In its original form, Muay Thai consisted of an arsenal of nine weapons - the head, fists, elbows, knees and feet - known collectively as na-wa arwud. However in modern Muay Thai, both amateur and professional, headbutting an opponent is no longer allowed. Muay Thai is unique in the way it uses all parts of the body, including the elbows and knees, for both training and competitions.

     To strike and bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used: the clinch. Formal Muay Thai techniques are divided into two groups: Mae Mai or major techniques and Luk Mai or minor techniques. Muay Thai is often a fighting art of attrition, where opponents exchange blows with one another. This is certainly the case with traditional stylists in Thailand, but is a less popular form of fighting in the contemporary world fighting circuit. With the success of Muay Thai in mixed martial arts fighting, it has become the de facto martial art of choice for competitive stand-up fighters. As a result, it has evolved and incorporated much more powerful hand striking techniques used in western style boxing and the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Note: when Muay Thai fighters compete against fighters of other styles (and if the rules permit it), they almost invariably emphasize elbow (sok) and knee (kao) techniques to gain a distinct advantage in fighting. Almost all techniques in Muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, and block. The rotation of the hips in Muay Thai techniques, and intensive focus on "core muscles" (such as abdominal muscles and surrounding muscles) is very distinctive and is what sets Muay Thai apart from other styles of martial arts.

Punching (Chok)

English	Transliteration
Straight punch	Mud Trong
Hook	Mud Wiang San
Swing	Mud Wiang Yao
Spinning backfist	Mud Wiang Glub
Uppercut	Mud Seuy
Cobra punch	Kra-dod Chok
Undercut	Mud Hook

     The punch techniques in Muay Thai were originally quite simple being crosses and a long (or lazy) circular strike made with a straight (but not locked) arm and landing with the heel of the palm. Cross-fertilization with Western boxing and western martial arts mean the full range of western boxing punches are now used (jab, straight right/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel and corkscrew punches plus overhand or bolo punches).

     As a tactic, body punching is used less in Muay Thai than most other striking martial arts to avoid exposing the attacker head to counter strikes from knees or elbows

Elbow (Tee sok)
     The elbow can be used in seven ways: horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying. From the side it can be used as either a finishing move or as a way to cut the opponent eyebrow so that blood might block his vision. The blood also raises the opponent awareness of being hurt which could affect his performance. This is the most common way of using the elbow. The diagonal elbows are faster than the other forms, but are less powerful. The uppercut and flying elbows are the most powerful, but are slower and easier to avoid or block. The downward elbow is usually used as a finishing move.

English	Transliteration
Elbow Slash	Sok Tee
Horizontal Elbow	Sok Tud
Uppercut Elbow	Sok Ngud
Forward Elbow Thrust	Sok Poong
Reverse Horizontal Elbow	Sok Wiang Glub
Spinning Elbow	Sok Glub
Elbow Chop	Sok Sub
Double Elbow Chop	Sok Glub Koo
Mid-Air Elbow Strike	Gra-dode Sok

     There is also a distinct difference between a single elbow and a follow-up elbow. The single elbow is an elbow move independent from any other move, whereas a follow-up elbow is the second strike from the same arm, being a hook first with an elbow follow-up. Such elbows, and most other elbows, are used when the distance between fighters becomes too small and there is too little space to throw a hook at the opponent head.

Kicking (Teh)

English	Transliteration
Straight Kick	Teh Trong
Roundhouse Kick	Teh Tud
Diagonal Kick	Teh Chiang
Half-Shin, Half-Knee Kick	Teh Krueng Kheng Krueng Kao
Spinning Heel Kick	Teh Glub Lang
Down Roundhouse Kick	Teh Kod
Axe Heel Kick	Teh Khao
Jump Kick	Gra-dode Teh
Step-Up Kick	KhaYiep Teh

     The two most common kicks in Muay Thai are known as the teep (literally "foot jab,"), and the Teh(kick)chiang (kicking upwards in the shape of a triangle cutting under the arm and ribs) or angle kick. The Muay Thai angle kick has been widely adopted by fighters from other martial arts. The angle kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body. The angle kick is superficially similar to a karate roundhouse kick, but omits the rotation of the lower leg from the knee used in other striking martial arts like Karate or Taekwondo. The angle kick draws its power entirely from the rotational movement of the body. Many Muay Thai fighters use a counter rotation of the arms to intensify the power of this kick.

     If a round house kick is attempted by the opponent the Muay Thai fighter will normally block with his shin. Thai boxers are trained to always connect with the shin. While sensitive in an unconditioned practitioner, the shin is the strongest part of the leg for experienced Muay Thai fighters. The foot contains many fine bones and is much weaker. A fighter may end up hurting himself if he tries to strike with his foot or instep.

     Muay Thai also includes other varieties of kicking, such as the axe kick, side kick or spinning back kick etc. These kicks, are only used in bouts by some fighters. It is worth noting that a side kick is performed differently in Muay Thai than the traditional side kick of other martial arts. In Muay Thai, a side kick is executed by first raising the knee of the leg that is going to kick in order to convince the opponent that the executor is going to perform a teep or front kick. The hips are then shifted to the side to the more traditional side kick position for the kick itself. The "fake-out" almost always precedes the kick in Muay Thai technique.

Knee (Tee kao)

English	Transliteration
Straight Knee Strike	Kao Trong
Diagonal Knee Strike	Kao Chiang
Curving Knee Strike	Kao Kong
Horizontal Knee Strike	Kao Tud
Knee Slap	Kao Tob
Knee Bomb	Kao Youwn
Flying Knee Strike	Kao Loi
Step-Up Knee Strike	Kao Yiep

• Kao Dode (Jumping knee strike) - the Thai boxer jumps up on one leg and strikes with that leg knee.
• Kao Loi (Flying knee strike) - the Thai boxer takes step(s), jumps forward and off one leg and strikes with that leg knee.
• Kao Tone (Straight knee strike) - the Thai boxer simply thrusts it forward (not upwards, unless he is holding an opponents head down in a clinch and intend to knee upwards into the face). According to one written source, this technique is somewhat more recent than Kao Dode or Kao Loi.Supposedly, when the Thai boxers fought with rope-bound hands rather than the modern boxing gloves, this particular technique was subject to potentially vicious cutting, slicing and sawing by an alert opponent who would block it or deflect it with the sharp "rope-glove" edges which are sometimes dipped in water to make the rope much stronger. This explanation also holds true for some of the following knee strikes below as well.

     The clinch version of this move was scientifically proven recently, by National Geographic Channel Fight Science, to be the strongest blow using the legs in martial arts. The test subject, Melchor Menor, delivered the strike to a high-tech dummy. On a person the blow would have fragmented the ribs, caused two inches of chest compression, and caused severe internal bleeding in the organs.

• Kao Noi (Small knee strike) - the Thai boxer hits the inside upper thigh (above the knee) of the opponent when clinching. This technique is used to wear down the opponent or to counter the opponent knee strike or kick.