Muay Thai vs. Kickboxing. The fight that changed the world of MMA

until the eighties for people who had never visited Thailand when time was a completely unknown martial arts while in Brazil jiu-jitsu developed and according to residents claimed to be the best battle system in the world in America it was believed that kickboxing and karate have no equal but it's very difficult to check it since UFC hadn't been invented yet but in 1988 there was a very significant event for the whole world of martial arts the young beam top-end kickboxer Rick Rufus whose record was twenty eighty now and he was considered one of the best fighters of that time she decides to prove that American kickboxing is superior to Thai boxing and the Thai will not have a chance with a fighter like him his rival was Chiang Hawaii kit so Gretchen who was one of the first who decided to travel outside of Thailand to show Thai boxing to the world in the fight with Rufus the Thai Arsenal of punches was limited to the maximum the rules forbade elbows throws grabs and the clinch immediately burst that is the Thai went to battle according to the rules of the American kickboxing and blows below the waist were also prohibited but in this fight he was allowed to be a long kick this fight was dubbed the clash of kickboxing in Thai boxing although the time Arsenal was very limited and most importantly this fight was shown on television to a huge audience around the world [Music] now these will be dreaming around with a little break and so the first round an aggressive start from Rick which is very fast on his feet he throws a series of blows and instantly leaves the line of fire although the tie hits a low kick [Applause] there that I guarantee you right now left by Rufus Rufus moving around very well as we can see Chang pain works in the left stance which means that Rufus's right leg is in great danger Ric inflicts a lot of punches and fights and change seems to have put a big bet on the fact that the American will finish with a low kick [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the first knockdown but the dance gets to his feet and immediately flies into the second knockdown [Applause] [Music] [Music] it seems that Rick decided to finish the opponent in the first round but Chang managed to survive and the fight goes into the second segment the second round and low kicks from Chang continued a crash into the right leg of an American who seems to be starting to realize how much it hurts in the middle of the second round it becomes noticeable that for Rufus the blow is with low kicks become a real problem he doesn't even understand how to escape from them but Chang successfully uses his plan for the fight which was to destroy Rufus is life [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything [Music] and here is the knockdown from Chang who acted a rather dirty stepping on a recumbent American after the fall [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] at the end of the round Rick did not hit that Thai head kid badly but this did not stop his stream of low kick kicks from the time intended for the American [Applause] [Applause] then kids on reddit tough young man [Applause] if he is fighting from the right side the third round and it could be noticed that the tie has an opportunity to win change the shoes rip and continues to break the kickers foot with his worthless blows [Music] [Applause] [Music] if we're talking about a potential world champion [Applause] [Music] in round four his brick frankly escapes from the tide because he can no longer take the hanging blows that flying into his leg and cause him a lot of pain [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] after the fight but doctors render assistance to Rick says the leg injury was very serious and his brother Duke Rufus gives an interview on what she understates the time Erik's saying that it did not require a lot of skills to apply these blows to the legs there by refusing to recognize the strength of Thai boxing and low kick in particular although just before his eyes but I defeated all kickboxing with one blow and destroyed the best fighter of that era this fight became a huge popularization of the new tie around the world and gave a powerful impetus to its development and Duke Rufus himself later also brought new elements to his arsenal and admitted that he had very much changed his mind on the account of low kicks and in the future he became a first-class trainer in the percussion technique and is considered one of the best Muay Thai trainers outside of Thailand that's all for today my friends don't forget to press the like button if you enjoyed the video see you soon [Music]

Channel: Sport Legends

Views: 9,294,340

Rating: 4.8697114 out of 5

Keywords: Sport, Legends, Changpuek Kiatsongrit, Rick Roufus, muaythai, kickboxing, usa, thailand, legends

Id: EgYlQg0SFGM

Length: 7min 47sec (467 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 27 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Rounder057]

I want to see a post-fight picture of that leg

[u/poisonelf]

Imagine the blood bath if elbows and knees were also allowed.

The Thai guy essentially couldn't defend punches because he's practiced to either throw elbows or clinch and attack with knees if the opponent comes close or hay punches like that.

[u/Supasauce42]

Lifelong MMA fan here..Never even knew this happened.

Thanks for this fun nugget

[u/stergk97]

The kickboxer seemed to dominate in the first round - he even landed a round-house punch. But the Muay Thai fighter really controlled it after that.

A novice question. Why didn't the Kick Boxer continue with his first round strategy, or why did the Muay Thai fighter allow so many hits? To put it differently, what changed?

[u/Not_Paid_Just_Intern]

I used to practice muay thai recreationally but our instructor was a former pro and one of the guys in our school was trying to go pro himself. I remember one of the things that the two of them talked about a lot when planning fights was chopping away at that front leg from your opponent. It hurts like hell and can really get an opponent to open up an otherwise tight defense.

[u/HellHathNoFlurry]

I remember watching this. It was the first time I had ever heard of Muay Thai.

[u/HerculesMulligatawny]

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." Bruce Lee

[u/ASAPtee]

I wonder how this fight would have went in MMA gloves

[u/FGAG]

Leg kicks have always been a part of MMA but you've started to see them being used as a primary tactic a lot more in the past 5-7 years. Its sort of like BJJ in the early days. Most people just didn't know how to deal with it- like, at all... People are finally coming around to the understanding that you can't just let a hard kicker kick the shit out of your legs for a couple rounds, as you'll be toast by R3.

If you've never been repeatedly low-kicked by someone who does it well, you have no idea. They're brutal. Your legs start to shut down and from there, the effectiveness of everything else gets way diminished.

Also; every time someone throws a leg kick that lands in the UFC, Joe Rogan says "Nice leg kick".