what would you say some of the best display of muay thai where, i would have to says Anderson Silva over rich franklin, great use of knees to body and head equal power in both legs, great clinch, Wand's 2 kos over rampage also great displays of the knees, fly knee by A silva over, carlos newton, what do you think are some others?
yeah those are great. But if we're talking about "the best"...i've personally never seen any under mma rules. Only in K1 and pure muay thai competitions. mma is too much of a different sport to even allow a muay thai fighter to be 100% comfortable anyway.. us fans once had the golden opportunity to witness "the legend" Ramon Dekkers under mma rules and it ended up being a disaster. (he was fighting against Genki Sudo). Though he did surprisingly good for his debut...but his muay thai was quasi useless. Anderson Silva manages to display some nice muay thai moves here and there but....nothing extraordinary. it's his combo of ground work and stand up that makes the perfect ensemble. Gilbert Yvel is another guy who sometimes manages to pull some nice muay thai moves under mma rules... and i think Manhoef is the most consistant at that....in most of his fights , you'll see him unleashing some pretty impressive muay thai combos on his opponents....and i think it's easier for him even under mma rules beause he's very fast and also because he's got a solid ground defense / wrestling too. (but he's very vulnerable against the cream of the crop of sub artists) the best display of kickboxing i've seen was in 2005. Crocop vs fedor...crocop had some fantastic moves in that one..+ he was very fast too. at the top of his game... unfortunately for him...it still was fedor. Ignashov vs pro boxer King arthur williams was a typical muay thai ownage...but that wasn't under mma rules..
Those are great suggestions, guys. My personal choice for best or favorite display of Muay Thai in MMA was exhibited by Wanderlai Silva in his debut brawl in Pride against guy Metzger. Metzger tried to stay at range with long kicks and kickboxing combos, yet Wanderlai kept swinging his way inside to the clinch and battered Metzger on the inside (even slipping in an illegal headbutt before the end) until he opened him up for the finishing punch combination.
RE: Anderson Silva - I don't think of him as a strict or Muay Thai traditionalist. He seems to mix in the full variety of kicks including side kicks and spin kicks often eschewed by Muay Thai specialists. But that's just me. I could see it the other way as well as Anderson Silva could represent a powerful Muay Thai guy in the clinch with knees and such.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3bh7t_malaipet-vs-kaleo-kwan_sport Malaipet was a champ at one of the stadiums in Thailand.
