can bjj beat muay thai?

After this post you should know which you should choose, BJJ or Muay Thai, depending on your goals. Let’s get into it.

Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu are both martial arts that deal with fighting, but they are not the same. Muay Thai is a martial art that originated in Thailand and is a form of kickboxing. Muay Thai fighters use their fists, elbows, knees, and shins to strike opponents. Thai boxing is more about power than speed. Muay Thai is a good martial art for self-defense and as a form of cardiovascular and strength training.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art that originated in Brazil. It is a form of grappling. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters use joint locks and chokeholds to immobilize opponents. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is less about power and more about leverage and technique. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a good martial art for self-defense. It is also good for athletes and those who want to get in shape.

Both are great for self-defense if the individual knows how to use them in real life situations. Both integrate live sparring in their training, which is the most important thing for learning self defense.

Live sparring teaches you to stay calm under pressure when somebody attacks you. It also gives you a realistic perspective of what works in a real fighting situation.

The most obvious pros and cons of BJJ and Muay Thai are that BJJ doesn’t teach striking and Muay Thai doesn’t teach ground fighting. So they’re both limited.

However, both can used to great effect, as long as you use their strengths.

In fact, I believe that BJJ is great for self defense, but only if you use the correct BJJ self defense strategy. Otherwise it’s actually dangerous to use BJJ in a street fight.

But there’s a very important way in which BJJ is great for self defense but Muay Thai isn’t.

The biggest con of Muay Thai is that it doesn’t have a lot of violence scalability. This means that almost all of its techniques are very violent.

If you want to neutralize someone with BJJ, you can grab him while standing (least violent), put him on the floor and hold him down (still not very violent), choke him unconscious (more violent but leaves no damage), or punch him down on the floor (very violent).

If you want to neutralize someone with Muay Thai, your only option is to start punching and kicking him until he’s down.

Violent techniques such as punches and kicks sound great if you picture yourself in a fully escalated street fight.

But in reality, you want to be able to win fights without doing major damage.

Firstly because you want to protect yourself from legal ramifications. if you knock somebody out you can definitely get a fine or even go to jail.

Further, a lot of situations can be deescalated if you just hold somebody down, instead of punching him.

If you punch someone, you start a fight. If you pin someone, you end a fight.

Furthermore, many fights occur between friends or friends of friends. If you’re at your brother’s wedding or at a party with your company and somebody is being toxic,  it’s not acceptable to start punching the guy. But it’s acceptable to grab the guy and put him in a corner, and if he doesn’t calm down to hold him down on the floor.

And there are also many occasions in which you might not want to hurt somebody even if he attacks you first. For example if you get attacked by a drunk I would prefer to deescalate the situation while still doing no damage to the drunk. Maybe you don’t agree with me but I just feel like even if somebody is being toxic doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to get injured for it.

Hell no!

Muay Thai still teaches you confidence and how to stay calm in fight situations, which is the most important thing for self defense.

And Muay Thai even teaches some basic trips and takedowns which are useful in street fights.

And although it doesn’t teach ground fighting, most people that might attack you can’t fight on the ground either, so overall you’ll still have a massive advantage if you do Muay Thai.

Muay Thai focuses a little bit more on strength and power than BJJ. ‘Jiu-Jitsu’ translates to ‘the gentle art’ and that’s because of the emphasis on technique rather than strength.

Therefore if you’re looking to build muscle and get in shape Muay Thai has a slight advantage over Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

However if you’re looking to get fit by far the most important thing is that you do the martial art that you enjoy doing the most.

Enjoyment is what gets you into the gym more often, and there’s nothing better for getting in shape than training more often.

Both of these martial arts are very good for losing weight. Muay Thai is a good workout for building muscle and burning fat. Because of the high intensity of Muay Thai training, you will burn a lot of calories and lose weight. BJJ is also great for weight loss because sparring is a large part of every class, and it’s a very intensive workout.

However, the main reason people lose weight is not because of the martial art that they practice, but because of their diet and exercise. So it is important to set goals and follow a healthy diet and exercise plan.

Both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai are good for flexibility. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is good for flexibility because you are constantly in a position to stretch, especially when playing guard. Muay Thai is good for flexibility in the legs because you need to throw high kicks.

Both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai are good for building strength. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is good for strength because the positions that you use in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques require strength. Muay Thai is good for strength because you need to use a lot of different kicks and strikes.

BJJ builds mostly isometric strength and pulling strength in your back and biceps, whereas Muay Thai builds more explosive strength in the shoulders and chest.

Both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai are good for improving speed. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is good for improving speed because the techniques that you use in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques require agility. But Muay Thai definitely builds up more speed in your hands, legs and footwork. It’s a faster paced sport.

Both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai are good for endurance training. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is good for cardio training because you are constantly in motion. Muay Thai is good for endurance training because it requires a short burst of energy every time that you throw a combination.

A BJJ guy has a better chance of beating a Muay Thai guy than the other way around.

We know this because it’s just the classic grappler vs striker situation which the early UFC events proved are always won by the Grappler.

The reason for this is that the only way for the striker to win is to knock out the Grappler while they’re still standing.

The grappler on the other hand, just needs to hit a takedown to bring the fight to the ground (because the striker can never get back up again and is helpless on the ground).

And taking the fight to the ground is much quicker and easier than knocking somebody out.

Of course this question gets harder if we assume that the striker learnt some grappling or takedown defence.

Or, if we assume that the grappler learns some basic striking.

The early UFCs were the best case studies for comparing different martial arts, because the different arts didn’t spy on each other yet.

Nowadays, everybody in the UFC trains all aspects of MMA, even if they specialise in some aspects. So it’s harder to compare styles.

You have the same problem with Youtube videos. If you check the video below, you’ll see they advertise the fight as a ‘BJJ guy vs Muay Thai guy’. However, the BJJ guy seems to actually be better at boxing than the Muay Thai guy…

So it’s very hard nowadays to compare martial arts styles against each other.

Ultimately, a combination of different martial arts is better than any 1 martial art.

And which combination of martial arts is the best. is what UFC athletes are now trying to figure out.

Both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai can cause injuries, but the most common injuries in both are different.

Muay Thai can cause injuries because you are throwing, punching and landing kicks. The types of injuries muay thai causes are sprains, bruises and concussions.

BJJ can cause injuries because you’re throwing overextending joints. You can expect to get minor injuries when you tap too late to submissions, and bigger injuries can happen when somebody falls on you during a takedown.

I’m pretty lucky that I never got a serious injury in either sport. But, I’ve broken my nose in Muay Thai, which sucked because it really hurts.

I’ve gotten black eyes from both (in BJJ because people accidentally Muay Thaied me).

I broke my hand doing backyard Muay Thai with a friend. This didn’t hurt as much as you would think.

And I tweaked my ankles and elbows dozens of times in BJJ from tapping too late, but this always healed within a week or so.

I’ve seen my friends have more catastrophic injuries in BJJ than in Muay Thai. These were all during chaotic takedowns, when somebody fell with their full weight on the side of someone’s knee. This type of injury requires surgery and takes people out for more than a year.

BJJ and Muay Thai are both awesome martial arts. Doing either is a million percent better than doing no martial art.

However, BJJ is better than Muay Thai for several purposes.

BJJ is better than Muay Thai for self defense because of its violence scalability.

BJJ is better than Muay Thai for MMA, because grapplers beat strikers, as was proven in the early UFCs.

BJJ and Muay Thai both have pros and cons for fitness, strength and cardio training.

And Muay Thai is harder to learn than BJJ, which is a reason to start learning BJJ first.

But again, the real answer to whether Muay Thai or BJJ is better comes down to your preference. Whichever you enjoy more is the one that you should train.

Yes. Muay Thai is much harder to learn than BJJ because it relies much more on timing, and timing takes a long time to develop. BJJ relies more on knowledge, which you can learn instantaneously.

Another reason is that ground fighting is less intuitive than stand up fighting, which makes untrained people worse at it. Not that people are intuitively great strikers, but they do instinctively try to block and dodge punches.But they don’t instinctively dodge guard passes and chokes, because they don’t know what those are.

To give a very broad comparison, after doing BJJ for 2 years, you have a 95% chance to beat untrained opponents. But if you do Muay Thai, you may only have a 75-80% chance to beat untrained opponents. Because untrained people can still throw basic punches, but they can’t do anything on the ground.

If you are interested in learning either martial art, you can definitely choose either. Both BJJ and Muay Thai are awesome martial arts. Both are great for self-defense and for getting in shape. It does not matter which martial art you learn first. You can also learn both.

That being said, Muay Thai sparring is much harder on the body than Brazilian jiu jitsu sparring. So if you want to immediately start sparring I would advise you to start with learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu first. This will get your body used to some amount of impact before you start taking heavy blows in Muay Thai.

Also, Muay Thai takes longer to learn. So if you want to get better at fighting fast, you should learn BJJ first.

I think combining BJJ and Muay Thai is a fantastic idea. I think they’re the best grappling martial art and the best striking martial art, so if you do both, you become a well rounded fighter.

Of course, the obvious question is why you wouldn’t just train MMA then. But I think there’s value in learning each art separately.

The truth is that MMA guys are worse at grappling than BJJ guys, and worse at striking than Muay Thai guys, so you don’t get the best of either. (Of course the upshot is that you immediately learn how to combine them in an effective way.)

BJJ and Muay Thai are also an effective combination in the UFC. Basically, you can use your confidence on the ground to throw kicks constantly without fear of being taken down. Ryan Hall is an example of someone who uses this strategy.

In today’s world of mixed martial arts, both are an equally important part of the whole puzzle. Both are highly specialized systems that focus entirely on one aspect of fighting. They stand on the two opposite shores.

Comparing the two in a direct battle, BJJ will win simply because it’s relatively easy to takedown an unprepared boxer, and ground fighting is jiu-jitsu’s specialty.

Of course, you can’t predict every possible outcome. Still, we’ve seen repeatedly, especially in MMA, that if a fighter doesn’t have at least some proficiency in grappling, he is doomed once the fight hits the mats.

As always, I will take a deep dive into the specifics of boxing and BJJ to help you make a better choice. Of course, the best option is to train in both, but if that is not possible, you need to make a tough choice and focus your efforts.

It’s impossible not to know what boxing is, but if you need a refresher, read on. Competitive fist fighting has been documented as early as 3000BC and, along with wrestling, is the oldest combat sport in written history.

Boxing was a vital part of the ancient Olympics and the Roman empire. During these times, instead of soft gloves, fighters were using leather and metal “gloves” intended to do maximum damage.

Our modern form of boxing came to be in 17th century England. It was finalized as an official sport in 1867 with the adoption of the Queensbury rules.

The purpose of boxing is to knock out the opponent using only the fists in a competition contested in several timed rounds. Only strikes above the waist are permitted, and no wrestling is allowed.

All matches are fought in a square ring, and if both boxers are still standing in the end, judges decide who the winner is.

As I mentioned, the very restricted ruleset of boxing places it in a particular place in combat as one of the most narrowly specialized disciplines. Taking away most of the arsenal accessible to the human body forces athletes to take what is available to the highest possible level.

Boxing footwork, movement, punching, and tactics are beyond every other martial art that incorporates these aspects.

BJJ is a martial art entirely focused on grappling where no strikes are allowed. In the traditional version, wrestling plays a minimal role.

The purpose of BJJ is to control the opponent via leverage and body mechanics and submit him with a joint lock or a chokehold.

Original jiu-jitsu was a Japanese martial art used by samurai as an addition to their swords combat skills. The end of the samurai era saw it modified away from military use and into a more civil scenario of self-defense practice.

This gave birth to the art of judo in the hands of Jigoro Kano. A direct student of his Mitsuo Maeda traveled to Brazil in the 1920s. He trained in traditional jiu-jitsu and judo a young man named Carlos Gracie.

It was in the hands of the Gracie family that the art would evolve into the Brazilian jiu-jitsu that we know today.

BJJ has two very distinct branches. The first is the traditional jiu-jitsu, designed for self-defense and used mainly against an untrained attacker. Practitioners learn to control and incapacitate often larger and violent attackers and defend against all possible dangers in a real-life scenario.

Sport jiu-jitsu, on the other hand, is very different. Competitions are pure grappling with no strikes allowed, and the matches can end with a submission or judge’s decision.

Like all other combat sports, there are weight divisions, strict rules, and professional and amateur competitions.

The rules of the two sports are quite different. Let’s see how they stack up. We will leave out traditional BJJ and only view the sports version here.

Boxing rules are a lot more uniform and are the same for all organizations and countries. There are some minor differences between amateur and professional boxing, but they are generally very similar.

Boxers fight in shorts and padded gloves that are strictly regulated for competitions. Other mandatory pieces of equipment are the mouth guard, boxing shoes, and groin protection.

For training, you will also need a helmet and a couple of different types of gloves for sparring, bag work, and drills.

BJJ is usually practiced in a traditional uniform called a gi, taken from the Japanese root of the art. There are also colored belts that are very important as they signify progression and hierarchy and are earned only via merit.

Since the explosion of MMA, another branch of jiu-jitsu has emerged, called “no-gi.”

As you can deduce by the name, you do not wear a gi, with the purpose to make it more applicable to MMA and self-defense, where there are no hard-collared clothes that you can use to your advantage. You’d wear a BJJ rashguard, spats, or BJJ shorts for no-gi.

Boxing has a limited number of techniques, but it makes good use of them. There are three basic types of punches- straights, hooks, and uppercuts and many slight variations between them.

This makes footwork, distance management, and timing crucial in boxing. If you understand what you are watching, you will be fascinated by the precision and tactics high-level boxing exhibits in the ring in such a violent and stressful environment.

In stark contrast, BJJ has a vast amount of techniques. Grappling is a very positional game, and the often-used comparison with chess is very fitting. Each move has a countermove that negates.

High-level practitioners set up plans with a few moves upfront and aim to outsmart their opponent. BJJ is still a very physical sport that requires a lot of the body.

Both martial arts will be very beneficial for self-defense. Many say BJJ is the best for that purpose, but I can’t entirely agree. The primary deficiency is that you need to get the opponent to the ground for BJJ to work properly.

And if he has at least some basic wrestling abilities, this may prove a challenging task. In a 1 vs. 1 fight, the BJJ practitioner can win against most people; that is true. But real street fights are rarely a true 1 vs. 1 affair, and willingly going to the ground may be disastrous.

And this is only regarding traditional jiu-jitsu. The sports version is not suitable for street fights. It can even be dangerous because many of the commonly used positions leave you wide open for powerful strikes that are not allowed in sports BJJ.

On the other hand, boxing has one big flaw: the lack of grappling and wrestling, and as you know, many street fights end up on the ground or in the clinch.

The best part of boxing for self-defense is that the hands are the fastest and safest weapons you can use, and boxing teaches the best use of them.

Very often, the best solution (after not going into a fight in the first place, of course) is to hit fast, hard, and flee from further danger.

MMA is a whole different game, and boxing and BJJ are mere parts of it. The illusion of the complete superiority of BJJ was dispelled after the first few editions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship when fighters learned to defend against it.

Even MMA fighters who are submissions specialists have to learn and use many other skills to incorporate their BJJ skills in the cage.

Boxing is also an excellent base for MMA, but not nearly enough on its own. The standard boxing stance is susceptible to kicks and takedowns. The range also changes dramatically when you add everything to the mix.

Any martial art will work well in MMA, but only after it’s modified for the realities of cage fighting.

Injuries are inevitable in any sport, but in combat sports, there is greater danger coming from the inherent violence of fighting. But between the two arts BJJ is the safer option.

Brain trauma is one of the worst injuries to the body and in boxing, the head is the main target. This doesn’t automatically mean that you will get CTE by training boxing.

For serious problems, a very large amount of damage must be accumulated and this usually happens only with professionals with lifelong careers. There are many good and thorough research papers, so it’s a good idea to inform yourself about the dangers of head trauma.

BJJ on the other hand does not involve any striking which is good for the health. But the goal of every submission is to figure out how to place the body in a position of immense pain.

BJJ requires exceptional flexibility and strains the whole body. In that regard, you will likely suffer a lot more injuries both in quantity and variety than if you train boxing.

To summarize the initial statement, BJJ usually wins against boxing in a one-on-one fight. This is best illustrated with the quote by the famous Renzo Gracie: “A boxer is like a lion, the greatest predator on land, but you throw him in the shark tank, and he’s just another meal.”

Of course, not every fight is the same. A boxer will always have a good chance to knock the BJJ guy out. It also highly depends on the person.

As always, the answer to these questions has to be found by you. Both martial arts are great and can positively change your entire life. For a complete fighter, some competency in both is required.

Muay Thai and BJJ each have distinct advantages and disadvantages, and neither is better. Muay Thai is a striking martial art and combat sport utilizing all limbs as weapons, while BJJ specializes in grappling on the ground.

Being so different, comparing Muay Thai and BJJ may seem strange. Still, as two of the most popular martial arts on the planet, many people are wondering which one to choose and how they stack up in different situations, and this article has the answers.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a comprehensive grappling system from Brazil that teaches how to control and submit an opponent on the ground using leverage and technique.

BJJ emphasizes taking the fight to the ground, where size matters less, and finishing the fight using a joint lock or a choke. It is a well-tested and thoroughly proven effective system for fighting.

BJJ was created in Brazil and is derived from traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu and judo, created by the Gracie family in the early 20th century. For a long time, BJJ was used for self-defense and no-rules fights, which is a testament to its effectiveness.

Since the 1990s, BJJ has grown immensely because of its huge success in early MMA, proving that a complete fighter must also be competent on the ground.

In recent years, BJJ has grown more as a separate sport than a fighting system, where grapplers face each other in highly technical bouts with no striking.

The sport has grown immensely, and today BJJ has a worldwide competition scene with world championships and millions practicing for fitness, well-being, and even as professional athletes.

Muay Thai is a combat sport and martial art originating in Thailand. It is considered a national treasure and a representation of the culture. It is a striking combat sport called the “Art of 8 Limbs” because it allows punches, kicks, elbows, and knees.

Muay Thai, translated as Thai boxing, can be traced back to the 13th century. Its historical versions have been used on the battlefield by soldiers for unarmed combat.

It gradually became more standardized and used for sport until the early 20th century. It became formalized after contact with western boxing, when weight classes, gloves, timed rounds, and the boxing ring were implemented.

Today, Muay Thai has huge worldwide recognition and following as a separate sport and an integral part of MMA.

Using all striking weapons and extensive clinching and close-range fighting has elevated Muay Thai as one of the most effective and realistic combat sports. In recent years, more people have picked up the sport as a way to get in shape.

Muay Thai operates in the striking domain and uses all limbs available to the human body. There are punches similar to western boxing, kicks thrown with power and delivered with the shin, elbows, and knees.

Thai-style kicks are the most powerful roundhouse kicks in all martial arts due to the mechanics aiming to deliver them with the most force possible.

Aside from striking techniques, Muay Thai fighters have a deep knowledge of clinching, which is scored highly in matches. Control, delivering knees and elbows, and throwing or sweeping the opponent from the clinch are integral parts of the game.

BJJ is all about ground fighting and uses a vast array of techniques to obtain dominance in the domain. Several different guard positions must be mastered both on offense and defense.

Sweeps are used to reverse the position inside those guards. Joint locks put the body and limbs in painful positions, forcing the opponent to submit or suffer the consequences of not doing so.

Chokes are another way of finishing the fight, either by submissions or by separating the opponent from consciousness. Takedowns are present in BJJ but receive much less attention than in most other grappling martial arts.

Professional Muay Thai fights are fought in a boxing ring in three to five 3-minute rounds. All punches, kicks, elbows, and knees are allowed, and the fight can be won by a knockout or by the fighter the judges declare the winner.

Three judges score each round based on several criteria, which include successful striking and effective grappling techniques in the clinch. Scoring in Thailand is slightly different than in most other places, as Thais emphasize certain rounds and certain techniques more than others.

BJJ has two main sports branches: gi and no-gi. As the name suggests, the former uses a traditional gi, which also plays a vital role in grappling as it can be grabbed and used. Grapplers in no-gi BJJ wear tight shirts and shorts that cannot be manipulated during the competition.

In both versions, the rules strictly ban all forms of striking. The aim of a match contested on mats is to submit the opponent or win the match on points.

Points are scored for takedowns, guard passes, holding dominant positions like mount, or almost finishing a submission. Different BJJ organizations have different rules, which may vary depending on competitors’ rank.

Training in Muay Thai is evenly split between solo drills like shadowboxing, bag work, and strength and conditioning and partner/trainer work like pads, clinch drills, and sparring. On the other hand, BJJ has fewer solo drills and focuses more on training with a partner and live sparring called rolling.

The conditioning demands of striking and grappling are different, as are those of Muay Thai and BJJ. BJJ is all about skill, but strength and endurance become crucial when the skills are equal.

BJJ athletes need to develop all 3 energy systems. Still, they must have serious aerobic endurance because of the 6:1 average work-to-rest ratio, so aerobic conditioning is essential to BJJ conditioning.

Strength training for BJJ is also important as it gives a competitive advantage over similarly skilled opponents. The demands are not that great, but a good BJJ competitor is likely to have good general strength on the basic lifts like bench press, squat, and deadlift.

Grip strength is also crucial in BJJ and must be trained. So a comprehensive strength and conditioning program is a must if you aim to reach higher levels of BJJ.

Muay Thai requires a high level of both aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. Maintaining high output for a whole fight or sparring session is crucial for success, and cardio training is essential.

Traditionally, running is a vital part of Muay Thai, but long, no-rest drills like clinching or shadowboxing mixed with jumping rope are also often used to improve aerobic capacity.

Traditionally, strength training with weights had no place in Muay Thai. Still, in more recent years, Muay Thai strength training has been implemented into the sport with the advancement of sports science and training methods.

The main areas to work on are reactive and explosive strength, improved by exercises like jumps, squats, pull-ups, and many more explosive movements with and without weights.

BJJ and Muay Thai are the two most prominent martial arts in all of MMA, covering the grappling and striking aspects of fighting, respectively. If one thing has become crystal clear, one cannot go without the other in a cage fight, and each MMA fighter needs to be able to hold his own on the feet and the ground.

BJJ is the most comprehensive system for submission grappling, and especially in its self-defense version, it is exceptionally effective in MMA. After all, its popularity arose directly from the early success of fighters such as Royce Gracie and other grapplers in MMA.

On the other hand, Muay Thai includes more weapons in a standup arsenal than other striking martial arts and combat sports, making it a perfect fit for MMA. Then in Muay Thai, there is extensive clinching and close-range fighting, making it the preferred striking discipline of many MMA fighters.

BJJ and Muay Thai are crucial for MMA and are considered two of the four main pillars of the sport, so they are equally important and effective in MMA. Of course, like with every other martial art, many techniques and concepts must be modified before they are usable in MMA.

BJJ and Muay Thai are equal in their self-defense applications. BJJ was created as a self-defense system, and the live training with constant sparring preserved that purpose.

BJJ ground fighting skills teach anyone, regardless of size, how to control and subdue an opponent on the ground. The only downside of BJJ for street fights is the lack of striking and situations with more than one opponent.

Things become more difficult to predict when sports BJJ is brought into the mix. Many of the main positions and average distances used in grappling matches are not appropriate for self-defense where striking is present, so this is something to keep in mind- self-defense BJJ is very different than sports BJJ.

Muay Thai is also excellent for self-defense. The extensive arsenal of powerful and deadly strikes that includes punches and kicks at a distance and knees and elbows up close makes Muay Thai effective at all striking ranges, which is very good in unpredictable real-life situations. The clinch is the most common position in a street fight, and this is Muay Thai’s domain.

Full-contact sparring and training in Muay Thai prepare the body and mind for violence, which is also an important point missing from some martial arts. Then the negative side is that if the fight hits the ground, if Muay Thai is all you know, you may be in deep waters without the ability to swim.

So BJJ and Muay Thai are both excellent for self-defense but in different ways. One can be better than the other, depending on the specific situation.

Muay Thai and BJJ have unique strengths and weaknesses, so depending on the situation, either one can win over the other. From what we know from MMA, if the fight goes to the ground, BJJ will win every time, but if the fight stays standing, the Thai fighter will dominate.

Whether the fight will go to the ground depends mainly on the personal skills of both fighters. It’s worth noting that Muay Thai fighters are much harder to take down from the clinch, where most BJJ practitioners transition to the ground.

Comparisons of virtual styles vs. styles are usually easier because one has a clear advantage. But in the case of BJJ and Muay Thai, when both have such field-proven effectiveness and representation in MMA and real-life altercations, both have equal chances of winning.

The best option to become a complete martial artist is to train in both, even if one receives most of your time and effort. But each martial art has immense benefits on its own as well.

The biggest decision you need to make is the choice between striking and grappling. Some people have an affinity for one or the other and will always choose based on that.

While with some martial arts, you have to make compromises in effectiveness for self-defense or MMA, in the case of BJJ and Muay Thai, both bring much to the table. The choice again comes down to personal preference, accessibility, and goals.

If you are looking for competition, both offer well-developed scenes from amateur levels all the way to world championships. Both are great for fitness development, each with its intricacies and specifics.

So the best option is to try both, see what suits you better and where you excel more, and stick with that. Either way, you won’t regret a single second spent training.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or BJJ for short, is both a martial art and a sport. Around 1882, it evolved from the Japanese martial art of Judo. The letters “jiu” in Jiu-Jitsu and “ju” in Judo are essentially anglicized variants of the same Japanese word that signifies “gentle” or “soft.”

Royce Gracie’s domination in the early years of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the 1990s paved the path for BJJ’s climb to recognition and notoriety. Royce Gracie is a member of the well-known martial arts Gracie family, who were instrumental in establishing BJJ. Royce’s prowess in ground combat drew attention to the efficiency of BJJ, and the grappling style has since become a permanent fixture in every MMA fighter’s repertory.

Muay Thai, a martial art developed in Thailand, is widely considered the most aggressive striking style in the world. Its techniques are mainly based on the movements of animals such as the tiger, crane, and elephant, and the style was initially designed to allow fighters to stand their ground against larger and more powerful opponents

Its popularity as a striking martial art has grown in recent years mainly through the success of MMA and other combat sports, in which Muay Thai is used by many of the world’s best fighters. The extent to which Muay Thai will be incorporated in the UFC’s future remains to be seen, but it is only a matter of time before it becomes a permanent fixture in the competition.

Now that we have established the history and basics of Muay Thai and BJJ let’s get to the point

In terms of effectiveness, the answer is clear. Muay Thai is the most effective stand-up striking martial art, while Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the most effective grappling martial art.

It goes without saying that the Muay Thai fighter is at a considerable advantage in a stand-up fight. The Muay Thai fighter has an arsenal of kicks and knees, which are mainly effective due to the long limbs of the Thai person. The Thai fighter also has the advantage of performing roundhouse kicks and forward kicks with much power because of the flexibility of their hips and legs. That allows the Thai fighter to execute kicks in ways that the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner cannot

The Muay Thai fighter also can cut off the ring, which allows them to keep their opponent at range and frustrate them into making a mistake. The Muay Thai fighter can also use their elbows and clinch to their advantage. The clinching game of Muay Thai is an art in itself and involves using the body and hips to trap the opponent and deliver devastating knees and elbows

However, in the ground game, the Muay Thai fighter has a lot to fear. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a grappling art that allows the practitioner to neutralize and eventually pin the Muay Thai fighter on the ground and then get on top of them. The BJJ fighter can control the Muay Thai fighter using various chokes and joint locks.

On the other hand, the Muay Thai fighter must avoid being taken to the ground at all costs. If a Muay Thai fighter falls to the ground, their fight will likely end soon.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or more commonly known as BJJ, is both a martial art and a sport. It developed from the Japanese martial art of Judo sometime around 1882. The “jiu” in Jiu-Jitsu and “ju” in Judo are merely anglicized nuances and are actually the same Japanese word, which means “gentle” or “soft”.

BJJ’s rise to fame and prominence came in the way of Royce Gracie’s dominance in the beginning years of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the 90s. Royce Gracie is a member of the prominent martial arts Gracie family that was pivotal in the development of BJJ. Royce’s excellence in ground combat brought attention to the effectiveness of BJJ and since then, the grappling art has developed into a permanent fixture in every mixed martial artist’s repertoire.

Muay Thai, or Thai kickboxing, developed from the traditional Thai martial arts of Muay Boran by incorporating elements of western boxing in the early twentieth century. Like boxing, competitive Muay Thai involves set rounds, rules, padded gloves and takes place within the confines of a ring. Muay Thai came to international prominence in the seventies and eighties when Thai fighters defeated notable practitioners of other martial arts in well-documented and sanctioned fights.

Muay Thai is most differentiated from other pugilistic arts by the use of elbows, knees and push kicks (teeps). Except for the head, every part of the body is utilized. Muay Thai fighters are well known for being the toughest fighters through intense body conditioning into essentially a human weapon. Over the years, Muay Thai has evolved from a fight sport where practitioners train to compete, into an physical activity that also encompasses people of all social strata who train for fitness or recreation.You can read more about Muay Thai here.

This remains a much heated debate with proponents of both sides putting forth their respective arguments. Supporters of Muay Thai believe that well-trained Nak Muay will KO the BJJ guy to sleep easily. Likewise, BJJ fans are confident of strangling the Muay Thai fighter into submission once the fight is taken to the ground. So which of the two is more effective when pitted against each other?

In a hypothetical situation where the 2 martial artists meet, the Muay Thai fighter who has zero experience of ground combat can be rendered completely helpless once taken to the ground. So, a pure Nak Muay with no training in grappling stands little hope of escaping the numerous submissions of BJJ. On the other hand, a pure BJJ practitioner would likely resort to ineffective untrained punches in a stand-up exchange and will be vulnerable to a flurry of Muay Thai low kicks, teeps, punches and body kicks. For someone who is not conditioned to withstand body blows, being hit by a seasoned Nak Muay will be an excruciating experience.

In a street fight, punches are the most intuitive weapon of choice. A person with experience in Muay Thai will be able to defend and counter-attack effectively, gaining an advantage from being equipped with knowledge of using various parts of the body to strike. The BJJ practitioner will ideally tackle to take the fight to the ground and most people will not have the know-how of escaping the submissions. In reality, street fights come with no rules. Biting, weapons, hitting below the belt and multiple opponents are all possible scenarios. It is hard to say which will be more effective although it is safe to say that they are both valuable skills against untrained antagonists.

Much of the videos between the two that are regularly circulated around the internet frequently show a handicapped or misrepresented version of Muay Thai where certain moves are deliberately restricted. In cases where a Muay Thai exponent is shown to overpower a Jiu Jitsu practitioner, the former may have had some training to avoid takedowns. Unless a series of fights is sanctioned where fighters of equal amount of experience are matched up and allowed their entire range of weapons, any conclusion on one martial art’s superiority will be just mere speculation.

To compare Muay Thai to BJJ is like comparing apples to oranges. Muay Thai is fundamentally stand-up striking combat while BJJ is ground fighting grappling combat. In terms of techniques, while there may be a long list of submissions in BJJ, Muay Thai can be very technical in the right hands (and legs) with infinite combinations of strikes and movements. Muay Thai basics may be picked up very quickly, but both systems are difficult to truly master without years of hard work and grit. They are both most effective in their respective arenas under their respective rules. However, it is interesting to note that there is a higher percentage of KO finishes than submissions in UFC which may attest to the advantage of effective striking in mixed martial arts.

For anyone with even a passing interest in MMA, they are surely familiar with BJJ moves like armlocks chokes, and leg locks. One of the biggest appeals about BJJ is learning the wide range of techniques that can be executed to force an opponent into surrendering or until a joint breaks or someone passes out from being choked.

BJJ has often been described as a game of human chess, an intellectual combat in which a smaller person can successfully overcome a bigger person with the proper techniques and a good strategy. A prime example is Royce Gracie’s 2004 fight against famous Sumo wrestler Akebono with a massive 300-pound weight advantage. Gracie was able to wrist-locked the behemoth Akebono into submission within a mere 133 seconds.

Muay Thai, on the other hand, is a very candid fighting system. It is designed to hurt the opponent, in the most direct manner and in the most painful way. The training itself is cardio-intensive and involves a lot of conditioning and rote learning. This is a sport that can really strengthen a person both physically and mentally.