Basic

Thanks for the insightful answers!

I understand that Thais fight from an extremely young age and that they pretty much live and breathe fighting for a good 10+ years. That will burn anyone in any craft out. My question is what are the details that lead to a fighters end? Do they get career ending injuries or pains? What are typical injuries? Do they go on losing streaks and are deemed not capable of competing at the highest level anymore? Do they quit and walk out the gym and never come back? What happens? We know Namkabuan and Dieselnoi retired due to lack of competition. But what about Hippy, Karuhat, Kaensak, Chamuekpet, Attachai, etc? What made them stop long before their physical age peaks?

What a great insightful answer! Thank you!

I enjoy watching golden age Muay Thai. But I can’t help but notice that 80% of the strikes are middle kicks being exchanged. Why do middle kicks that perturb balance score higher than getting punched in the face ? Logically ,more fights have been finished by punches to the face than a middle kick. So why are they scored less ? Shouldn’t “damage” be more important than the art of maintaining the narrative of balance/ dominance to win a fight?