What is Ancient Muay Thai and how come I haven’t seen it offered in many Muay Thai schools?
Ancient Muay Thai, aka Muay Boran, is the original Muay Thai that existed prior to Muay Thai becoming a national sport in Thailand. In the old days, fighters learned this skill to become soldiers for the king and fight for the country, or engage in empty hand combat with only hard rope wrapped on a fighter’s hands. Back then, fights did not have the rules they have in today’s Muay Thai fights. Ancient Muay Thai fighters used any skills they had available, including grabbing, throwing, rolling and breaking moves. They were even able to poke an opponent’s eyes, disable or kill since each fighter from the past had to sign a death agreement prior to fighting. Nowadays, there are some who claim to know ancient Muay Thai just by learning a few techniques or watching videos, yet what they teach is still mainly the modern version with a few classical moves. The reality of it is, most ancient Muay Thai masters did not show all their moves to most students, especially if one only learned for a f
