I am taking muay thai classes, and later after I complete my school internships I plan to crosstrain in boxing. This made me think about rampage jackson because he practices muay thai and boxing. I was wondering, if both muay thai and boxing have entirely different footwork, then how do they mix it up. If a mixed martial artist practices both boxing and muay thai which footwork stance do they stay in when doing mma. Do they just throw all the punches they learned in boxing while they just stay in the muay thai stance?
I am thinking thats how they do it because if I'm remembering right, Rampage Jackson usually throws punches instead of kicks, but I think he uses muay thai footwork while he is doing it.
"Traditional" Muay Thai stance doesn't work so well for MMA matches. I don't think I've ever seen a MMA fighter use that stance. Also in "traditional" Muay Thai punching power tends to come from the shoulder. Western boxing punches harder because power is generation starts with the legs and more of the body is involved. MMA fighters tend to use a more western boxing stance and punching style with the Thai kicks. I'm headed to the movies but will post some pictures later of the differences in stance.
This is a western boxing stance. This is the Muay Thai stance as I learned it. You don't see this much in MMA. I have been told this stance makes you more vulnerable to the type of takedowns that are used in MMA.
The typical mma stance is a little more square than the traditional Western Boxing stance, as I understand.
The boxing stance is pretty easy to adjust to an MMA stance, the MMA stance is very similar but a bit shallower. If you try to fight in a bladed stance (side-on) it leaves you vulnerable to leg-kicks as well as takedowns. I think that the traditional Thai Stance doesn't translate well to MMA or boxing as it sacrifices mobility for the ability to quickly check kicks (weight stays predominantly over the rear foot). If you want to combine Muay Thai kicks with Boxing handwork then I would either check out the Dutch kickboxing style which uses similar footwork to boxing, but tends to be more planted and therefore a bit less mobile than boxing footwork. Otherwise take a look at Savate which is a French art which blends an old kickboxing style with boxing, and utilises a more mobile style of footwork than most forms of kickboxing (possibly sacrificing a bit of power for mobility).
Muay Thai has 4 foot positions,weight on both feet flat,weight on both feet heels upraised,weight on back foot front heel only raised,weight on front foot rear heel only raised,all used for different purposes
I wouldn't use Rampage Jackson as an example of muay thai in mma. He rarely kicks (ever?) And is notoriously bad at checking leg kicks (that's how Griffin beat him). He's more your wrestle/boxer. He's got great mma boxing though and fights well in the pocket with slick telephone blocks and counter punching. There isn't really anyone with a full thai flavour to their game in mma but some good examples of facets of Thai in evidence. Anderson Silva from the double collar clinch, Matt Brown's elbows and trips from the clinch, Aldo's, Barao's and Alves leg kicks are all damned good.
Bas Rutten stated he kept a very square on stance. Positives being easier to defend take downs (as well as shooting). Sozynski also had this stance but he kept his hands far and wide. Anyway with the MT and Boxing comparisons. I don't stand in the traditional MT stance as much (more on the back foot, front leg bent and on the ball) I keep more on the 50/50 stance, front foot pointing forward, rear foot pointing outward. My hands are a little forward and mid height. When I teach tho, I shout that hands should be "high"! I spar in boxing as well (trying to compete). And I found that I can bob and weave more than I can compared to MT. As if you do too low in MT, you eat a knee. I am more of an inside fighter though. So whenever I teach/coach, I try to keep everything as technical as possible but I do also work around each person's individual "style/personality".
MMA is more than the sum of its parts. And in both Muay Thai and Western boxing, there is more than just once "stance". The one thing I see done in MT that I don't see hardly at all in boxing is rocking back and forth and sometimes (relatively) high-stepping the leg, presumably to guard against low kicks. That might work for MMA if your opponent is known for low kicks and has no intention of taking you down. While not that specific footwork, I have seen the stance most associated with Muay Thai, the one with the weight on the rear foot while the lead foot touches with the ball of the foot (similar to the cat stance in karate), used once or twice; notably, Machida-Rua 1, and I think a match with Kurt Pellegrino in it, where both opponents assumed that stance. I've noticed Nak Muay Rambaa Somdet tends to use a wider, flatter-footed stance in his MMA matches than in his kickboxing/Muay Thai matches, though the alignments of his hips and feet seem pretty much the same in both (lead foot pointed at the opponent, hips somewhat square). The stance you assume should be optimized for what your strategy is. In MMA, there are more variables than in striking-only sports. If I turn my lead leg inward, I'm more subject to outside leg kicks, but I lengthen my jab and "feed" a single-leg to my opponent, taking my rear leg from them; if I point my lead foot towards them, I can check kicks and shoot in easier, but also take some power off of my rear hand. I mean, there's no "one size fits all" stance or footwork.
The great thing about MMA is the individuality of each fighter. Some will be more Strikers/Grappers/all rounders. In turn, one has to adapt against the opponent as well. So for example, being in a Shogun style MT stance might not work as well (for you) against certain people. Machida has been throwing people off with his stance and it works well for him, however you can see a recent Japanese Karateka addition to UFC who adopts a similar stance and its not working for him. So when you boil down to it, its "stance+technique+ability". We are starting to see a re-emergence of moves where in early 90's MMA, were given an upturned nose. Now we got crescent moon kicks, JKD style foot>shin kicks and even Reverse Punches. GSP, considered to be a great striker because he uses "jabs". Which is the first punch you learn in many styles! He was using a round kick quite a bit, then Joe Rogan taught him how to do it "properly" (video can be seen via 10th Planet). Very much in agreement with this as well. Some people do not use head movement as much as they should. There's obvious risks as I previously mentioned (Silva was great at it, till the KO). I do remember that very early on in MMA, to block a low kick (lets say a kick to your outside front)...to minimise any chance of a takedown and to prevent any balance issues; instead of raising the checking leg high up, you just turn the shin outward and barely raise it. You don't see this as much anymore, what I do see in MMA though, is a lot of "lazy looking" leg checks, where the leg is simply raised and the impact is transferred through. (unlike what happened to Silva).
