This move is called the Teep (Front push kick to the face). Using the sole of the feet right into a guys face is consider very rude in Muay Thai. Its seen as a sign of humiliating but also a sign of disrespect; the one who is hit by the dirty foot of the other fighter is made a bitch. There is also something to do something with budhism but I'm not sure. Whenever you see Muay Thai fighter in Thailand do this, they get get piss really easily. Thats why u rarly see it happen in matches.

Indeed. In Muay-Thai a Theep is mostly used to push your oponent away from you to give you a little airspace. This is very usefull in a fight to get the oponent away from you, since you can't just "dance" away like western boxing. If you run away from an oponent in a fight you actually get penalty points.

The Theep don't need to be very strong, but needs to be quick, orelse your oponent will either dodge it or grab your foot. But given enough power you can send your oponent flying.

And the Buddhist way is quite simple.
Your head is the most sacred part of your body, not only because it's on the top but also your mind is here and etc. While the feet are at the bottom and you use it to walk around with... Thai people walks around barefoot a great deal so ofcource your feet are dirty. So if you kick a persons head with your feet you are REALLY disgraceing your oponent... if he is Thai/Buddist that is. Most in the West thinks nothing of this tho.

Also if a Thaiperson is lying on the floor and just watching TV or relaxing for that mater, if the space is narow and you choose to just step over this person, if you move your feet over their head they will be REALLY angry I'm sure... They might cut you some slack because you are foreign but don't expect them to just lie there with a happy face.

And some think, "well how the heck can I really hit a guys head then?" Well thet's simple..... the Theep is using your foot, and unlike most martial arts... you don't kick using your feet in Muay-Thai. The kicks are with your legbone. This is the strongest bone in your leg so ofcource it's gonna hurt..... for him AND for you if you are not an experienced Muay-Thai fighter. I remember my first sparing fights. Just by blocking attacks I hurted like hell.

Hope this answered some of your questions.

ahhhh.. I can't log in, but never mind.

May I correct you guys?

That move is not exactly Teep. You may say that it's a kind of Teep, but there is a specific name for it. It's called Bata Loob Pak (foot touches face, and Sawatdee got this part right.)

I'll explain as the following.

OK. let's me say something straight forward. There are two kinds of Muay Thai:
1. Modern Muay Thai. It's the type that you guys see on the stage.
2. Ancient Muay Thai (we call it Muay Boran) as you see in the movie performed by Phanom Yeerum

Nowaday, it's hard to find somebody know about Muay Boran. But there are still few people who know it (I have done many reseach about Muay Boran). In Muay Boran, there are many major strikes(called Mae Mai) and minor strike(Luke Mai). Bata Loob Pak is one of the minor strikes.

In ancient time, if somebody was attacked by this move, he will end up with surrendering. It means that the guy who is being attacked has very poor skill. How poor? So poor that the opponent can bring the lowest part of the body to touch the highest part of him. And one more reason. The opponent could kill that guy, but he would not. Just let the poor guy lick on his foot. Those reason bring the surrendering.

Now I am going to talking about Teep.
Teep is the an action that the fighter execute by using his foot's palm (I don't know how to call it) hit any part of the opponent. Yes, Bata Loob Pak is a kind of Teep. But practically when we call teep, we refer to attacking oppponent's chest or ab to push oppnent away. And for this part, Okies has already explained.


There are lots for about Muay Boran to learn. And Muay Boran itself has many styles. For now I have heard there are 3 major kinds of Muay Boran.

1. Muay Koratch (heavy fist, tough strike) For this kind of style, the fighter will have rope cover from his hand to almost his elbow.(As we saw Phanom in the fight in the stage with the Burmese boxing) because he has to use arm to prevent powerful kicking strike.

2. Muay Lopburi (clever style) This kind of Muay Boran is hard to find now. From my knowledge, some said that it's already gone. So sad for me. .. One more this. The fighter will wear the rope from hands to the middle of his arms.

3. Muay Chaiya (good move) This Muay Boran is originated from Pranakorn(that's how we call Bangkok in the old time). But this style has been settled down in the south of Siam (Thailand). It evolves lots of grappling. So the fighter will wear the rope just from this hands to his wrists.

4.(In the near future) Tony Jaa claimed that he is going to invent his Muay Boran Style called Muay Phanom. I think we are going to see it in the movie, too.

Wow.. lots of typing.

Wow you really did your research I'm impressed. I even learned something there.

My Muay Thai teacher teaches us two different styles of Muay Thai, I forgot their names unfortunatly. One style like the one we are most common with in the ring wearing gloves. And the secone wearing either grapling gloves or just 5 meter long bangs on each hand.

This for alot of grapling and throw moves, not commonly seen in the ring but are tought.

MY guess are that there are some Muay Chaiya in this. Could be... My teacher is Thai so he speaks all the styles and moves in Thai and I tend to forget them unless I speak Thai daily.

From my knowledge, modern Muay Thai is not so hard to be good at it, but the training is really tough. For Muay Boran, training is not that tough, but it's hard to master those skills.

Here is the trade off.

modern Muay Thay: you'll have tough body because you earn it in training. You can see that in the ring in Thailand we don't have any out of shape fighters. The disadvantage is due to the extreme training you will ruin burn out very quick. Hey it's a kind of sport!

Muay Boran: It's not tough to train, but it will hard to master. Since it has lots lots of move to learn. And fighter himself can even develope and apply those skill to his style. It's more flexible and more deadly. yeahhh.. this is not sport anymore...Actually it was in the old day until somebody get killed. The goverment have changed some rules since that time... One more thing. If you practice this style, you will not burn out. It means you can keep doing it until the rest of your life as long as you can walk.

Thanks

I learned a lot about Muay Thai !!
Ongkot and Okies, since how many times are you praticing Muay Thai ?

I actually tried to post a reply last night but I lost my internet connection.

Well what I tried to say was that Modern Muay Thai boxing is an endurance sport like Ongkot said. The average "lifespan" on an Muay Thai fighter is in his mid/late 20s like my signature says.... And that's mostly because he burns/wears out his body. The human body can't endure such harsh treatment over a long period of time. Have you ever seen an old Muay Thai boxer in the ring in Bangkok? Not likely.

I learned that from my teacher the hard way (I started Muay Thai pretty late when I was 20) I just kicked my teacher lightly and it was ME who got hurt and HE just blocked... I haven't trained my legs to kick agains something as hard as a bone so after a few kicks my legs gave in and I couldn't stand anymore.

So Modern Muay Thai is buite brutal like Ongkot said. It's not a showe showart like Tae-Kwon Do or Wushu.

And Sawastdee, I usually only practice Muay Thai 2 times aweek, wich IS TOO little, however that's all I have time for. You know how we are in the west... too much work etc.

Okies.

If you are going back home this SonKran(Thai new year), go look for Muay Chaiya. It's in Bangkok.

I think here are the places you can go and find it.

1.Chulalongkorn University
2.Lumpini Park (this one is a park, not a boxing stadium... I tell u coz we have boxing stadium with the same name)
3.Ramkamhang University
and some more but I can't recognize the name.

I didn't have time to go try yet. But I garuntee that it's way better than the one in the ring.

My dad taught me when I was home. Nothing seriouse since I am not going to fight in the ring. I learn it since it belong to us, since it's fun, since I love it, and since it kept our country independence in the old day.

But after I graduate from my degree I am going to find a teacher for Muay Boran.
It would be fun...Lots of tactic... heheee. :cool:

I see, good for you Pii Ongkot.

I am in Thailand alot like 4 times a year, would you mind if we meeted up sometimes when you get back to Thailand.

And you are right about Muay Thai. It's our heritage Ongkot and we should be proud of it. I too have no plans in getting in the ring myself, but it's a great workout and I meat some nice people and I learn something about Thailand too.

Altho Myangmar has sacked Siam a few times, they never conquered it. So if it wasn't for the ancient Thai warriors you are right that Thailand remained independent. And since The Thai king (forgot wich Rama number he was, I'm sorry Ongkot) was a very modern man and accepted European culture to SOME extent, Thailand is the ONLY country in South East Asian that has NEVER been under European Colonial rule. Wich IS quite an acomplishment.

And Pii Ongkot, I'm not so familar with Krung Thep (that's Bangkoks name in Thai for those that don't know it.... well actually that is only a small fraction of the name, no WAY I remember the whole name, heh) since it is a BIG city (the city alone has more population than my ENTIRE country ) But I'll try to see if I find them. I got some family in Krung Thep so I might go when I visit them sometimes.

But then again, in Son Kran I'll bring my friend from Norway with me so I might just bring him along in some of the places you mentioned.


*phew* that was one long reply