agreed
In my opinion, the muaythai vs shanshou tournaments has nothing to do with the question which art is better. This is because, when thay used shanshou rules, it means the shanshou fights between thais and chineses. In contrast, if they applied muaythai rules, so, we just see the muay thai matches between guys from the two countries.
Muaythai (the old version) was designed to be used in the battle field so they don't need to spend time on the gound that is why there are not many groud games in it. The concept is to kill or stop your opponent(s) on the field (as you can see some muayboran moves in Ong Bak, Tony Jaa emphasised on brutal knee and elbow strikes).
In the early 90's the fighters could score from takedowns just as shanshou does now. I think they prohibited that rule because they need to see the more flowing fights and it is easier for the judges to score.
If you aim to practice martialart for self-defend or street fights pure muaythai is more than enough. For whom doesn't believe me, go to read this story (
http://manager.co.th/Daily/ViewNews....=9470000039045) if you can read Thai
. If you wanna fight in K-1, muaythai is probably the best choice. If you wanna be good at MMA, practice muaythai + groud fighting arts then.
just my two cents