As Thailand’s national sport, Muay Thai has developed over more than a thousand years, originally growing from the necessity to defend the country from expansionary China.
Muay Thai initially developed with bare-knuckle fights and went on, seeing fighters bind their knuckles with hemp rope. During this period there were no rounds, no weight divisions, no gloves with the winner being the one still standing at the end of the fight!
In the 1930’s the Thai government enforced changes in response to the carnage that resulted from such Muay Thai ‘competitions’, this subsequently saw the sport’s entry into the international fighting scene.
Many international boxing rules such as rings, weight divisions and gloves were adopted with many dangerous techniques such as head-butting, limb-breaking and choking techniques banned.
Now in the new Millennium, Muay Thai is undisputed king of the kickboxing ring with the sport enjoying unprecedented popularity around the world.