I’ve done some post in the past about Muay Kaad Chuek. For those new to Muay Thai, Muay Kaad Chuek is Muay Thai fought without gloves, but with hand hemp wraps. It’s damn close to fighting bare knuckle… actually it’s probably worse then bare knuckle as the wraps can make your fist harder then a bare fists, and the wraps afford you a little bit of protection.
A few times a year the Thai and Burmese get together at border towns and hold muay kaad chuek contests… as you can imagine they don’t typically drag on. This particular clip is Saiyok fighting on one of these shows.
I recently caught wind that one of my favorite nak muay, Pornsaneh Sitmonchai was going to be making his Australian debut. I was a bit surprised to see that in addition to fighting in Australia, he was going to be doing it in a cage. There seems to be a bit of a trend that’s going on in Australia at the moment, where nak muay are fighting under full muay thai rules, in a cage wearing 4 oz mma gloves. At had seen a clip of JWP a few months back competing on one of these shows. My initial reaction was a bit negative, probably because of the whole MMA connotations, after my initial prejudice it occured to me it’s just the western version of Muay Kaad Chuek.
I’m not sure if the promoters in Australia are doing this to win over the MMA audience… but I guess I’ve come to terms with what it is… Pornsaneh or Neh, will be taking on rising Aussie star Michael Thompson. Thompson has had about 40+ fights and appears to have some heavy hands. Should be an interesting bout, I know Neh is known for taking his fare share of shots to the dome, but he really can’t afford to be doing that with 4 oz. gloves.
What do you think? Would you be interested in seeing more of these shows? Do you think we should just leave well enough alone?
July 24, 2012 at 12:50 pm
This Saiyok fight was Thai vs Lao.
July 24, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Hmm, I think it’s interesting. As much as i like traditional Muay thai, I think this western style Muay Kaad Chuek is pretty awesome.
July 25, 2012 at 7:54 am
Should be a good fight. À little worried for pornsaneh tomahawk is a sloppy yet quick wild and unpredictable fighter and could catch pornsaneh IMO.
July 25, 2012 at 9:59 am
absolutely fucking stupid that its in a cage. its fucking tacky and is bad for muay thai. when you look at a ring you think of honor, respect, and sportsmanship. when you look at a cage you think of dog fighting or a bunch of stupid ass white people yelling like morons at the cage.
July 26, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Im pretty sure Nop is on point in saying that they are twisting the format slightly to suit an audience with an appetite for MMA. All about getting the promotion right and selling tickets.
But I still agree with SE on this one, i just cant help but think the same
MT snobbery? Can that exist?
August 7, 2012 at 10:51 am
Marco de Cesaris organizes Muay Kaard Chueck competitions in Italy as well.
The rules are pretty similar to kyokushin rules, but of course with a Thai style. No gloves, no punches and elbows to the face, kicks and knees to the face are allowed, clinching is allowed of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylS2Qnn62Rk