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Muay Thai (Thai Boxing)

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.

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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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