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Muay Thai is a full-contact fighting sport of the combat sports discipline in which fighters try to defeat their opponents by using hitting and kicking techniques. The sport originated in Thailand, and started gaining international popularity when Muay Thai fighters were able to defeat fighters that practiced other forms of martial arts. Fighters use different techniques that make use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins. Recently many fighters in MMA have included many Muay Thai techniques in their fights.

Fights are conducted in a square shaped ring. Fighters wear boxing gloves for fights. Shoes are not allowed but an ankle cap is accepted.

Muay Thai fights are conducted in a rounds formats, where each fight lasts for a maximum of five rounds. Each round is 3 minutes long. There is a 2 minute rest time in between rounds.

Fights are adjudged by a panel of judges who score fighters in each round. The winner of the fight is decided based on points except in the case of a knockout. A knockout is a result, if any part of a fighters body except the feet touches the floor, or if a fighter is unable to defend himself.

There are a total of 18 different classifications of fighters based on weight, and competitions have fights for all weight classifications.

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Similar Sports

• Kickboxing —a group of stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching. V
• Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) — a full-contact individual combat sport that includes aspects of several other combat sports and martial arts.
• Pencak Silat — a fighting sport from Indonesia which collectively encompasses martial arts of various styles.
• Lethwei — an unarmed Burmese martial art similar to other kickboxing styles from the region.
• Karate — a martial art developed in Japan that uses punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and some open-hand techniques.

Related Pages

• Muay Thai Demonstration at the Paris 2024 Olympics
• Muay Thai vs. Boxing: Which Martial Art Reigns Supreme?
• Sport in Thailand
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports