The whole idea of working on punches in Muay Boran is very similar to Muay Thai from the
beginning. We are working on basics, so you got to gained a certain proficiency
when you're doing the basic strikes. If you need to do these techniques without having
to think about it, then they will just come out. It's just like fighting itself, they have to
come natural. They have to be like conditioned response, like walking. If you have to think
about these techniques, then they're not only techniques that you can apply at the moment.
They have to come natural. So the whole idea is, to keep drilling these techniques over and
over again like you would do in Muay Thai. If we're fighting, right here, obviously
I want to work on my straight punches, my hooks, my uppercuts, because
they're the simplest techniques and those are the punches that I
would count on over and over again.
The difference between Muay Thai and Muay
Boran comes when you apply other techniques to throw your opponent off. That's
when they throw the round punches, the slides and getting back out because you want
to make sure you keep your distance because you're also thinking about not getting taken down. And
then mixing all the other stuff, your hammer fist, your knuckle punches because then you're not
talking about sports fighting anymore. Because when you're talking about sport Muay Thai you're
really talking about fighting with your gloves on and when you're doing it with Muay Boran you
have to think about fighting bare knuckle. That's why we have the opportunity to use palm strikes to
the face, knuckle punches to the temple and these overhands and all these other techniques that are
very useful when you don't have your gloves on. But, as far as, the basics of concerned, they're
very very similar to Muay Thai because you have to make sure that you have a certain amount
of proficiency when you do these techniques.
You can't think about it, because he throws a
punch, you have to be able to block right away. If he throws a punch, then you have to parry,
you have to counter right away, then you can apply all these other sort of unorthodox punches,
elbows, knees and so on. And that's when you are able to apply all your Muay Boran techniques for
self-defense. In a real self-defense situation, we also have to consider the fact that, maybe
this person is not gonna be a trained fighter. Or maybe, he'll just stand there, trying to pick
a fight. If he tries to grab me, ok then I could just "boom", you know, "boom". I could just throw
techniques without having to worry so much about a counter per say or me having to bob and weave
and do other things that I would have to do if he was a trained fighter.
So self-defense
wise, it's a little bit different as well. Still, we have to take into consideration that
everything is done bare-knuckle. So even if I punch him, "boom", it will hurt more because I'm
punching him with my knuckles rather than wearing gloves. So if I hit him in the sternum area if
would still hurt, especially in the face. Of course, I can also used it to punch in the groin
and I could palm strike. I can do palm heel right there. So this is the difference between doing
it for sport and doing it for self-defense. Once you gain proficiency in the basics of
punching like I show you guys or girls with straight punches, hooks, uppercuts, then you
can apply all the unorthodox strikes like the overhands, the hammer fist, the knuckle
punches and so on, the palm strikes. And then, you also start thinking about
applying everything in broken rhythm. When I talk about broken rhythm, you're
talking about working on your timing. Timing and knowing when your opponent's
going to come in.
When he tries to come in, "boom" that's gonna be strike him, right.
When he tries to throw a jab, for instance, "boom" you have to counter right away. Even if
you have to attack the attack at the same time, so you have to have the timing. Also, you have
to work on faking, you know, fake and "boom", throwing your opponent off. Whatever you need
to do to throw them off, with a kick and then punch. So, these are different ways of throwing
broken rhythm also having timing that your opponent can't distinguish, as well as, applying
all your other weapons, such as, your kicks, your elbows, your knees and so on, okay. So,
all these things need to be done proficiently and you need to do it without having to think
about it for you to be comfortable with them.
If you cannot apply the basic punches,
then there's no reason to apply the unorthodox strikes. Yes, maybe if you do find
yourself in a situation this street. Maybe, if you throw a one overhand, one wild punch, maybe
it will work against an untrained opponent. But you can't count on that all the time because
it's not always going to work. So you first want to train your basic punches proficiently
before you start applying and adding all the unorthodox strikes that you see in Muay
Boran. And then, once you get the timing, once you get all the timing, the faking, the
broken rhythm and everything else in place, then you can move on to doing other techniques
or applying them in different ways, adding your other strikes, other takedowns and so on and
so forth, okay. So, the whole concept behind punching in Muay Boran. First, get the basics
just like you would in Muay Thai.
But you could go beyond that because it's not sport. You go into self-defense and practical applications. Then you can apply all your unorthodox striking,
punching and everything else that's in between..
