a staple of smaller shows.



Great brawlers throughout history are easy to find, from the Tank himself to Mike Bourke and Bobby Hoffman, to even lighter weight fighters like Joe "Diesel" Riggs.



The sport will continue to develop and the smaller styles, like the Croatian and Dutch kickboxers, will always have their representatives, but for know the sport's standup seems to be pretty heavily dominated by these three breeds of fighters.