I have discarded the "practitioner beats style", opinion.
If 2 people train just as hard, one in TKD, and one in Muay Thai, the Muay Thai guy will win. Why?
Although they are both sports, Muay Thai trains more effectively. In addition, TKD has more rules in their competition, and their point sparring does not correspond to a street fight at all, while Muay Thai is allowed to use all of its weapons, knees, elbows, hands, and shins.
Even if a TKDist trained the same way a Muay Thaist did, he would not be able to defeat the Thai opponent. By relying on kicks, he would quickly be overcome by flurries of punches, elbows, and other devestating weapons.
...and if he crosstrained it wouldn't be TKD anymore.
|