This is the knickname for Muay Thai in Thailand. It is the eastern concept of what 'boxing' is, and it is one of the best self defense systems ever created. It is up there with boxing, karate, and tai chi.
Muay Thai is complete kickboxing where punching, kicking, kneeing, and elbows are allowed. Throws and submissions are not allowed. It is the pure art of striking and conditioning. This style of kickboxing has been going on since the 1700s, but has only been civilized, in a ring with gloves since the 1930s when Europeans where in Thailand. Muay Thai started as an extension of the weapons tactics of the Thai army. Thailand was never conquered by Imperialistic European forces. They fought for their freedom, and they stayed free.
Muay Thai is obviously very brutal and very competitive. It takes more skill and knowledge than western boxing, but is still hardcore, competitive, and full of anger. Had I not been a fool, I would have stuck with Muay Thai and not vascillated between Olympic combat sports like boxing and judo for so long. I don't regret my self defense education, but I could have done it better. But those days are gone.
The thing is, the atmosphere of a boxing gym or Muay Thai gym is very different from a judo dojo. They are self defense athletes, so all they know is punching and kicking full contact. It is not a real sport, it is legal self defense, and they are all egotistical and proud. I have the strength and athleticism of a boxer, but I don't have the courage and anger and hatred. I am not an angry man who wants to fight. Judo is physical education, and the point is to win by countering the aggression not by attacking.
It turns out, Judo has little to do with self defense, and nothing to do with combat. Judo is a foundational skill like collegiate wrestling, and teaches you to stand, not fall down easily, not be pinned, get off your knees, gripfight, breakfall, and transition. It turns out Aikido is a better martial art than Judo, but everyone wants to be the champion and no one wants to be the master.
I trained mostly shootfighting, judo, and sambo. The shootfighting training made me very experienced at groundfighting, and I excelled the other judoka in matwork. But Judo was a vital part of my life, and I spent my entire prime, my late 20s, playing judo. It culminated in playing Sambo and that was the best martial arts experience of my life. Sambo is a combination of wrestling and judo, and is the ideal thing for military men to learn. It was my way of serving in the military and making good on what could have been.
So I wasted my atheltic potential in boxing and muay thai but gained something else instead. I mastered wrestling on the feet, and this made me very mentally tough and determined. Judo makes you mentally tough, it makes you a winner. That is why we can use it as physical education, because you learn how to win and lose and not despair.
Combat means stealth and weapons, and has nothing to do with fighting fair to see who is better. Self defense itself is a combat sport, and you can do any sport you want to and master self defense. I myself like wrestling on the feet, and have been good at it since my youth. Even in my high school days I was a good wrestler, I just got pinned easily. I quit wrestling in 1994, but started judo in 2004. So between those ten years, a lot happened. I am an experienced man.
Had I stayed with Muay Thai, I would have been rich, married, and established by now. Every sparring teacher I had in youth is successful because they are hard working, outgoing, monogamous, and understand reality. I saw Royce Gracie in the early UFCs and thought judo/jiu-jitsu is better than boxing. I was naive because i am from a rich Jewish suburb shielded from real combat and violence. Jews are nonviolent by nature.
At least judo and sambo made me tough, and I know self defense. Every man in America thinks self defense is for children, and combat is what makes you 'the fittest'. But this is the opposite of Christian virtue and wholesomeness. Self defense makes you a good man, and Combat makes you an evil criminal. America is all about business and warfare, and the best athletes are black, hispanic, or from Russia, where they have a different worldview.
2020 is an Olympic year, and I will be looking forward to the judo event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Sambo is not an Olympic sport, neither is Muay Thai. Judo is the only Olympic sport that allows submissions like chokeholds and armbars. The definitive moment where uki must give up or be injured or killed.
I am now a retired athlete and can only watch from the sidelines. But I remember the past, and will never forget what it was like to be young. By 30, you are already old for Olympic sport, by 40, you are slow. But there is still things you can do in martial arts and sport and fitness. But everyone knows age 18 to 35 is your best athletic years. Man is not immortal, at least not physically.
So I will continue to admire combat athletes like wrestlers and judoka and despise actual criminals who want to hurt you. The hero fights the good fight, but doesn't actually fight. The real fight is to do the right thing, and live a meritorious life.
Had I had it all to do again, I would have trained Muay Thai and not Judo. Some wrestlers use wrestling to stay up, not to go to the ground. So I wasted my boxing/muay thai potential. But as my life continues, I realize my other talent, music, is something that can't be lost. Muay Thai is for young people. music can be done from age 8 til 80. So I will never stop doing music, it is not dependent on physical strength or conditioning.
So the Hindus are right when they say, 'Everything you lose will come back to you in a different way.' I lost martial arts but gained music. And my scholastic educations didn't help me at all. So start your extra curricular activities in youth and do what you want to do. Do your hobbies long enough, and they become your profession. This is what I am trying to teach the youth.
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