Muay Thai is one of the deadliest martial arts worldwide. If you decide to learn it, you’ll become an extremely competent fighter if you put in the time and effort to learn it. Indeed, it’ll require you to invest a lot of effort, but you’ll become an extremely capable fighter, who can throw deadly strikes.
Muay Thai is as deadly as it gets since you’ll learn to hurt your opponent as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. You’ll do that by throwing knee strikes, elbows, kicks, and punches. You’ll also learn to control the distance between you and your opponent and utilize that to your advantage.
Overall, you’ll learn a plethora of unique and potent fighting techniques. All of them will allow you to inflict a lot of damage on your opponent.
The only way you’ll understand just how deadly it is—is by actually training in it, particularly sparring. When you get low-kicked in your leg, you’ll feel the excruciating pain that comes along with it. I once got low-kicked and wasn’t able to run for a week; just because of a single kick.
What we’ll cover in this article is how deadly Muay Thai really is. Likewise, we’ll review ways you want to keep in mind and implement to keep yourself as safe and injury-free as possible.
Table of Contents:
Is Muay Thai a Deadly Sport
All martial arts were born with a purpose. For the most part, their purpose is to teach the world how to fight. However, some do it better than others. In the case of Muay Thai, aka “the art of eight limbs”, it’s one of the most effective martial arts in the world, and it’s also a widespread sport.
Muay Thai is one of the deadliest and most dangerous sports worldwide. This is why many rules exist to serve the goal of ensuring that no fighter leaves the ring with permanent damage. That said, there were a few instances where a Muay Thai fighter died from sustaining a brain injury after a fight.
Muay Thai fighter Petchkeng Kaiyanghadao on Saturday became the second Thai boxer in recent weeks to die after sustaining a brain injury in the ring.
SOURCE
Although these instances are fairly rare, you want to be careful and steer away from trouble by taking as many precautions as possible. We’ll soon review three of these precautions that might just save you from an injury or two.
Learn more about the deadliest martial arts worldwide by following this link.
So, let’s now dive into the part where you need to pay the most attention. How to remain safe while training Muay Thai.
How to Stay Safe in Muay Thai
Alright. We’re now at the most interesting part. The thing is, you want to make sure you’re as safe as possible when you do Muay Thai. However, it can sometimes be difficult, for many reasons.
Here are precautions you want to always keep in mind that will help you minimize injuries and return home safely.
Tip #1 – Wear Protective Equipment
The first tip is to ALWAYS wear protective gear. This should be obvious, but I see many fighters punching barehanded and sparring without shin guards. To put it simply, you must wear them during training. When we examine the equipment you want to have when you do Boxing, we won’t see shin guards on that list.
However, Muay Thai is the art of eight limbs, which means that it has more contact points. Likewise, you can hit both the opponent’s lower and upper body. Consequently, you’ll need to wear more protective gear, which also includes shin guards.
Especially when sparring, but throughout the entire training session, you must wear the following equipment:
You can also put on a groin protector, which I definitely recommend. Follow the links on the list to read about the most protective item (if you click on hand wraps, then the most protective hand wraps) for your money.
Also, you want to wear headgear. If you want to see the list of the best head guards for Muay Thai, to avoid brain damage, follow this link.
Tip #2 – Spar Lightly
The second tip is to spar lightly. From my experience in Muay Thai training, most of the hits you’ll get to the head will be when sparring, and not from actual competitions or fights. Let’s look at it this way, for every competition you attend, let’s assume one month of intense sparring (there’s probably going to be more than that.)
In a month of Muay Thai intense training that mostly includes spars, let’s say you’ll spar for 20 hours, which is a reasonable time. 20 hours of spars! That includes so many more hits than in 3-3 minute-long rounds!
Ensure you spar lightly most of the time to minimize the risk of injuries.
As you can see in the video above, light sparring can still be intense and teach you a lot.
Tip #3 – Listen to Your Body
The last tip is to listen to your body. What better indicator of injuries is there than what experiences the pain and damage? When your body tells you to stop training, cease all training. Don’t push it far beyond its limits.
I’m not suggesting you stop fighting every time you get hit. But, if you feel a certain pain is a sign of injury and not of conditioning, make sure to stop the fight and consult with your coach.
Treat your body well and it’ll treat you well.
How Common Are Injuries in Muay Thai?
Muay Thai is a dangerous martial art. You want to keep yourself as safe as possible during your training and your fighting journey. For the most part, injuries are an inevitable part of Muay Thai. So let’s see how common these injuries are:
In Muay Thai fights, around 50% (one in two fighters) will experience some type of injury. The most common injuries are hand, shin, head, face cuts, and other joint injuries. These can mostly be avoided by wearing protective gear. But as one study suggests, injuries are inevitable.
Of the 195 respondents,108 (55.4%) reported sustaining an injury during the most recent fight.
SOURCE
If you want to learn which injuries are most common in Muay Thai and how to avoid and minimize them, follow this link.
Final Words
Muay Thai is dangerous. I want you to follow the precautions I gave you, as these are the most important ones. These are the ones you’ll take and they’ll keep you safe from so many injuries out there.
If you feel the slightest pain in your wrist and you think that it might be a sign of injury, stop all fighting. Listen to your body and receive its feedback.
Leave all ego aside; nobody is going to make fun of you for wanting to keep yourself safe when you think you got injured.
I wish you all the luck in the world in your Muay Thai journey, and here are articles you’ll benefit from reading:
How to Teach Yourself Muay Thai – Can It Be Self-Taught?
Muay Thai – Can It Cause Brain Damage? (Backed by Research)
Muay Thai – Why and How It Reduces Stress and Anger (List)