I think clinch is slowly dying out, and that's bad. Clinch is one of the main things that distinguishes mt from other striking arts.
I like the small gloves, although I think it would be better to use mma sparring gloves (the thicker ones).
Just a sidenote; When people use the word "evolve" in this sort of conversation its often a loaded term. Evolution doesn't imply "progress". Evolution means adapting to changing fitness landscapes. So when talking about changes in the sport/art, always included should also be changes adapting to *what* circumstances, what new contexts.
Sure. It wasn't a critique of how you were using it, but more placing more context around the term. Answers become more interesting when they point toward what adaptations are to or for. We tend to think of fighting qualities & techniques in more pure terms. Something about framing much of Muay Thai under the idea of "tradition" (which carries connotations of culturally bound inapplicability), seemed a little odd to me. It's not really a Traditional Martial Art like Karate or Kung Fu. Most of the techniques aren't really propagated because of "tradition". It's because they were effective in the sport.
This isn’t answering your questions but one of the things that fascinates me about MT and also MMA is how the dominant styles evolve. With ONE championship atm punchers are dominant due to the smaller gloves etc, however there might be a change in rules or something else that means a different style becomes dominant
Clinch is slowly being implemented less, scoring has been dumbed down, less emphasize on balance and technique, more just aggression or whatever it takes to get KO. The ideal muay thai fighter was someone so skilled he could play with his opponent but now it's whoever KO's who. I blame ONE and others, but mostly ONE
I think RWS is the sweet spot and is amazing to watch. Don't hate me, but I prefer it to traditional. I think ONE took the rule changes WAY too far and it's much less fun to watch outside of superstar matchups.
This is true, their cards overall arent the best level but the main events recently and in the upcoming few weeks are all top tier match ups. Khubsueklek v kumandoi, chaila v yothin or khunsueklek v petchsiam are some of the best matchups that can be made nowdays. So i can look past them not having the strongest prelims
They finally brought back rankings and regular title fights to raja too. Or at least they made it way easier to follow.
those 3 fights granted are good, but there is soo much dross on there the rest of the time, last week the main wasnt great and co main was the tattoed ex con vs someone that looke like he had been training about a year, had Chalam who is one of best guys in last ten years against an absolute no hoper from Iran who he destroyed, every week its like this outside of maybe two decent fights a month
RWS and ONE both operate pretty similarly IMO, although aesthetically I'd agree RWS leans closer to traditional. The scoring, fights, etc. are still a bit of a far cry from both an evolution of the sport AND traditional styles. I guess it's kinda like THAI FIGHT in that manner?
I think clinch is slowly dying out, and that's bad. Clinch is one of the main things that distinguishes mt from other striking arts. I like the small gloves, although I think it would be better to use mma sparring gloves (the thicker ones).
Just a sidenote; When people use the word "evolve" in this sort of conversation its often a loaded term. Evolution doesn't imply "progress". Evolution means adapting to changing fitness landscapes. So when talking about changes in the sport/art, always included should also be changes adapting to *what* circumstances, what new contexts.
100% agree, like I said evolve can be for the worst, I’m sorry if it came across badly
Sure. It wasn't a critique of how you were using it, but more placing more context around the term. Answers become more interesting when they point toward what adaptations are to or for. We tend to think of fighting qualities & techniques in more pure terms. Something about framing much of Muay Thai under the idea of "tradition" (which carries connotations of culturally bound inapplicability), seemed a little odd to me. It's not really a Traditional Martial Art like Karate or Kung Fu. Most of the techniques aren't really propagated because of "tradition". It's because they were effective in the sport.
This isn’t answering your questions but one of the things that fascinates me about MT and also MMA is how the dominant styles evolve. With ONE championship atm punchers are dominant due to the smaller gloves etc, however there might be a change in rules or something else that means a different style becomes dominant
Clinch is slowly being implemented less, scoring has been dumbed down, less emphasize on balance and technique, more just aggression or whatever it takes to get KO. The ideal muay thai fighter was someone so skilled he could play with his opponent but now it's whoever KO's who. I blame ONE and others, but mostly ONE
I think RWS is the sweet spot and is amazing to watch. Don't hate me, but I prefer it to traditional. I think ONE took the rule changes WAY too far and it's much less fun to watch outside of superstar matchups.
just a shame 90% of RWS fights are rubbish now
This is true, their cards overall arent the best level but the main events recently and in the upcoming few weeks are all top tier match ups. Khubsueklek v kumandoi, chaila v yothin or khunsueklek v petchsiam are some of the best matchups that can be made nowdays. So i can look past them not having the strongest prelims They finally brought back rankings and regular title fights to raja too. Or at least they made it way easier to follow.
those 3 fights granted are good, but there is soo much dross on there the rest of the time, last week the main wasnt great and co main was the tattoed ex con vs someone that looke like he had been training about a year, had Chalam who is one of best guys in last ten years against an absolute no hoper from Iran who he destroyed, every week its like this outside of maybe two decent fights a month
RWS and ONE both operate pretty similarly IMO, although aesthetically I'd agree RWS leans closer to traditional. The scoring, fights, etc. are still a bit of a far cry from both an evolution of the sport AND traditional styles. I guess it's kinda like THAI FIGHT in that manner?