A Muay Khao is a dangerous opponent that many Nak Muays dread facing in the ring. This kind of fighter specializes in the most brutal aspects of Muay Thai, ranging from relentless forward aggression, sharp elbows, and, as their name dictates, vicious stabbing knees. It is because a Muay Khao’s preferred weapons are only effective from a shorter range, this brand of fighter is in their element within the Muay Thai clinch where they can use strong locks and weaponized cardio to keep their opponents trapped in their killer grip.
While this can be disconcerting to any Nak Muay matched to face them, the good news is that a Muay Khao is less effective at longer ranges and therefore the secret to defeating one simply lies in staying out of their powerful clinch. This is easier said than done, but with the right mindset, any determined fighter can gain the skills needed to avoid getting clinched by a Muay Khao fighter.
In this article, we are going to reveal five tried and tested skills that are necessary for defeating a Muay Khao. The first three involve evasion because in an ideal scenario, you will be able to avoid the clinch for an entire bout but, given a good Muay Khao is both skilled and relentless when it comes to searching out the clinch, our final two tips are aimed at situations where you are caught in their grip and require a quick exit before your opponent can damage you their trademark knees.
1) Master Your Teeps
Teeps are a Muay Khao’s worst enemy. When used correctly, Muay Thai’s longest-range weapon can keep a clinch fighter well out of their effective fighting range whilst also creating openings for high-scoring body and head kicks.
As a Muay Khao is inevitably going to march aggressively forward, all you need to do is step back and wait. Then, as they enter range, aim for the waistband of their shorts or high up onto their sternum where catching or countering the teep is most difficult.
Fast and powerful teeps are important but considering a good Muay Khao will have several teep negating strategies, such as high-marching and hopping, in their arsenal, you cannot overlook the importance of training pinpoint accuracy with this weapon so that you can find a home for your foot even when they are shielding themselves behind the sharpest parts of their body.
2) Evasive Footwork
If you are fighting a Muay Khao, you cannot afford to be a stationary target for long. Muay Khaos are relentless with their forward pressure and keeping one at bay with powerful teeps and strikes is exhausting work. A smart fighter will choose to save energy by implementing evasive footwork such as angle changes and drop-steps between teeps so that they can patiently and comfortably find openings to strike.
A good Muay Khao will always use intelligent footwork to negate any attempts at evasion by shepherding their opponent against the ropes without any room to escape, so while drilling these evasive tactics is important you also need to hone your ringcraft; making yourself aware of where you are standing in the ring at all times so that you always know which escape routes are available to you when your clinch-dominant opponent attempts to crowd you into a corner.
3) Fight On The Back Foot
Fighting on the back foot goes hand in hand with evasive footwork when fighting a Muay Khao. Every time you plant yourself stationary on the canvas or press forward to engage, you run the risk of getting caught in a tight clinch grip. So, moving out of the pocket and finding the right opportunities to score as a Muay Khao reaches for you is the safest strategy to use when going five rounds with this style of fighter.
Evasive footwork is only one ingredient that builds this strategy. Range management (staying slightly out of a Muay Khao’s effective range and opening fire as they pressure forward) and second phase fighting (waiting for your opponent to throw the first strike before countering) are also key ingredients in the recipe to successfully defeating them, as a good Muay Khao may use their own counter-fighting techniques to catch you and pull you into their deadly embrace.
4) Learn How To Spoil
If you are in a well-matched fight, then you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t prepare for the possibility that your Muay Khao opponent may capture you in their clinch grip at least once.
Unless you are a Muay Khao yourself the best thing you can do when caught in a clincher’s vice-grip is to spoil before they can cause you any damage. Spoiling in the clinch is simply locking tight, with your hips close to your opponent, in a posture where neither fighter can land any effective, scoring strikes. If you do this for a few seconds, forcing the clinch to become inactive, then the referee will break you apart and you can resume fighting on the back foot where you are considerably safer.
5) Perfect Your Counter-Knee Sweeps
Spoiling is a great technique that you can use to quickly escape the clinch once you’ve been caught by a Muay Khao fighter but, in cases where your opponent has too much control over your posture for you to get into tight, spoiling range, you need a few more tricks at your disposal.
Learning a few sweeps to counter any attempted knees from within the clinch is a vital skill to master if you are fighting a Muay Khao because it is as certain as the sun rising tomorrow that they are going to try and unload knees as soon as they have you in their clutches.
While there are numerous sweep options that you can learn to throw a Muay Khao to the canvas whenever they attempt to knee, it is best to focus your energy on mastering only a few tested and basic sweeps at a time.
Former ONE Championship Bantamweight Muay Thai Champion, Nong-O Hama, provides an excellent breakdown of one such counter-knee sweep in this video above.
Conclusion
Defeating a Muay Khao requires staying out of their clinch range with techniques like teeps, evasive footwork, and back-foot fighting while mastering clinch escapes like spoiling and counter-knee sweeps to neutralize their relentless aggression.
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