For hundreds of years the people from the countries of the East such as Japan, Thailand, Burma, Korea, and China have practised the Martial Arts.

Martial is a word meaning Military, and initially during any 'military' confrontation, warriors would primarily use weapons to defend themselves such as Swords, Spears, and Knifes. However, should a warrior become unarmed at any point, there would always be an unarmed method of combat that the warrior would then use on the battlefield.

The traditional unarmed combat systems concentrated on kicks, knees, elbows, open palm strikes and utilised very basic 'straight' punches, with a fighting stance very static, low to the ground and rigid, ( as can still be seen today in traditional martial art formats such as Karate, Taekwondo, Kungfu ).

During the 20th Century, Western influences came to 'MIX' with these Martial Arts and it was soon realised that the Western style of unarmed combat, known as 'Boxing', had the more superior of the 'Hand' fighting techniques, utilising fast Jabs, Punches, Hooks and Uppercuts.

Especially when this was combined with the very mobile Boxer stance, whereby a fighter stands taller and is light on his feet moving around constantly, as opposed to standing in a low, static, fixed position as used by many traditional styles.

Fighters from different martial art styles often sought to test their skills against one another through competition. Eventually the popular contest rules of Western Boxing where adopted for such 'one-to-one' contests, and matches progressed from the open mat, to the Boxing ring.

The first country known to do this was Thailand, when their traditional unarmed martial art system, Muay-Boran was modified in the 1920's adopting many Western Boxing rules and regulations. This is widely recognised as the first 'Kicking and Boxing sport' 'with Thai-Kickboxing being widely known as Muaythai style Kickboxing.

The kicks, punches, knees and elbows were still legal, but under the new rules, strikes to the groin and neck were not allowed. Gloves would now be worn, and to replace finger strikes, chops and chokes, the punching techniques of Western Boxing would be used.

The modification of adding Western Boxing skills and rule sets, has also been adopted by other traditional systems, two of these being Japanese Kickboxing or 'K-1' as a modified format of traditional Karate and Chinese Kickboxing or 'San-Shao' a modification of traditional Kungfu.

Now martial artists could compete on a 'International' platform in a 'RING-SPORT' and for those that would eventually become the 'best of the best', contests could now be made for Championship Titles. With these modified rules and the Eastern martial art strikes integrated with Western Boxing skills, (including now similar rules and regulations), a Kicking and Boxing Ring sport was born, known today simply as 'Kickboxing'.

KICKBOXING : Understanding the 'Ring-Sport' formats.

National Version---- --Which was 'Modified' from----------------------------Known As

Thai-Kickboxing - -----( Thailand's traditional system of Muay Boran ) --Muaythai

Japanese Kickboxing ( Japan's traditional system of Karate ) -------------K-1

Chinese Kickboxing --( China's traditional system of Kungfu ) ------------ San Shao


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KICKBOXING : Two more recent modifications........

'M.M.A.' Mixed Martial Arts -

'Cage-Kickboxing' - This is a further modified system to the 'ringsport' of Kickboxing, allowing continued combat whilst on the ground with striking techniques as opposed to only using submission holds.

This is commonly seen in the sport of 'M.M.A.' ( Mixed-Martial-Arts ) made popular by such promotions as the U.F.C. Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Cage-Kickboxing allows all of the common striking techniques while standing as used in 'Ringsport Kickboxing' , ( such as kicks, punches, knees and elbows ), but also includes specific counter moves to avoid being taken to the ground, ( Kickboxing as a Ringsport generally does not allow throwing an opponent within its rules ).

Should the 'Cage-Kickboxing' counter techniques such as the 'Sprawl' not work and a Kickboxer finds himself on the floor, he can then use his Cage-Kickboxing skills whilst on the ground. Striking while ontop of his opponent from what is known as the 'Mount position' with punches, or while laying across an opponent in the 'Side-control position' with knee strkes, and even when below an opponent from the 'Guard position' with elbows.

Modern Army 'Combatives' -

Cage-Kickboxing has also lead to the development of 'Combat-Kickboxing' as many security and military forces have now adopted this ultra-modern system whereby striking is used when standing up as well as on the ground.

Combat-Kickboxing has further expanded upon Cage-Kickboxing. As well as using all four limbs for striking with Kicks, Punches, Knees and Elbows when standing or on the ground, 'Combat-Kickboxing' will also use a fifth weapon, the head!

Headbutts being a primary weapon when in such a close grappling range that someone maybe holding your arms or clothes, or both combatants are actually gripping each other. A swift Headbutt, followed by knee-kick to the ribs, and a sweep-kick to the ankle can floor an opponent in seconds. A stamp-kick to the groin as a finishing technique, and a confrontation can be over as quickly as it started.

Due to Combat-Kickboxing being a modern self-defence system, and as people are generally wearing clothes when in conflict with another person, Combat-Kickboxing tends to be practised wearing clothes known as a 'Gi', which strangely enough takes Kickboxing full-circle back to its traditional roots from many hundreds of years ago!

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Reccomended Reading by
Warrington Kickboxing Studio!















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Warrington Kickboxing Studio offers the highest level of Kickboxing instruction in :-

-----Kickboxing for 'Ringsports' ( Muaythai / K-1 ).

---------------Kickboxing for 'Mixed-Martial-Arts' competitions ( Cage-Kickboxing ).

--------------- ---------------Kickboxing for 'Self-Defence' ( Combat-Kickboxing ).



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