In November 2022, Kru Keng who is one of the senior trainers at Chinnarach Muay Thai was asked (with only two hours' notice) to fight one of Koh Phangan's best fighters. Despite having been retired and not fought for over 10 years, he agreed to take the fight. We all thought he was totally crazy. But it turned out to be one of the fights of the year! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4QkF39_9xI&t=698s ..read more

Muay Khao is a perhaps the most feared of the fighting styles. These fighters specialize in applying overbearing and relentless pressure, constantly closing the distance, never allowing a moment's rest, and then dominating the clinch where they use brutal knees, elbows and their superb conditioning to drain the strength of their opponents. When used effectively it is a very difficult style to counter, even for the most talented strikers. Muay Khao takes conditioning, durability, awareness of your opponent's weight distribution, and the ability to deliver knees and elbows at close range. In thi ..read more

Almost everyone who watches Muay Thai fights in Thailand has at some point been confused why a decision went a certain way. This is because the scoring system in Thailand can be quite different to how Muay Thai fights are scored in other parts of the world, such as Europe or North America. Here we provide a brief summary of what fight judges and referees in Thailand take into consideration when making their decision.. (1) Three-round fights: In a 3 round fight, all rounds are supposed to be given equal weighting. However, rounds 2 and 3 are often given higher priority by judges. (2) Five-rou ..read more

By J. M. Phelps and Henry Johnson In the whole of combat sports, there is arguably no technique more devastating than the Muay Thai low kick. But according to a senior trainer at Chinnarach Muay Thai in Koh Phangan, Thailand, it takes more than just a strong pair of shins to turn it into an effective weapon in the ring. Photo credit: Henry Johnson Kru Keng (Pichit Nukla) is from Trang Province in Thailand, and since joining the team at Chinnarach Muay Thai in 2022, he has helped to prepare dozens of fighters for competition. He began fighting at the age of nine, participating in over 155 figh ..read more

By J.M. Phelps Incapacitating elbow strikes helped an Australian fighter become one of the most recognizable Westerners to ever compete in Muay Thai, and one of the most dangerous fighters of all time. Photo credit: nathan-corbett.com Nathan “Carnage” Corbett collected 11 world title belts between 2003 and 2013. “The man with the golden elbows” dominated light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and heavyweight divisions for an entire decade. In 65 fights, he knocked out 44 opponents and accumulated 59 victories. Today, the world renowned, well-respected Australian fighter is a highly sought after tr ..read more

By Henry Johnson Have you noticed that when people in Thailand discuss a fighter's record, they only talk about how many fights they have had? And not how many wins or losses? In almost all other combat sports (boxing, MMA, wrestling, jujitsu, etc), the ratio of wins to losses is a huge factor in the career of a fighter. But not in Muay Thai. Why is that? That's because in Thailand, everyone involved in Muay Thai understands that in order to improve, fighters need to be constantly facing opponents much better and more experienced than themselves. In fact, all trainers, gym owners and promoters ..read more

By Henry Johnson Because Muay Thai also involves so many weapons (punches, kicks, knees and elbows), knockouts can often happen without warning. But the most successful fighters set up their knockouts by purposely establishing a narrative that sets traps for their opponents. The higher the level of the fighter, the more complex these traps can become. Photo credit: This is Muay Thai However perhaps the most basic (but effective) example of this is by changing levels, as shown in the first round head-kick knockout by Chinnarach Muay Thai fighter Krikthong against Sornsuek from Kiatpaison on 1 ..read more

By Henry Johnson Padwork is arguably the most important aspect of Muay Thai training because it is where everything you learn comes together. Padwork is as close to real-life fighting as one can get without stepping into the ring - testing your technique, offense, defense, timing, movement, conditioning and power against a moving target that can hit back. Photo credit: Chinnarach Muay Thai, Koh Phangan In a Muay Thai fight, the judges are looking for clean strikes delivered with power, and this is where padwork differs from sparring. In sparring, even heavy sparring, you are always holding ba ..read more

Anyone who has watched a Muay Thai fight will have noticed the particularly loud and animated crowd on one side of the ring. They are the gamblers. As the fight progresses they get more and more excited, cheering every time their fighter lands a strike, screaming advice and even promising money to each fighter in between rounds if they win. In fact, it can be argued that they create the atmosphere at any Muay Thai venue. Many people think that gambling is illegal in Thailand and that the betting at Muay Thai stadiums is simply tolerated. But this is not the case. Under the Gambling Act (B.E ..read more

If you watch a lot of Muay Thai fights, you will notice that some fighters always clinch, knee and elbow if they have the chance, and some prefer to avoid the clinch and strike at range using their speed and deception. Some are powerful punchers, and some hardly ever throw a punch preferring to dominate using their kicks. The fact is that there are many different strategies in Muay Thai, and over the decades these have been grouped and classified into 5 distinct styles. 1. MUAY KHAO (knee fighter) Muay Khao is a perhaps the most feared of the fighting styles. They specialize in applying overbe ..read more