Win in the fight! Encyclopedia of Fight: Muay Thai, MMA, Kickboxing (Part I: Muay Thai, reducted ver)

Main calf cover-up mistakes:

No hand cover-up;

Left foot is not turned in its ball and points upwards, not left-upwards.

After the defense, the boxer can go for a counter-attack with right high kick, low kick or punch, for instance, “one-two” combination of straight head punches.

Defense against high

roundhouse

kicks with shoulder, forearm or glove backside cover-up.

The defense against right high kick technique. In the fighting stance, the boxer draws up left shoulder to cover the chin. He presses the downside of the left glove to the side of his head. This way he protects the head from the side with a glove, the elbow and the forearm.

Specification. Often, the judges do not consider forearm and arm defense to be a defense, thus the opponent’s kick is fully counted. Though there are more vulnerable places on the body, several good kicks can be enough for the opponent to not be able to defend himself with “beaten” forearms or punch with “beaten” hands.

2004-10-26. Moscow (RUS). “RAMTL in ‘Capitalism’ casino”. Sergey Shish (BLR) vs Elbrus Dzhumakov (RUS).

Pulling back defense against high

roundhouse

kick.

The technique of this defense is very simple: the boxer quickly pulls back, bending backwards in the lower back.

Leg grip defense.

To defend against right kick, the boxer steps left-right, softening the kick impact, and grips the leg with his left hand either from the outer side, taking a kick into the body, either from the inner side, taking the kick with the forearm.

Semi-circular kicks.

Diagonal kick technique is similar to the high kick, the only difference being that kicking leg goes along a circle trajectory, with approximately 45 degrees to the floor. The kick targets the forearm and the head of the opponent. Usually this kick is used as a counter attack responding to the punch of opponent.

Spinning heel kicks.

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Thanks to the big amplitude of the leg move and its big weight, it is a very strong kick, however not easy to execute – and that is why it is used relatively rare in Thai boxing fights.

2016-03-24. Moscow (RUS). “RAMTL FIGHT-VIII”. Abakar “Joker” Muratbekov (RUS) vs Roman “Vulture” Koshin (RUS).

Before right circle kick, left foot steps right-forward, at the same time turning to the right. Then the torso makes a strong rotation to the right, moving bodyweight from right to left leg; shoulders go ahead of the hip, and hip goes ahead of the thigh – which makes back muscles and back side of the thigh stretch.

Vertical rotation axis goes through left leg and left shoulder. Right foot leaves the floor and starts rotation movement towards the target along a circle trajectory. The kick is made with the heel and targets upper body, head or neck of the opponent. In the end of the kick, the torso is turned to the opponent with its right side, right shoulder is drawn forward. Left palm and left elbow cover the head from a counter-punch.

2015-12-11. Moscow City. “RAMTL FIGHT-VI”. Danila “Nerd” Goldinov (RUS) vs Igor “Tikhon” Tikhonov (RUS).

Since left round kick is too visible due to its large right step, it is rarely used as a stand-alone kick in a fight. More commonly, it is used after missing the target with a right round kick, or in the situation when the right leg ends up being in the front.

2015-10-23. Moscow City. “RAMTL FIGHT-V”. Rasul Vaisov (UZB) vs Arslan “Lion” Yallyev (RUS). On the left photo: A. Yallyev, T. Dzhemaliev.

Left round kick technique is similar to the right round kick technique. The only difference is that the step before the kick is longer (step with the right leg forward-left). All moves are done to another side.

Jump

kicks

.

2015-10-23. Moscow City. “RAMTL FIGHT-V”. Hariton “Wolf” Tuktaev (UZB) vs Elbrus “Sheick”Kaziev (RUS).

Punches.

It is a mistake to think that in Thai boxing punches are secondary. Enromous amount of fights end before the final gong just because of the punch effects – even in Thailand, where boxers are traditionally strong in kicks, elbow and knee strikes techniques.

2011-06-23. Moscow (RUS). VIP-RAMTL GYM. Radu Sprighel (NYC, USA) hold at pads.

Though not being equally strong as kicks and knee strikes, punches are more precise and can reach a very vulnerable area – the lower jaw.

Straight punches (jab, cross).

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Head jab.

Jab is used to gauge the distance and probe the opponent’s resistance, coordination and defense ability. Jab disrupts the opponent and prevents him from focusing. A lot of attacks start with jab.

Execution. Body weight is transferred to the front leg, left shoulder turns to the right until reaches central torso axis, and then the hand rapidly straightens along a direct trajectory. When reached the target, the fist makes a punch through rapid quarter clockwise rotation, having palm pointed down.

When doing the punch, the boxer focuses all his strength on the forward hand movement, however when put back, hand travels relaxed and without any tension. In the position when the hand is straightened forward, left shoulder covers the left side of the chin, while right hand covers right side of it.

Jab can be combined with left footstep forward or right footstep backwards (left footstep backwards is rarely used).

Note. When punching, the fist is pointed thumb up: this will make the punch longer, however in that case it will be harder for the opponent to use his shoulder to cover the chin from the right punch.