Every great fighter needs more than physical strength-they need wisdom, guidance, and a team that believes in them.
At TAG Muay Thai, coaches are more than instructors; they’re mentors who have been in the ring, felt the nerves, and come out stronger.
Let's delve into the crucial aspects of Muay Thai, focusing on stance, footwork, and strategic ring control, while also considering the vital role of the corner team.
The Importance of Mastering the Basics
One of the most common things our coaches say is, “Progress takes time-don’t rush it.”
When students first join TAG, many want to master techniques overnight or spar in their first week.
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It’s easy to get distracted by spinning elbows or flying knees, but TAG coaches constantly stress the importance of mastering the basics. Flash comes later.
One of the biggest mindset shifts TAG students make is learning to see sparring as a classroom, not a battlefield.
The Foundation: Stance and Footwork
The first place to start in any type of martial art is the stance.
In arts like Wing Chung, practitioners position their feet in a more square stance, opening their body to their opponent.
In Karate, practitioners have a fully bladed stance where they are almost fully side on to their opponent's.
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Therefore their stance allows for more explosive movements of the feet but opens them up to the problem of lead leg kicks and sidekicks in other rule sets because of the awkward positioning of their lead foot.
This lead foot is close to the back foot so that it can check leg kicks from their opponent, as weight can be easily shifted onto the back foot to stand on one leg.
Developed in part also because of the rules of Muay Thai, no takedowns, leg kicks score most and impact of strikes having a large part of scoring.
Because of this your feet should be shoulder width apart, with your lead foot pointed straight forward and your rear foot pointed out on approximately a 60° angle.
This is done so that you have the ability to check kicks and not be thrown off balance.
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The dotted line between your two feet is called your centre line.
A massively overlooked part of fighting is footwork. It is easy to learn, but takes hours and hours of practice, so no one wants to do it and they struggle because of it.
The foot that moves first should always be the closest one to the direction you are moving. This is done so that you can easily throw a punch while moving.
If you had moved your front foot over the centre line first, this would place you in a compromised position.
This incorrect type of movement for fighting is how we walk every day and therefore feels natural.
Using that same concept we mentioned our same side foot moves first, so the left foot moves first when moving left.
When moving forwards and backwards, the same concepts apply. If I move forward, my lead foot moves first.
We move lead foot first because if you need to attack or are being attacked mid-stride, you have a base underneath you to throw any of your weapons.
Our rear foot then moves forward after the lead foot. This type of walking for martial arts goes against our natural inclination.
If we walk down the street, we would want to take the step that is most efficient in moving us forward, which would be back foot first.
We end up in a strange stance that provides us no base, balance or ability to be dangerous while moving.
Take another look at the video above and notice that Conor also doesn't exit in a straight line. He takes two steps back, hits a left cross, then angles off the centre line.
This angle is very important for defensive tactics.
If you only step back straight, then you can be pushed towards the fence and bullied.
A great way to move dynamically and with the correct foot first is to bounce off your opposite foot, for example if you want to move backwards with your back foot, you can bounce off of your lead foot, propelling your body backwards.
If we moved back with the lead foot first, this counter would not be possible.
There are many examples of fighters moving backwards with the lead foot first and being hit and finished. One would be Cody Garbrandt vs.
This kick barely lands as it grazes with the toes, but because Cody doesn't have a strong base under him he is in no position to absorb the kick and it does much more damage than it would have if he was in a strong stance.
A massive point people miss in fighting is that footwork and feints are defence. Too many coaches and fighters think of defence as just putting a hand up to block, or slipping and rolling punches.
Your first level of defence should always be your footwork, as you can't be hit if you are not there to be hit. The second level is feints, as an opponent will have second thoughts about throwing attacks if they are in perceived danger themselves.
Rolls, pulls and slips are our third level, once attacks are actually thrown.
Being dangerous is the most important aspect of fighting.
You should understand how to make punches miss and hit back off those misses, whether through footwork, feints, slips, rolls, blocks or pulls.
Consistently add these together and you will be dangerous to fight, while being appropriately perceived as dangerous by your opponent.
Proper stance is crucial for balance and agility in Muay Thai.
Ring and Octagon Control
Now that we've learned how to walk properly for martial arts, let's learn how to use it.
In the ring, since it is a square, we keep our opponent trapped by using two main angles.
Standing at approximately a 80° angle above, it gives your opponent the opening to move into the middle of the ring.
A great example of the use of the bull concept vs. a matador is when Joseph Valtellini fought Raymond Daniels.
Raymond is a Karate stylist who thrives in open space where he can land his extremely flashy and devastating spinning kicks.
These are devastating moves and can end fights fast, however fighters like this need space to create.
They do not do well with pressure and their preferred range is long distance kicking range.
Joseph knows this, and proceeds to not give Raymond any space at all.
This pressure is applied constantly and it later pays off, as he scores a knockout using bull principles as well as a low and high kick set up.
Having damaged Raymond's legs the whole fight, he knows this is all his opponent is thinking about.
In Thailand they often say punch the kicker and kick the puncher.