I chose to write my paper on Muay Thai, which is a form of kickboxing. I picked Muay Thai because I’ve always wanted to learn kickboxing and it seemed like a more in depth form of kickboxing then just plain old kickboxing. Also because it is such an old form of kickboxing and one of the fastest growing form of mixed martial arts. Muay Thai has a long past is Thailand and it is also the country’s national sport. This traditional sport varies significantly from ancient art muay boan and uses kicks and punches in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing. Muay Thai is the oldest known form of kickboxing and is the primary building block of all other forms of kickboxing. It is said that the first great interests of Thai came around in 1584 under King Naresuan. Muay Thai is also referred to as "The Art of Eight Limbs", as it uses the hands, shins, elbows, and knees extensively in this art. Muay Thai hasn’t always been the same come the 20th century this art had time limits, boxing gloves as well a set of rules introduced. As the 20th century came closer to an end Thai become very popular and is now practiced by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. The largest and oldest Thai organization in the Untied States was founded in 1968 by Surachai “Chai” Sirisute it’s known as The Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. (TBA-USA). Muay Thai uses the body parts as weapons like the elbows, fists, knees, and feet. The sport also used to use the head but it is no longer permitted. There are many uses for each body part which included punching techniques like straight punch, swing, hook, upper cut, spinning back fist, cobra punch, upper cut, and the over head punch. There is also the elbow techniques which include the elbow slash, upper cut elbow, horizontal elbow, forward elbow
