Quote:
Originally Posted by chiuchimu
Muay Thai many years, trained under Malaipet. I'm bios toward Thai boxing. We have Kyokushinkai at Japanese community center. I like how they can throw a high roundhouse kick at close range-something we don't do in Muay Thai. But the lack of face contact and clinch work I think seriously limits the art, at least that's how it seems to me.
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The reason why it is said that you don't hit the face with the hands in Kyokushin Kumite is for two reasons.
In Kumite we fight bare-fisted and a full force clenched fist to the head will injure your hand as much as the opponents head unless it is dead on target. The hand is full of fragile bones that can break easily and the human head is surprisinly harder than it looks.
The second reason is that you don't want a dojo full of braindead students. Muay Thai is a sport and a way of fighting and I respect it a lot. Karate is a way of fighting that also has a sport element but (as you probably already know) Karate also emphasises health and good character aswell. Repeated hitting to the head does damage to your brain... especially bare-fisted. Of course kicking to the head is allowed... but it happens infrequently enough for it to be OK I think.