His style is not muay thai boxing

but he has said himself that he uses thai boxing

He doesn't use the modern Muay Thai or Thai boxing like it's shown on TV. It's the ancient Muay Boran. Plus he adds own techniques to it, creates new moves for the movies.

I've only been in one fight in my whole life,in 7th grade, yet everyone thinks I'm a maniac

I have a feeling that "Muay Boran" is actually Bokator. I'm not trying to start something, but the ancient Thais stoled the style from the ancient Cambodians and passed it as their own. The ancient Thais & Cambodians have fought many wars with each other, mostly resulting in the Thais taking over some Cambodian land. Part of that land happens to be Surin--the area where Tony Jaa was born and raised. Surin,Thailand is where Cambodian blooded-Thai citizens live. For some reason the Thai government will not allow the Surins to say that they are Cambodians or read and write in Cambodian. They are only allowed to speak it. If Tony Jaa said that he practices Bokator, he'll probably get shot by a crazy Thai person. I'm not hating on Thai people, cuz I'm Thai myself.

As already stated. He himself has said he des Traditional Mauy Thai. Though i don't doubt the fact that it is probably Mauy Boran. AS for Thai's stealing the cambodian martial art, i have no info with which to dispute that, but maybe it is in the same context as the style Pentjak Silat, no one 'stole' it per se, it did influence many of it's neighbouring countries. Quite possible thats what happened here. Could quite possibly be that Mauy Boran had an influence on Krabbi Krabong. (sp?)

I do Mauy Thai, or at least a watered down version, And since when don't we do alot of knee & elbow strikes? Cos unless i've been getting trained wrong for 8 years, we do alot of knee & elbow strikes.

On top of that, i read alot of traditional training manuals, and you will never see a Thai ring fighter fight like Tony Jaa, due to the fact he uses traditional traditional mauy thai, not the modern version used in the ring. Not to mention Hanuman Crushes the City is illegal to use in a ring since it's designed to kill an opponent.

On the topic of his blood. Sure he's cambodian, doesn't stop him from doing thai.. same as me being Australian doesn't stop me

I'm not saying that he can't do Thai boxing, I'm saying that people really don't know what his style really is. He's restricted from the Thai government to say what he actually practices. Like U said modern Muay Thai has no elbow strikes, the traditional one--derived from Bokator does. As for U being Australian, it's fine that U practice your boxing, but your form of boxing might not be what U think it is.

"In his movies, he does lots of elbow and knee strikes, and muay thai boxing does not have that." wathaneeketh

I couldn't disagree more. As any student of muay thai will tell you, muay thai is the fighting art of eight weapons - (2x arms, 2x elbows, 2x knees, 2x legs). The original fighting art used some incredible elbow and knee strikes, but they're a bit slow for modern competition. Knees and elbows are as much a weapon in muay thai as punches and shin strikes. In fact, elbow strikes are so effective they're not usually seen in modern fights - especially not international fights. Genuine thai fights have a type of 'gentleman's agreement' not to use them. If one fighter used elbow strikes, the other fighter would also - but it is in neither of the fighters interests. Muay thai fighters compete in a huge amount of bouts during their careers - some fight several times a week. Obviously elbow strikes would put a large number of fighters out of competition for long periods, so they're not generally seen.

Perhaps you've seen K1 competitions. But I can assure you, muay thai uses both knees and elbows devestatingly. Perhaps, the next time you want to appear the authority on a subject, you should talk about something you know, maybe even practice.

For the record, I personally think Tony blends muay thai with his incredible gymnastics to make a martial art which leaps at you from the screen. Akin to wushu. Muay thai and JKD/gung fu are both stripped down and effective, whereas for the big screen the directors want big leaps, flying kicks and lots of somersaults.


"People generally quarrel because they cannot argue." Gilbert K. Chesterton

Modern Muay Thai still has elbow strikes and knees, unless they're selling it to you as muay thai when it is really kickboxing. Just watch proffesional Muay Thai fights. However, in MMA matches like the UFC, they aren't usually allowed to do elbows to the head.

deavenger quote:
in MMA matches like the UFC, they aren't usually allowed to do elbows to the head.

UFC fighters are indeed allowed to throw elbows to the head and face. Back of the head? Not so much.