Muay Thai

Today I would like to talk about something I recently learned and am interested in; the art of Muay Thai. Muay Thai is referred to as the art of eight limbs because unlike other combat sports you can use all limbs and you need to have good physical preparation (i.e. ability to maintain breathing, and endurance throughout your body). Just yesterday I went to Muay Thai exhibition in Studio City with my stepfather. Among the participants were amateur fighters from over 20 of the top gyms across Southern California. My stepfather didn’t fight but he worked closely with the fighters from their gym: Muay Thai America Gym which is in North Hollywood. There were over 15 fights that evening and MTAG got two fighters in two of the fights leaving with a record of 1-1. All of the fights were 3 rounds (2 min. each). The first fight was between Carlos Iglesias and some other guy (Guy 1). In about the third exchange or so Carlos got rocked with a vicious cross (punch with non-dominant hand depending on stance), with sent him stumbling but still left him standing effectively losing the first round. But in the second and third Carlos was able to wear out his opponent buy using his long reach to jab (punch with dominant hand depending on stance) his way to victory. Trust me it was a lot more thrilling in person. However, in the second one that was not the case. A theme you can see in most combat sport fights is that there is usually a distinguishable dominant and subservient fighter (with the exception of the first fight). In the case of this fight it was clear that our fighter was scared and on his heels the whole time. He looked “nice” to the other fighter and ultimately it cost him the fight.