Wing Chun striking vs Muay Thai striking for street fights

So my question is which is the superior art, in terms of striking, for a streetfight. Also, what would (LIKELY) incapacitate an opponent faster?

It seems as though while the muay thai strikes may be more powerful they may compromise you in terms of balance if they don't land. I don't believe wing chun has that problem however the strikes don't seem to be powerful, and not about incapacitating your opponent quickly.

In your opinion, which style is superior for a streetfight? (This is about strikes, but you can comment on the style as a whole as well)

 

Never tried Wing Chun so cannot comment on the style.

However I wouldn't say Muay Thai striking techniques will leave you off balance, not when done correctly.

 

Perhaps I am throwing the techniques too hard

 

You yourself seem to think that wing chun is inferior for quickly ending a fight. As for muay thai strikes compromising your balance, I assume you're thinking of the roundhouse kick here. Muay thai has a lot of other techniques that are probably more likely to be used in a streetfight (punches, elbows, knees, clinch) which leave both feet on the ground. And as Unreal says, a decent nak muay won't compromise their balance with the roundhouse kick either.

To answer your question, I suppose it depends on the training. I don't study either, so I can't really comment any further.

 

You learn something new everyday. I never knew that Muay Thai fighters have terrible balance.

 

You yourself seem to think that wing chun is inferior for quickly ending a fight.
I am not sure, which is why I am asking. I have some practice with muay thai but not a lot with much of wing chun. I have my impressions of what I have seen and I am asking what more experienced people think.

 

Alright, as far as the balance thing goes... What I was referring to is when I throw full powered crosses or a roundhouse, it seems to compromise me more in tempo and balance then say a straight low kick or a chain punch would from wing chun. At least the other day I noticed this when throwing at the air. If you throw a hook full steam at someone's head and he is not there, you have a chance of ending up in a compromised position and offbalancing yourself.

 

If a cross of any kind throws you off balance, your cross needs form correction and more practice, badly.

A roundhouse shouldn't throw you off balance either, all it does is give the opponent an opening when you miss, but your balance should remain intact. So here as well, needs form correction and more practice.

As for Wing Chun and finishing off opponents, when I did a trial for a week at a Wing Chun place, their basic techniques seemed pretty capable of quickly finishing off opponents. During sparring they overwhelmed me pretty quickly by getting super-close to me and never stopping their hands. It was quite awkward and I'm sure that if they connect on you with their chain punches, the fight will end pretty fast.

 

That's because you're crap*, not because Muay Thai is intrinsically unbalanced.

*Harsh? Yes. True? Probably.

 

Nowhere near as harsh as I would have phrased it to be fair

 

How does a cross thrown correctly: crushing the cockroach with your back foot, hips and shoulders in line chin tucked and shoulder raised etc, compromise you anymore if you miss than a chain punch done with the elbow down, head and chin up and no guard?
Ive done a bit of wing chun over the years, and much more thai and from sparring and doing both I can say wing chun leaves way more gaps than thai ever seems to, and as for which works better in a street fight I have known a few wing chun guys get their backsides handed to them in the street, still waiting for any of the thai/MMA guys I know to have the same done to them.

To be honest all you need to do is just walk into your average thai gym, and then take a walk into your average wing chun kwoon, see the students, what they look like and HOW they train, and its easy to see which art prepares you better for the street confrontation

 

stand-alone wing chun vs. stand-alone muay-thai? muay thai.
mixed wing chun(either with modern boxing/JKD) vs MT? hard to tell.

the more "pure" wing chun is, the crappier it seems.

and by the way, muay thai is VERY big on balance. leg kicks and clinch throws abound. it is a peculiarity of muay thai that one must generate the most available power possible in the situation.

problem is, 'pure' muay thai (i.e. as practiced in thailand) is not particular with punches. they are more concerned with kicks and clinches.

the majority of wing chun guys i've met, does that after they suckered you in with their trapping. all of the times I've gotten out of that with a high rugby tackle. mind you, many of them were of chinese ethnicity and "pure" stylists. they can't generate much power unless you backpedal. rush them and control the distance,they resort to hooks. I usually reach down and go for a double leg at that point.

best way to neutralize a "pure" WC? snipe them from afar, kicks from muay thai, KK or TKD usually does the trick. then they'll bum rush you with chain punches. cover up BUT rush back at them. then do what I did.

NEVER CROSS HANDS/ HAND FIGHT WITH WC! think of your arm as a rapier, once your and his rapiers are in contact and crossed, he'll toggle your arm more than in a pinball game.

 

Throw a full power hook at someone's head expecting to connect and meet with nothing and you will overbalance. Throw a measured hook or cross and you won't.

The issue is with the technique and the power, not MT per se. The criticism can cut both ways. The fact that a WC person isn't going to overbalance if they throw a technique full pelt against thin air means that their strikes aren't (generally) going to be as effective when they do connect.

PS You're treading a fine line with insults there.

 

I see the general concensus on this board is that Muay Thai is balanced. It is noted, so hopefully future posts will be mostly about the striking effectiveness of the arts.

 

I think like with anything It depends on the individual, don't get me wrong I haven't trained in wing chun for long so I am by no means an expert
One of my seniors did how ever train with a few Muay Thai guys and they were puzzled as to why he wasn't constantly moving, and how he stopped a lot of their attacks with minimal movement

In my class we get told a lot of useful street techniques that might give you the upper hand, and granted a lot of it is mostly up close but that doesn't mean to say that either is better then the other and there is no way to really gauge that because finding 2 identical practitioners one trained in Muay Thai the other in wing chun both at an equal level that has had equal experience in street fights isn't going to be very easy

 

Traditionally in the "back in the day" challenge matches Kung Fu tends to fare poorly against Muay Thai, although it has been suggested this is as much to do with Thai "spirit" as much as anything else

My own Sifu happily trades hands with Thai Boxers and Boxers using a WC/JF base, but it is as likely it is his skill level in MT and boxing that affords him the ability to do this

 

Its not an easy question to answer, I know from experience. Ask anyone at this forum and they will tell you I wanted concrete answers to "what martial art word for selfe defence" and "what techniques work best for self defence" and I can tell you what I have found out.

1. There is no ultimate system and non are intrisicly better than the other just because they are a particular style. Of course some styles have more pressure testing and have simpler, easy to learn moves than others, but In my opinion any martial art can be taught badly and and badly taught means bad useage, no matter the art.

2. Every martial art can work in self defence situation if the situation is just right for it, but ask yourself, how often in real violence will you find yourself in a situation that you can use your art.

So my advice is find out about both schools, look at what is available to you, then look at how well they are taught. Maybe visit the classes, ask the teachers how much they focus on SD and then go from there.

Just my two cents though, and I am frequently wrong.

 

Thank you for your post Robin. Yes, asking if MT or WC is better will have to be a generalization because of the nuances of where you are learning the style, and also the person may be not good even if the system is good.

That being said there are still (somewhat) universal moves in just about any art. Not to sound rude if I am, but that is why the arts have different names: because they are defined in a different way based off of something unique to them. I am wondering, which uniqueness is better for SD: MT or WC.

 

well in my opinion and referencing my second point. Judging by what I have observed about real violence. More fights involve lots of heavy shot, people grabbing each other, and alot of pressure. All of which are present in muay thai, Wing chun however seems to be alot of standing and trading shots at a distance where it would seem like most people would just grab hold of you. So in my opinion ( highly fallible though it is) probably muay thai.

 

Roger that.