Quick question for you chaps... I came across this video when I was looking for knockouts from capoeira kicks. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBXlrvEA7nA"]MT?[/ame] One of the comments said that this is also an MT kick: "Actually it's a Muay Thai kick called the alligator kick and the Muay Thai fighter who provided this is a REAL MUAY THAI CHAMPION KNOWN FOR HIS KICKS." Quite simply...Is this kick taught and used in MT? I've messed around with Thai boxing and watched a fair few matches and I can honestly say I have never seen it taught in a gym or used in a ring. No worries or anything! Thanks
I've never seen it in Muay That but I'm hardly an expert on Muay Thai. It's not exclusive to Capoeira though, it's found in some Chinese systems and the flavour of the technique means I wouldn't be surprised if it was in South East Asian systems.
Yeah I've seen it at events, also there are a few pics on the net showing this at MT matches. Never been taught it though and as Sifu Ben says, won't be surprise with cross overs etc.
There's generally more to Muay Thai than people realise as the old favourites (low kick, knee, roundhouse, jab, cross) are the reliable fight winners and so predominate. The fighter in question (Saenchai) is known for this sort of stuff as, quite bluntly, he's good enough to pull them off even against other high level Thai's. However I doubt you'd get taught this in most Thai classes.
@Sifu Ben Yeah, I've seen it in Chinese systems. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think it was exclusive to capoeira. I wouldn't be surprised if pencak silat has something similar. I can honestly say I know very little about kicking, never seem to have done a martial art that used a lot of kicks.
I think doing the kick is easier than saying it's name... I'm actually getting quite good at it. I can do the first part...putting my hand on the ground, just need to work on the rest now.
First time I seen it called an alligator kick, but then anyone call anything...erm..anything I always thought it came from breakdancing
So I have just discovered... I wouldn't laugh at him for wearing pink shorts, I know that. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxBopyyImI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THxBopyyImI[/ame]
The kick I learned in MT as Alligator tail was more like the kick shown at 1:40 in the video Boris posted. Muay Thai, as PA said is much more varied than people realize. Many moves are not commonly used in fights. My instructor told me that many camps in Thailand "specialize" in certain moves or types of moves. The camp he learned at was know for their knee technique. Others he spoke of were known for elbows or kicks. I understood it was not uncommon for camps with "specialized" moves to perform them slightly differently than others.
Hi Boris Generally any Roundhouse that goes up and then swings down is referred to as a 'Crocodile Kick'. Particularly in Ring Rules Muay Thai. Usually this lands on the shoulder, collarbone or head from a standing position. So it's a high roundhouse that cuts down. You'll see an older and generally more practical use of this as the 'wiang' (to go around) 'jen' ('sp?') in Muay Chiaya, 'Ling Lom' (and others)...Where it's thrown to the knees. To collapse the structure. Or body (and usually absolutely lamps somebody) by turning the whole body and BANG! But Saenchai is an excellent fighter with his own take on ring-rules muay thai. So he does it in a Tony Jaa style...And posts on his hand with what most would think was a Capoeira technique. More dynamic kicks like this are in some of the older style Muay systems. As part of the master and minor tricks (mae mai, luk mai) of some muay systems these are taught. See Antonio Gracefello's 'Martial Arts Odyssey' (the 'muay boran' episodes) with Tony Jaa's teacher on Youtube for more details. You won't see this kind of thing in most ring rules muay thai gyms though. The 'Crocodile Kick' is not to be confused with the spinning backheel kick that PA Smith mentioned - Called 'Charoake Fad Hang' (many spellings) ('Crocodile Swings Tail').
I always thought this particular kick was known as the cartwheel kick? It's not terribly hard to do on pads, but I imagine it'd be hard to land on an opponent (never tried myself)
It's called a cartwheel kick in Thai And ANY kick is perfectly allowed in Thai boxing .. It's wether or not it is executed with power, effect and control as to wether of not it scores Technically the cartwheel kick is illigal in Thaiboxing though As the rules state that if a boxers glove touches the canvas then the boxer is "down" and would get an 8 count or warning
I know it as the Crocodile Kick...You know it as a Cartwheel Kick...You say Potato, I say Potaato... It's not exactly the thing I'd be trying. And unless you have Saenchai's madskillz I strongly suggest you don't either. But he has done it in matches no? I guess the ref just thinks 'hohum Saenchai again'.
Indeed, I was told a while ago by my trainer that the kick isn't allowed, but he's allowed to get away with it because he's Saenchai. .
Daggers is correct,the hands are not supposed to touch the floor in Muay Thai,Saenchai gets away with it in rings other than Lumpinee,I cant understand why no one has teeped him as he does it yet!
