Kickboxing
     Muay Thai, along with savate, karate, and taekwondo heavily influenced the development of kickboxing in Japan, Europe, and North America. However, unlike Muay Thai, many kickboxing competitions do not allow elbow strikes, knee strikes, or kicks below the waist. These rule changes have led some martial artists to consider kickboxing a "watered down" version of Muay Thai.


Mixed martial arts
     Starting in the 1990s, Muay Thai has enjoyed a boost in popularity worldwide as it has been very effective in mixed martial arts training and competition. MMA artists such as Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Wanderlei Silva, and Anderson Silva have combined many striking elements of Muay Thai with grappling, wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into a hybrid synthesis that has been highly effective in their fights. Other fighters that have used Muay Thai as their primary style in mixed martial arts include Duane Ludwig, Mirko Filipovic, Norifumi Yamamoto, Thiago Alves, Rob McCullough, Melvin Manhoef, and Gilbert Yvel. Shoot-fighters and professional wrestlers who have trained and been influenced by Muay Thai include Satoru Sayama and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.