In Muay Thai, laying traps can be risky business. Even with all the right skill, technique, and planning, they are still a gamble; can you subversively impose your will on your opponent? Will you be able to adapt if they don’t respond the way that you planned?
Questions like these prove just how difficult Muay Thai traps are, and why so many fighters and coaches, even at the highest levels exclude them from their game plan in the ring. Luckily, not all Muay Thai traps need to be ‘high risk and high reward’. Today we’ve devised 4 simple yet effective maneuvers that can enhance your core techniques while undermining your opponent’s confidence.
In this article, these 4 Muay Thai traps that can be used by any nak muay, regardless of experience, to outsmart their opponents in the ring. But first, let’s define what we mean by ‘trap’ to help you better understand these techniques and how they fit into a comprehensive Muay Thai game plan.
What Is A Muay Thai Trap
A trap in Muay Thai is very similar to a feint. You are faking something to draw a response out of your opponent, which in turn leads to openings you can exploit. Unlike a feint, where you pretend to throw a technique to make your opponent open their guard, a trap involves a little more intelligence and acting.
A Muay Thai trap involves pretending to have holes in your Muay Thai technique to draw your opponent into reacting in a specific way. To do this successfully, You need to take note of the way your opponent responds to your attacks or, you pretend to have a hole in your skillset that you are baiting them into ‘exploiting’. Then, when they finally take the bait, you are prepared and ready to respond with a big strike that will result in an impressive score whilst undermining your opponent, making them hesitant to exploit any weaknesses they see later in the fight.
But remember, traps come with inherent risks. As we’ve mentioned, your opponent may attack an opening you’ve created, but they might not react as you anticipated. If this happens, your trap could backfire. To mitigate this, the best traps typically limit your opponent’s possible responses to the bait, making it easier for you to spring them at the right moment. Now that you understand the concept of traps, let’s take a look at 4 examples below.
1) Teep (Push Kick)And Counter
This tried and tested trap works a treat on aggressive fighters that are always charging forward, trying to do damage from inside the pocket. If you step back to create a range and your opponent reacts by charging forward to do damage with their hands or engage in the clinch, use several backward paces to draw them onto a quick stabbing teep to the waistband.
This teep doesn’t need to be overly powerful. Just use it as a prod to throw them off-balance and create an opening for a following strike. If, after a few successful attempts, your opponent becomes hesitant to follow into the pocket, you can try to goad them into attacking by throwing with a fast jab or leg kick before shooting back.
2) Lean Back
As a general rule, you always want to keep your weight evenly distributed above both hips when fighting in Muay Thai as too much weight over one leg will make it harder to block or kick. If you face a Muay tae (kick-fighter) who likes to fire off body kicks every time you step forward into range, then you’ll have to break that rule and lean heavily onto your back foot so that your head can avoid the kick.
From this position, it will appear that you are standing a foot closer to your opponent than you actually are. This will trick your opponent into throwing their body kick prematurely and, because you are so far away, it will be easy for you to push off your front foot to lean back out of the kick’s path. When it misses, you’ll have an easy opportunity to bounce back in for a counter of your own.
You should only bait this trap when you are standing well out of range. Leaning heavily while you are in the pocket will expose you to potential punches, sweeps, and leg kicks.
3) Kick Into Elbow
If you are up against an opponent skilled at catching your body kicks and punishing you with throws and sweeps, this trap is perfect for them.
After a few exchanges when you are certain that your opponent is prepared to catch, throw a body kick without attempting to hide it behind feints or punches to bait them into dropping their guard to catch it. As their arms scoop your shin, hop in on your standing leg as if you’re going to attempt a knee guard. Then, as you drop your knee across their body throw an elbow into their temple with the same-sided arm as your kicking leg. As they have their arm wrapped around your leg, they’ll be helpless and unable to defend against the slicing elbow as it connects. Watch the above video which exhibits this trap in greater detail.
4) The Kick Rally Sweep
Another great trap that can be used amidst a heated kick exchange is the kick rally sweep. This one can be done during any catch-and-throw kick exchange but it’s much easier if you notice your opponent favoring a single leg when they’re answering one of your body kicks with their own as you won’t have to worry about which side the return kick is coming from.
To spring this trap, simply throw a kick, anticipating your opponent to respond with one of their own. Step forward and slightly away from the kick to close the distance between your feet while escaping the brunt of the kick’s damage. Then, simply sweep your leg across the mat to hook their standing leg, pulling it out from under them as they kick.
The result will look a lot like this tried and tested catch and sweep demonstrated in the video above. The only difference is that once you get better at it, the catch step and sweep will all be performed simultaneously and, once you have perfected your range and timing, you won’t need to catch the kicking leg at all.
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