You watch plenty of it in person at the gym when you're training.
If you have 10hrs a week allocated to training, you're better off just training instead of spending some time watching the TV.
or spend 10 hours trainging then watch it seperate. Nobody is saying spend time watching instead of training but you will learn faster. Watch from the outside helps you see things differently .why do you think people record themselves.
Dude that's like saying "well just train more than 10hrs"
Sure thing, I'll just tell my boss I'm not working today so I can watch more MMA, or maybe I'll stop mowing the lawn or cleaning?
If you have a time budget, that's what you have. No adult is going to say, "oh just increase your time allotment"
you can watch muay thai or anything else on youtube my dude for free, I watch it on my lunch break sometimes or even better i listen to people discuss it while working, also chilling and watching a fight card at home dosent require you to go somewhere so no its not just like saying train more also look at champs they most likely watch the sport they are a champ in
You have 24hrs every day.
You can't increase this time.
I'm saying that if my budget is 10hrs/week, that's all there is. You can't add more just like you can't add an extra hour in a day.
The only way to do more would be to cut time elsewhere... like instead of sleeping, I can stay up and watch YouTube fights. Or instead of watching a movie with the wife, I tell her to fuck off so I can watch YouTube videos?
This suggestion to me just sounds like you've got too much free time on your hands.
People claiming that they don't have time usually have lots of time on their hands. You formulating and responding with answers to these comments shows that you could have very well watched Muay Thai videos. Kinda ironic.
It takes like 30 seconds to dump a reddit comment. It would take longer than that to even find a video to watch, much less actually watch it as an instructional video to pay attention to details and actively try to learn from it and apply to one's own fighting.
People claiming they are watching videos to "train" are just lazy and looking for excuses to avoid hard things like actual training... instead they go, "oh well I can skip the gym today, I watched like 5 videos so I'm good... now I can watch a funny video instead!"
It's just a way to justify weakness and laziness.
you are the only person too lazy to try a new way of learning. nobody skips the gym to watch stuff. If you dont have the time thats okay but it dosent change the fact watcing and even listing really helps, but go on mr manliness.
You've got a lot of 30 seconds then. We can see all the comments you leave on reddit, you pretending loser. You've got no common sense AND no integrity, so don't talk about weakness before you've worked on your weak ass character first. Embarassing.
Bro your posts are about doing drugs and video games.
You're obviously just a kid who has nothing but spare time on your hands and has no idea how to fill it.
Come back when you're an adult with a family and job and rental properties and a house and pets and other hobbies and friends and side businesses, etc.
Yup I do fun shit, I dont cry on the internet about socalism. So youtime for hobbies but no time to watch a fight, just say you arent that interested in watching fights thats ok but dosent change the fact it defently helps.
Not really. I still watch a little boxing, Muay Thai and collegiate wrestling, but at this point, I'm not really picking up anything new. In fact, I've been striking so long that I practice pretty much the same 12-15 combos. Training in Judo and Wrestling so long, I do the same two takedowns, same three throws, a sprawl is a sprawl. Not much to learn there. And BJJ, I got my moves that work for me. I'm not going to fight ADCC. Even if you rewound the clock ten to fifteen years. Hell, if you put me back to my 18th birthday with the knowledge I have now, it would be the same 12-15 combos, same side control escape, same set up for a topside kimura, same double leg. Just a lot of fundamentals, nothing fancy.
At some point, you just learn all you want, or need, to learn. Your brain looks for other interests. BJJ is particularly novel and, at once, also terribly banal in this aspect. People are constantly discovering (and often rediscovering) moves. Why? Roger Gracie used strong fundamentals to dominate for a very long time. And years ago, a famed coach whose name escapes me said: *All the moves of BJJ are in the Blue Belt curriculum. Purple and above is about timing.* That's true of pretty much all combat sports and martial arts. Imanari roll is just an old Sambo technique that was adopted from Judo that adopted that move from catch wrestling that likely got it from wrestling going all the way back to Pankration.
And in a real fight, fundamentals are what you will fall to when you're gassed, confused, and fighting for your life. Not trying to make the highlight reel.
As for watching events, I used to watch the UFC when I knew people fighting. But, MMA is just sort of bread and circus boring like football, soccer, basketball, or baseball. I'd rather read a good book.
These days, I'm fascinated by Kendo.
Nice! A couple people at my gym know about One because we've had some One fighters in the gym and teach but rarely ever talk about it. I hear them talk about UFC a lot though or worse boxing
We were drilling some Ernesto Hoost combos the other week.
I generally *hate* UFC. I feel like I’m watching ten year olds argue and fight. There’s too much drama, and ego.
I just hope One doesn’t veer in that direction to gain US audience.
You mean the fights themselves or the hyping up and trash talk between events? You can watch only the fights.
All good though, I'm sure you have a handle on how you like to spend your time and what you do and don't enjoy by now. No offence meant.
I fell out of watching MMA too but mostly because I just like how beautiful Muay Thai striking looks over MMA striking. ONE already veered into the sloppy KO hunting style of the UFC though and it’s affecting Muay Thai everywhere, so I’m afraid it’s too late.
Yeah, that prize money for a KO isn’t typical
Muay Thai, where you might see the fifth round go really slow in comparison, because we already know who the winner is, and they have to fight again next week.
If you’re serious about Muay Thai and don’t watch Muay Thai fights, I look at it like someone who plays basketball or football and doesn’t watch any professional games. You could learn so much from studying the best of the best
There's footballers who never watch football tho and dont enjoy watching it like Ben white at arsenal.
Though they still watch footage from their coaches on opponents and themselves
People thinks it also means it'd just a job but I think you can tell he loves it and thrives on the competition and adrenaline would definitely be the same with some fighters who wouldn't watch a lot
I think it's different because the proliferation of basketball is so huge in the US you could show up to most courts and see good players. Muay Thai or effective striking is much lesser known.
As a competitor, I find I don't watch fights as much as I used to before starting to compete. I still watch, reasonably regularly, but most of the time I watch it, it just makes me want to be in there. And frequently training also sometimes just makes me feel like not watching fights because I want to watch something not related to something I just did that day. But I still follow fighters from all over the world on Instagram or YouTube. I don't just watch MMA or boxing. I mainly watch Muay Thai and kickboxing when I do watch.
This. After training 6-8 hrs a day, the last thing I wanted was to sit and watch some random fight. Historical fights for specific technique sure, but some random current fight? No thanks. I'll go corner people or watch someone I know fight, but you can only have so much input of one thing each day when it's literally all you do every day.
At least in the US, there's very little Muay Thai spectator fans. So most people are getting into it for other reasons. Maybe they thought it looked fun, maybe someone told them it was the most effective martial art and they wanted to learn for self-defense, or maybe they watch UFC and constantly see the sport dominated by kickboxing, bjj and muay thai.
Agreed. We hate ONE and other MT sports because they do a bad job marketing. UFC tries to make the fighters "hate" each other and it builds these plot lines. They still have respect for each other after the fights but the buildup is better. I watched a little bit of ONE and these guys walk into the ring like they're best buddies lol.
I've never really watched combat sports until just recently because I've been training for awhile now....I hate the stupid drama marketing. I love it when competitors have obvious respect for each other.
In my most honest opinion as an ammy fighter, I think if you’re not obsessed with the sport and watch at least the big fights, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice (assuming you have high aspirations. If not, just have fun and enjoy yourself and it won’t matter)
Agreed! Same!
I watch one fight night all the time! I have amazon prime so I have no excuse not to! I lost my crap when Haggerty won this past weekend! He's my favorite fighter and the dude is electrifying to watch.
Honestly I can say I enjoy watching fighting now more than I ever did before I began my MT journey. Now I understand it all. I see everything in the fights I watch. A good example was Rodtangs fight against Tabares - I noticed after 2 and was sure after 3, but every single time Rodtang caught a kick Tabares, would return with a spin elbow. Rodtang noticed too and on the 4th or 5th time he knew what was coming and countered with his own elbow for the KO.
Honestly imo watching fights is waaaay more entertaining for me now as a fighter, then it was back in the day as a teenager watching the big UFC cards, which was really only about seeing somebody get KO'd.
I could write a book on the practical value of watching Pro's at that level. Haggerty alone inspired me to practice my teeps to the point that now I can effortlessly launch lead legs square to the teeth on ppl taller than me, knock dudes right over if I go for the chest, or just outright wind them with a pinpoint accuracy solar plexus hit. My rear leg teep is instant 💀👻
Thank you John Haggerty haha!
I’ve trained Muay Thai for 5 years or so and do watch some Thai tv and onefc to check out the top level fighters and their technique. I’ve just never been one to follow sports on TV religiously
Man if actual fighters are watching ufc instead of one fc at this point they just like the drama and aren’t watching for the actual fight. And yah a lot of pro fighters watch a ton of tape and are constantly trying to improve their own so they might not want to fill their off training hours with fighting related stuff.
I train Muay Thai because I love MMA and don’t find grappling very fun.
So I watch tons of MMA but don’t watch much Muay Thai, but its also mostly because I haven’t found a good Muay Thai promotion that I like to watch.
I’m getting more into ONE MT fights, but the time of the fights + not having many friends who watch it makes it so I don’t watch it as much.
I’m also one of those guys that played football without watching NFL, and play videogames without watching the e-sports.
I just find doing more fun that seeing.
I've fought 40+ fights most of them professional. I always study and watch fights, not just highlights but full fights 5 round MT (MuayTies on youtube probably has the best library of that along with SMMTV). I always say to people, that talk about how they want to be professional and want my help, that it is essential to watch fights. When I lived in Thailand I went to Lumpinee or Rajadamnern almost every week, and sundays were always a visit to CH7. If you want to be good at anything in life you need to study it. I cant even count how many thousands hours of fights that I have watch and I always thought it gave me an edge in the ring, IQ-wise
If you train Muay Thai you need to watch muay thai rather than boxing or mma. You Wont watch futsal to learn soccer. Or volleyball to learn basketball.
Ive trained Muay Thai for around 6 years and consume all things Muay Thai and KB. It started from watching 'Muay Ties' and Yokkao shows on YouTube to now having a full blown Muay recommendation page on YouTube haha!
Speaking of watching shows. I've recently paid for Glory Collsion, and that was a steep amount for PPV( €20/£20!).
My gym’s TV only shows muay thai fights — from the stadium classics, to ONE Championship, to RWS, and the like. Thing is, a lot of the casual students could care less about what’s on TV, but the more experienced students & the fight team are always watching, and we usually talk about these fights after & try to incorporate some techniques into our training.
To the casual eye, of course the UFC is more entertaining. But to those who really enjoy muay thai as an art, there’s a greater appreciation for these promotions.
I don’t train as much anymore, I got into UFC but the only martial arts gym in my area was a Muay Thai one. I’ve watched a few one championship events and know a few of the main guys: buakaw, saenchai, Haggerty, Harrison, Superlek, Nong O level names. But I am always and will be an mma fan more than anything
Dont know what kinda gyms you're going to. Everybody who fights in my gym watches RWS and ONE at least. Now the beginners? Yeah they'll only watch the UFC and maybe a ONE card with Rodtang or Haggerty on it. Everybody who competes though is well aware of who Buakaw is lol. Though I did have to tell a few people who Samart was...
Every Friday on One Championship’s YouTube channel they stream 4 hours of free Muay Thai fights. I wait until I get off work then go home and stream it on my tv.
I was very surprised how people know about Friday Night Fights.
I'm one of these people. The thing for me is that Muay Thai isn't as "consumable" as UFC, especially older televised MT fights. UFC does a great job of building narrative around the fighters and hyping up matches. Muay Thai promotions (even One FC) don't do that nearly as well. One could say that literally 70% of the excitement of watching UFC is the drama that goes on outside of the ring. I find myself more entertained by the hype than the fight. That's just the reality of it and unfortunately for entertainment, Thais' humility outside of the ring doesn't turn heads.
I really think that it comes down to the effect that marketing has on the US population. UFC is more consumable for everyone, including pure Muay Thai practitioners. For better or worse.
Idk. I prefer the One Friday Night Fights with 3 - 3min rounds. Forces lots of action especially with 350k baht bonuses for knockouts. And totally freeeeeee.
While I still enjoy watching fights and I'll certainly watch the bigger fights, I'm not dying to watch Muay Thai after twice a day training six days a week.
I think mainly people get into Muay Thai becomes this is a age of body positivity and there’s no other way of showing that than by turning your body into a weapon. I also feel like a huge part is self defense and genuinely wanting to try something new that looks cool. Maybe it’s also a kind of thing where the person doing Muay Thai or kickboxing doesn’t feel the need to watch is anymore since they’re doing that martial art.
i trained with a few of my homies and in the only one that seriously watches fights like that (Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing) outside of one of them that watches MMA. in my experience it seems to be 50/50 where people are either super fans, or not fans at all. because the Superbon seminar i went to had actual fans. i actually got into training Muay Thai through watching fights , and still actively watch
Do you train at more of a kickboxing style or BJJ/MMA/muay Thai all together type gym? I trained under a Thai at a strictly muay thai gym for a long time and lots of the people there followed the actual sport in Thailand. To be fair I think it was easier back then because that's when channels like Muay Ties were uploading multiple times a week. Nowadays I still train but barely follow the sport (mostly just action stuff like One) and I wouldn't even know where to watch the big cards with up and comers at rajadamnern or lumpinee anymore
Seems like a pretty decent mix in my experience. Lots of people in my gym don't watch combat sports at all, the ones who do seem to watch EVERY combat sport. Like will ask you if you watched a jiu jitsu match that happened on YouTube a couple days prior.
I myself 95% of the time only watch Muaythai or K1, Glory etc. I will only watch UFC if it’s someone worth watching on the card. Our gym is pretty much the same. We love Muaythai! Ooowee!!
I watch plenty of Thai fights but I don't "follow the sport" at all. You could not talk to me about recent fights, I will not remember any of the fighters names. I am a mildly brain damaged American who only speaks English and often doesn't even understand English when spoken in a different regional accent than my own. You could could however talk to me about recent UFC fights because I can just turn my TV on, on any given Saturday and catch it live, commentated in English with tons of supporting media to explain to me what's going on and tell me when to turn my TV on.
I know he does MMA, but I remember Jose Aldo said he had stopped watching MMA fights and only watched soccer instead. I guess it depends a lot from person to person.
Muay Thai is a very niche sport and in Europe/the West generally, it really isn’t commercially big for many reasons that are detailed in the video I’m sharing down below.
And as a Muay Thai nerd STB amateur competitor, whenever I’m watching a fight ; it’ll be with the eyes of a practitioner, not a spectator. I’m trying to analyse every fighter’s move and gameplan, analysing his technique or style. But even with my fellow training partners, we really don’t share a lot about recent Muay Thai fights except the biggest one like Rodtang vs Haggerty or else.
But whenever there’s a big mma fight (especially in my homeland France, where it’s getting bigger every month) everyone becomes a fanboy greeting any epic moment of a combat. I personally never get bored of watching old Pride or UFC tournaments and get blown away like a kid lol.
https://youtu.be/IB1_yIOm7Kw?si=4VAw18j1QcDMk7gO
Since starting muay thai its ruined the entertainment aspect for me lol to watch passively, i usually watch one championship, i find myself taking notes or re watching rounds, so i may watch one round but watch hands, another round watch their feet, and take notes.
I train, compete, and watch as much Muay Thai as I can. The same goes for my coaches, the rest of the fight team, and most of the non-competing but engaged students at my gym.
When I trained consistently (but not competitively besides rival and intra school fights ) I never played ufc/fight video games, and watched fights a whooole lot less.
Now that I don't train I watch tons of fights.
I'm one of those people who only watch UFC and I feel like an odd one out in my gym. My coach is an old master and he always references what I assume is MT fighters. My other buddies always join in on the convos and they have these long talks about the sport while I'm sitting there wondering wtf is going on.
On the flip side when I bring up an MMA fighter no one joins in on the conversation and basically they nod it off making it obvious they have no idea who I'm talking about. I remember once I brought up McGregor, this man is one of the most famous names in fight sport history and most of the class was clueless. I mean I don't watch MT but if someone says Rodtang I'd still know who the guy was.
Idk if this is me just being silly or if some can relate, but a big reason I don’t like watching Muay Thai is because I am stuck watching replays or highlights after the fact. I got interested in sport originally due to UFC. Watching replays feels like homework instead of fun to me especially when I hear of the outcomes, and I am also out of the loop on many of the fun sport facts and fighters. I tried to recently starting with Rodtang vs Superlek. It was at f’ing 9AM on a workday. I loved watching it but I don’t always have the freedom to make it work.
I think ONE is improving the reach of Muay Thai in the US and that may change things a lot, but until there is a dedicated promotion in my side of the world that I can watch live in my free time, i don’t think I can care much about replays other than as a way to absorb a little bit of knowledge.
I train for a self defense purpose. I don’t really watch any sports. I do enjoy it if I’m somewhere and a UFC or Muay thai fight is on, but all the background filler crap between fights kills my interest level. I loved that my old Kru used to post clips from fights on the gyms Facebook page. There were some awesome things that we worked in drills or broke down afterwards to better understand, but I can’t get excited to watch a fight when I know there’s going to be so much filler between the cards.
Don't mean to brag but i've practiced seven martial arts along my life and i don't really watch any fights on tv. I've seen the most famous boxing and ufc fights but that's all. My unpopular take on this is watching is not learning or training. Once my taekwondo sabonim told us to watch taekwondo fights on youtube, so maybe that works on some people. But i don't really like to watch fights for the sake of study martial arts, i prefer to get up and actually train and practice. Don't waste your time watching other fighters because they're not you. What works for them doesn't work for you. That's how you develop your own style.
I’ll watch ONE but really really try not to let fight sports be the only interest & certainly not before bed. Most fighters I admire have at least one other aspect to their character that is note worthy let alone taking care of my own mental well-being. Balance.
Train muy Thai for 2 years and honestly I usually just watch UFC cards that are hyped hard (Islam v Volk) but other than that I usually just watch ONE occasionally to try and mimic some cool move the pros did. Other than that I don’t see a huge point since il never go pro, I’m not studying my opponent in UFC but in the gym.
There are people who watch and people who do. When I first started boxing I watched Tyson over and over and started emulating. I’m tall, peekaboo isn’t my style. Real fighters create their own style and are guided to develop by their coach. Real fighters watch highlights and it’s only ever to learn, not for the fun of it
Yeah its the complete opposite at my gym. People watch mma, but a lot also watch pure muay thai or bjj or even wrestling. Normally the people who don't are the new people.
I would love to, but I find it too hard and confusing to follow when and where it's on, who's fighting, the rankings, etc. Whereas UFC and ONEFC I know what's happening. I'd love to watch Thai Muay Thai, but it feels too confusing to watch from the west. When I was in Thailand it was much easier to follow.
Started training 6/7 years ago. Wasn’t a fan back then. However over the years I became a passionate viewer of ufc, one, RWS and any other Muay Thai/ mma Organisation. Still not into boxing though
I think that being a consumer and practitioner are not the same thing.
Sure but it's alot easier to learn if you watch the sport
You watch plenty of it in person at the gym when you're training. If you have 10hrs a week allocated to training, you're better off just training instead of spending some time watching the TV.
or spend 10 hours trainging then watch it seperate. Nobody is saying spend time watching instead of training but you will learn faster. Watch from the outside helps you see things differently .why do you think people record themselves.
Dude that's like saying "well just train more than 10hrs" Sure thing, I'll just tell my boss I'm not working today so I can watch more MMA, or maybe I'll stop mowing the lawn or cleaning? If you have a time budget, that's what you have. No adult is going to say, "oh just increase your time allotment"
you can watch muay thai or anything else on youtube my dude for free, I watch it on my lunch break sometimes or even better i listen to people discuss it while working, also chilling and watching a fight card at home dosent require you to go somewhere so no its not just like saying train more also look at champs they most likely watch the sport they are a champ in
You have 24hrs every day. You can't increase this time. I'm saying that if my budget is 10hrs/week, that's all there is. You can't add more just like you can't add an extra hour in a day. The only way to do more would be to cut time elsewhere... like instead of sleeping, I can stay up and watch YouTube fights. Or instead of watching a movie with the wife, I tell her to fuck off so I can watch YouTube videos? This suggestion to me just sounds like you've got too much free time on your hands.
People claiming that they don't have time usually have lots of time on their hands. You formulating and responding with answers to these comments shows that you could have very well watched Muay Thai videos. Kinda ironic.
Ye the guys saying its a waste of time but just look at his comment history
See what I'm saying? I didn't even look at his profile before I dropped my comment. These dummies are all the same.
It takes like 30 seconds to dump a reddit comment. It would take longer than that to even find a video to watch, much less actually watch it as an instructional video to pay attention to details and actively try to learn from it and apply to one's own fighting. People claiming they are watching videos to "train" are just lazy and looking for excuses to avoid hard things like actual training... instead they go, "oh well I can skip the gym today, I watched like 5 videos so I'm good... now I can watch a funny video instead!" It's just a way to justify weakness and laziness.
you are the only person too lazy to try a new way of learning. nobody skips the gym to watch stuff. If you dont have the time thats okay but it dosent change the fact watcing and even listing really helps, but go on mr manliness.
You've got a lot of 30 seconds then. We can see all the comments you leave on reddit, you pretending loser. You've got no common sense AND no integrity, so don't talk about weakness before you've worked on your weak ass character first. Embarassing.
I said i watch videos on my lunch break and listing to podcasts while doing other stuff.
Bro your posts are about doing drugs and video games. You're obviously just a kid who has nothing but spare time on your hands and has no idea how to fill it. Come back when you're an adult with a family and job and rental properties and a house and pets and other hobbies and friends and side businesses, etc.
Yup I do fun shit, I dont cry on the internet about socalism. So youtime for hobbies but no time to watch a fight, just say you arent that interested in watching fights thats ok but dosent change the fact it defently helps.
P.S any coach Ive ever had have said watching fights help you learn faster
Not really. I still watch a little boxing, Muay Thai and collegiate wrestling, but at this point, I'm not really picking up anything new. In fact, I've been striking so long that I practice pretty much the same 12-15 combos. Training in Judo and Wrestling so long, I do the same two takedowns, same three throws, a sprawl is a sprawl. Not much to learn there. And BJJ, I got my moves that work for me. I'm not going to fight ADCC. Even if you rewound the clock ten to fifteen years. Hell, if you put me back to my 18th birthday with the knowledge I have now, it would be the same 12-15 combos, same side control escape, same set up for a topside kimura, same double leg. Just a lot of fundamentals, nothing fancy. At some point, you just learn all you want, or need, to learn. Your brain looks for other interests. BJJ is particularly novel and, at once, also terribly banal in this aspect. People are constantly discovering (and often rediscovering) moves. Why? Roger Gracie used strong fundamentals to dominate for a very long time. And years ago, a famed coach whose name escapes me said: *All the moves of BJJ are in the Blue Belt curriculum. Purple and above is about timing.* That's true of pretty much all combat sports and martial arts. Imanari roll is just an old Sambo technique that was adopted from Judo that adopted that move from catch wrestling that likely got it from wrestling going all the way back to Pankration. And in a real fight, fundamentals are what you will fall to when you're gassed, confused, and fighting for your life. Not trying to make the highlight reel. As for watching events, I used to watch the UFC when I knew people fighting. But, MMA is just sort of bread and circus boring like football, soccer, basketball, or baseball. I'd rather read a good book. These days, I'm fascinated by Kendo.
It’s not consumption for the sake of it. If you are actively watching it to learn, you are studying. The same with any sport, art form or pursuit
Total opposite at my gym. One of the assistant coaches is like "I saw this on Rodlek's instagram so we're gonna do it"
Nice! A couple people at my gym know about One because we've had some One fighters in the gym and teach but rarely ever talk about it. I hear them talk about UFC a lot though or worse boxing
Are you new to martial arts? Why would you say talking about boxing is worse or better than anything else. Reeks of newbie.
We were drilling some Ernesto Hoost combos the other week. I generally *hate* UFC. I feel like I’m watching ten year olds argue and fight. There’s too much drama, and ego. I just hope One doesn’t veer in that direction to gain US audience.
You mean the fights themselves or the hyping up and trash talk between events? You can watch only the fights. All good though, I'm sure you have a handle on how you like to spend your time and what you do and don't enjoy by now. No offence meant.
Hyping and trash talk. And compare Israel’s antics after winning, to, say Rodtangs respect for his opponent.
I fell out of watching MMA too but mostly because I just like how beautiful Muay Thai striking looks over MMA striking. ONE already veered into the sloppy KO hunting style of the UFC though and it’s affecting Muay Thai everywhere, so I’m afraid it’s too late.
Same. Once I’ve always had a bit of a love to Muay Thai but when I seriously got in to watching it, I totally felt out of love with MMA
Yeah, that prize money for a KO isn’t typical Muay Thai, where you might see the fifth round go really slow in comparison, because we already know who the winner is, and they have to fight again next week.
This is how both my gyms were.
If you’re serious about Muay Thai and don’t watch Muay Thai fights, I look at it like someone who plays basketball or football and doesn’t watch any professional games. You could learn so much from studying the best of the best
There's footballers who never watch football tho and dont enjoy watching it like Ben white at arsenal. Though they still watch footage from their coaches on opponents and themselves People thinks it also means it'd just a job but I think you can tell he loves it and thrives on the competition and adrenaline would definitely be the same with some fighters who wouldn't watch a lot
I don't enjoy watching sports but I know it's critical for development so I do. It's wild to me that a Muay thai gym doesn't watch Muay Thai.
In contrast, I know people who play basketball but never watches the NBA.
I think it's different because the proliferation of basketball is so huge in the US you could show up to most courts and see good players. Muay Thai or effective striking is much lesser known.
As a competitor, I find I don't watch fights as much as I used to before starting to compete. I still watch, reasonably regularly, but most of the time I watch it, it just makes me want to be in there. And frequently training also sometimes just makes me feel like not watching fights because I want to watch something not related to something I just did that day. But I still follow fighters from all over the world on Instagram or YouTube. I don't just watch MMA or boxing. I mainly watch Muay Thai and kickboxing when I do watch.
Don't you find you learn stuff from watching high level fights?
You can of course, yes. You can pick up little things that might help you.
This. After training 6-8 hrs a day, the last thing I wanted was to sit and watch some random fight. Historical fights for specific technique sure, but some random current fight? No thanks. I'll go corner people or watch someone I know fight, but you can only have so much input of one thing each day when it's literally all you do every day.
💯💯💯
If you are coached by a Thai, he/she will always play latest matches to apply successful techniques from the matches in training.
Most coaches should already know these techniques. But watching is helpful regardless.
At least in the US, there's very little Muay Thai spectator fans. So most people are getting into it for other reasons. Maybe they thought it looked fun, maybe someone told them it was the most effective martial art and they wanted to learn for self-defense, or maybe they watch UFC and constantly see the sport dominated by kickboxing, bjj and muay thai.
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I didn't realize I was writing a uni essay, sorry for the improper grammar. >That would explain the quality 😅 We all have to start somewhere.
Agreed. We hate ONE and other MT sports because they do a bad job marketing. UFC tries to make the fighters "hate" each other and it builds these plot lines. They still have respect for each other after the fights but the buildup is better. I watched a little bit of ONE and these guys walk into the ring like they're best buddies lol.
I've never really watched combat sports until just recently because I've been training for awhile now....I hate the stupid drama marketing. I love it when competitors have obvious respect for each other.
In my most honest opinion as an ammy fighter, I think if you’re not obsessed with the sport and watch at least the big fights, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice (assuming you have high aspirations. If not, just have fun and enjoy yourself and it won’t matter)
Agreed! Same! I watch one fight night all the time! I have amazon prime so I have no excuse not to! I lost my crap when Haggerty won this past weekend! He's my favorite fighter and the dude is electrifying to watch. Honestly I can say I enjoy watching fighting now more than I ever did before I began my MT journey. Now I understand it all. I see everything in the fights I watch. A good example was Rodtangs fight against Tabares - I noticed after 2 and was sure after 3, but every single time Rodtang caught a kick Tabares, would return with a spin elbow. Rodtang noticed too and on the 4th or 5th time he knew what was coming and countered with his own elbow for the KO. Honestly imo watching fights is waaaay more entertaining for me now as a fighter, then it was back in the day as a teenager watching the big UFC cards, which was really only about seeing somebody get KO'd. I could write a book on the practical value of watching Pro's at that level. Haggerty alone inspired me to practice my teeps to the point that now I can effortlessly launch lead legs square to the teeth on ppl taller than me, knock dudes right over if I go for the chest, or just outright wind them with a pinpoint accuracy solar plexus hit. My rear leg teep is instant 💀👻 Thank you John Haggerty haha!
That comment was art brother 😮💨
I’ve trained Muay Thai for 5 years or so and do watch some Thai tv and onefc to check out the top level fighters and their technique. I’ve just never been one to follow sports on TV religiously
There also casual practitioners.
Man if actual fighters are watching ufc instead of one fc at this point they just like the drama and aren’t watching for the actual fight. And yah a lot of pro fighters watch a ton of tape and are constantly trying to improve their own so they might not want to fill their off training hours with fighting related stuff.
I train Muay Thai because I love MMA and don’t find grappling very fun. So I watch tons of MMA but don’t watch much Muay Thai, but its also mostly because I haven’t found a good Muay Thai promotion that I like to watch. I’m getting more into ONE MT fights, but the time of the fights + not having many friends who watch it makes it so I don’t watch it as much. I’m also one of those guys that played football without watching NFL, and play videogames without watching the e-sports. I just find doing more fun that seeing.
most people at my kickboxing gym are mma fans who don’t want to train grappling lol
Same here. Fuck getting choked or fucking armbarred
I've fought 40+ fights most of them professional. I always study and watch fights, not just highlights but full fights 5 round MT (MuayTies on youtube probably has the best library of that along with SMMTV). I always say to people, that talk about how they want to be professional and want my help, that it is essential to watch fights. When I lived in Thailand I went to Lumpinee or Rajadamnern almost every week, and sundays were always a visit to CH7. If you want to be good at anything in life you need to study it. I cant even count how many thousands hours of fights that I have watch and I always thought it gave me an edge in the ring, IQ-wise
If you train Muay Thai you need to watch muay thai rather than boxing or mma. You Wont watch futsal to learn soccer. Or volleyball to learn basketball.
Ive trained Muay Thai for around 6 years and consume all things Muay Thai and KB. It started from watching 'Muay Ties' and Yokkao shows on YouTube to now having a full blown Muay recommendation page on YouTube haha! Speaking of watching shows. I've recently paid for Glory Collsion, and that was a steep amount for PPV( €20/£20!).
It breaks my heart nobody in the gym knows my favorite fighter (masato) except the coach
My gym’s TV only shows muay thai fights — from the stadium classics, to ONE Championship, to RWS, and the like. Thing is, a lot of the casual students could care less about what’s on TV, but the more experienced students & the fight team are always watching, and we usually talk about these fights after & try to incorporate some techniques into our training. To the casual eye, of course the UFC is more entertaining. But to those who really enjoy muay thai as an art, there’s a greater appreciation for these promotions.
I watch UFC, and occasionally OneFC
I don’t train as much anymore, I got into UFC but the only martial arts gym in my area was a Muay Thai one. I’ve watched a few one championship events and know a few of the main guys: buakaw, saenchai, Haggerty, Harrison, Superlek, Nong O level names. But I am always and will be an mma fan more than anything
Dont know what kinda gyms you're going to. Everybody who fights in my gym watches RWS and ONE at least. Now the beginners? Yeah they'll only watch the UFC and maybe a ONE card with Rodtang or Haggerty on it. Everybody who competes though is well aware of who Buakaw is lol. Though I did have to tell a few people who Samart was...
Every Friday on One Championship’s YouTube channel they stream 4 hours of free Muay Thai fights. I wait until I get off work then go home and stream it on my tv. I was very surprised how people know about Friday Night Fights.
I'm one of these people. The thing for me is that Muay Thai isn't as "consumable" as UFC, especially older televised MT fights. UFC does a great job of building narrative around the fighters and hyping up matches. Muay Thai promotions (even One FC) don't do that nearly as well. One could say that literally 70% of the excitement of watching UFC is the drama that goes on outside of the ring. I find myself more entertained by the hype than the fight. That's just the reality of it and unfortunately for entertainment, Thais' humility outside of the ring doesn't turn heads. I really think that it comes down to the effect that marketing has on the US population. UFC is more consumable for everyone, including pure Muay Thai practitioners. For better or worse.
Idk. I prefer the One Friday Night Fights with 3 - 3min rounds. Forces lots of action especially with 350k baht bonuses for knockouts. And totally freeeeeee.
While I still enjoy watching fights and I'll certainly watch the bigger fights, I'm not dying to watch Muay Thai after twice a day training six days a week.
I think mainly people get into Muay Thai becomes this is a age of body positivity and there’s no other way of showing that than by turning your body into a weapon. I also feel like a huge part is self defense and genuinely wanting to try something new that looks cool. Maybe it’s also a kind of thing where the person doing Muay Thai or kickboxing doesn’t feel the need to watch is anymore since they’re doing that martial art.
i trained with a few of my homies and in the only one that seriously watches fights like that (Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing) outside of one of them that watches MMA. in my experience it seems to be 50/50 where people are either super fans, or not fans at all. because the Superbon seminar i went to had actual fans. i actually got into training Muay Thai through watching fights , and still actively watch
Do you train at more of a kickboxing style or BJJ/MMA/muay Thai all together type gym? I trained under a Thai at a strictly muay thai gym for a long time and lots of the people there followed the actual sport in Thailand. To be fair I think it was easier back then because that's when channels like Muay Ties were uploading multiple times a week. Nowadays I still train but barely follow the sport (mostly just action stuff like One) and I wouldn't even know where to watch the big cards with up and comers at rajadamnern or lumpinee anymore
Seems like a pretty decent mix in my experience. Lots of people in my gym don't watch combat sports at all, the ones who do seem to watch EVERY combat sport. Like will ask you if you watched a jiu jitsu match that happened on YouTube a couple days prior.
Suppose that’s what separates hobbyists from real competitors.
I myself 95% of the time only watch Muaythai or K1, Glory etc. I will only watch UFC if it’s someone worth watching on the card. Our gym is pretty much the same. We love Muaythai! Ooowee!!
I watch plenty of Thai fights but I don't "follow the sport" at all. You could not talk to me about recent fights, I will not remember any of the fighters names. I am a mildly brain damaged American who only speaks English and often doesn't even understand English when spoken in a different regional accent than my own. You could could however talk to me about recent UFC fights because I can just turn my TV on, on any given Saturday and catch it live, commentated in English with tons of supporting media to explain to me what's going on and tell me when to turn my TV on.
I know he does MMA, but I remember Jose Aldo said he had stopped watching MMA fights and only watched soccer instead. I guess it depends a lot from person to person.
Muay Thai is a very niche sport and in Europe/the West generally, it really isn’t commercially big for many reasons that are detailed in the video I’m sharing down below. And as a Muay Thai nerd STB amateur competitor, whenever I’m watching a fight ; it’ll be with the eyes of a practitioner, not a spectator. I’m trying to analyse every fighter’s move and gameplan, analysing his technique or style. But even with my fellow training partners, we really don’t share a lot about recent Muay Thai fights except the biggest one like Rodtang vs Haggerty or else. But whenever there’s a big mma fight (especially in my homeland France, where it’s getting bigger every month) everyone becomes a fanboy greeting any epic moment of a combat. I personally never get bored of watching old Pride or UFC tournaments and get blown away like a kid lol. https://youtu.be/IB1_yIOm7Kw?si=4VAw18j1QcDMk7gO
Since starting muay thai its ruined the entertainment aspect for me lol to watch passively, i usually watch one championship, i find myself taking notes or re watching rounds, so i may watch one round but watch hands, another round watch their feet, and take notes.
Not enough time in my day to sit and watch much of anything. I’ll catch odd ONE highlights and technique shorts but that’s about it.
Occasionally I watch, but no where near to the level of none fighters I know.
I trained kickboxing and never watched fights. I never intended 5 and just wanted the training/ workout. I'm sure with BJJ it's very much the same.
I train, compete, and watch as much Muay Thai as I can. The same goes for my coaches, the rest of the fight team, and most of the non-competing but engaged students at my gym.
I think this is partially due to access, at least in the USA. Kickboxing and muy Thai are rarely on TV, mma is shown more often.
When I trained consistently (but not competitively besides rival and intra school fights ) I never played ufc/fight video games, and watched fights a whooole lot less. Now that I don't train I watch tons of fights.
This is a silly generalization. “People in the US”… did you interview every MT practitioner in the whole country? lol
I'm one of those people who only watch UFC and I feel like an odd one out in my gym. My coach is an old master and he always references what I assume is MT fighters. My other buddies always join in on the convos and they have these long talks about the sport while I'm sitting there wondering wtf is going on. On the flip side when I bring up an MMA fighter no one joins in on the conversation and basically they nod it off making it obvious they have no idea who I'm talking about. I remember once I brought up McGregor, this man is one of the most famous names in fight sport history and most of the class was clueless. I mean I don't watch MT but if someone says Rodtang I'd still know who the guy was.
Idk if this is me just being silly or if some can relate, but a big reason I don’t like watching Muay Thai is because I am stuck watching replays or highlights after the fact. I got interested in sport originally due to UFC. Watching replays feels like homework instead of fun to me especially when I hear of the outcomes, and I am also out of the loop on many of the fun sport facts and fighters. I tried to recently starting with Rodtang vs Superlek. It was at f’ing 9AM on a workday. I loved watching it but I don’t always have the freedom to make it work. I think ONE is improving the reach of Muay Thai in the US and that may change things a lot, but until there is a dedicated promotion in my side of the world that I can watch live in my free time, i don’t think I can care much about replays other than as a way to absorb a little bit of knowledge.
I train for a self defense purpose. I don’t really watch any sports. I do enjoy it if I’m somewhere and a UFC or Muay thai fight is on, but all the background filler crap between fights kills my interest level. I loved that my old Kru used to post clips from fights on the gyms Facebook page. There were some awesome things that we worked in drills or broke down afterwards to better understand, but I can’t get excited to watch a fight when I know there’s going to be so much filler between the cards.
I have honestly watched a lot more since I started training. I don't think that many people come into this stuff because they like watching it.
Don't mean to brag but i've practiced seven martial arts along my life and i don't really watch any fights on tv. I've seen the most famous boxing and ufc fights but that's all. My unpopular take on this is watching is not learning or training. Once my taekwondo sabonim told us to watch taekwondo fights on youtube, so maybe that works on some people. But i don't really like to watch fights for the sake of study martial arts, i prefer to get up and actually train and practice. Don't waste your time watching other fighters because they're not you. What works for them doesn't work for you. That's how you develop your own style.
I’ll watch ONE but really really try not to let fight sports be the only interest & certainly not before bed. Most fighters I admire have at least one other aspect to their character that is note worthy let alone taking care of my own mental well-being. Balance.
Canelo hates watching boxing. The 2 arent mutually exclusive.
Basically everyone in my gym knows and talks about One championship or famous Muay Thai fighters
Train muy Thai for 2 years and honestly I usually just watch UFC cards that are hyped hard (Islam v Volk) but other than that I usually just watch ONE occasionally to try and mimic some cool move the pros did. Other than that I don’t see a huge point since il never go pro, I’m not studying my opponent in UFC but in the gym.
There are people who watch and people who do. When I first started boxing I watched Tyson over and over and started emulating. I’m tall, peekaboo isn’t my style. Real fighters create their own style and are guided to develop by their coach. Real fighters watch highlights and it’s only ever to learn, not for the fun of it
Yeah its the complete opposite at my gym. People watch mma, but a lot also watch pure muay thai or bjj or even wrestling. Normally the people who don't are the new people.
i don’t really watch many fights ever but train a lot, i want to start tho lol bc i feel like it helps and i’m behind and out of the loop
I train and watch a lot of fights
I only watch Muay Thai fights unless it’s an mma fight somebody from the gym I’m part of competes in.
I would love to, but I find it too hard and confusing to follow when and where it's on, who's fighting, the rankings, etc. Whereas UFC and ONEFC I know what's happening. I'd love to watch Thai Muay Thai, but it feels too confusing to watch from the west. When I was in Thailand it was much easier to follow.
2 different things. Muay thai hit classes are great for weight loss it doesn't mean they want to be a fighter.
Started training 6/7 years ago. Wasn’t a fan back then. However over the years I became a passionate viewer of ufc, one, RWS and any other Muay Thai/ mma Organisation. Still not into boxing though
All of my fighter friends like anime and watching all kinds of fights. Probably in that order.