Muay Korat is the Muay Boran
Style of the city of Korat short for Nakhon Ratchasima
located in North-East Thailand The main features of Muay Korat are
powerful punches and front kicks The style's signature strike is a Front
Swing a round-arm strike that lands with the fist and forearm It is called Mahd Wiang Kwai which means "Buffalo Hurling Punch" because it is deemed to be so
powerful to be able to hurl a Buffalo The stance is narrow and tall the hands are placed at chest height and are slightly extended Phra Hensamahan, the governor of Korat during the early 20th century is regarded as the patriarch of the style while the most influential Grand Master of Muay Korat is Bua Wat-Im which fought during the golden age of Muay Boran in the 20th century actively improved and passed down the art until our days.
In the Muay Korat line of Grand Master Bua who studied from Phra Hensamahan there are 5 Mae Mai Kru, which means Master Fundamental Techniques and 21 Mae Mai Boran, which means Ancient Fundamental Techniques among the latter there is a double leg takedown the cartwheel kick, nowadays largely used by Saenchai and various feints Muay Korat is one of the Muay Boran styles with the most developed use of headbutts, counting 5 different variations A peculiarity of Muay Korat is the straight fists which are thrown with a vertical Fist and land with the last 3 knuckles as depicted in the most ancient Muay Boran manuscript ever found In Muay Korat the rope wraps are wrapped from the hand to most of the forearm to help block the powerful round strikes of the style If you want to learn more about the rational history of Muay Boran my new book is a must-have it is available in every Amazon store in digital or paperback format The historical rival of Muay Korat is Muay Chaiya find out its features in under 2 minutes
