The Ultimate STANCE Test: Muay Thai vs MMA Stance 

I like the seated stance, where I sit down and watch other people do the fighting

Ive been muay thai practitioner since I was 8 years old. I'm used to my stance but I tend to mix it up with a boxing and mma stance from time to time. It's always good to change it up. It give you advantages in different out comes

Some of the pro and cons of both stances might be different in a more "hard" session. For example he wont be able to walk through many hard kicks from your MT stance like that. Now, since you did light sparring, it's easier for him and a a lot less dangerous do go in and out, absorb a kick while entering, and reset. A teep to the face or a hard round to the liver would have made him hesitate a lot more. Same for your MMA stance, it would be a lot different if his low kick were really chopping your leg. I am not saying you must always have a hard spar, (or even too often) but just that some stances, techniques and tactics might work in a semi contact/controlled situation and not the same way in a hard session or match.

It really depends on your background. I came from TKD and Judo. The MMA stance just feels more natural. Never got used the MT stance. Also, being a smaller guy, I favour mobility verses checking kicks.

I’d prefer to spar you with you using MT stance lol. But I think being able to blend styles Is always key. I like MT stance against aggressive KB style fighters. Mainly, as you said because of teep and kick catches from carriage blocks. I feel with more elusive fighters, like you, there has to be a speed match. So tactics have to change to meet that speed and movement. Especially when attack lines are not always linear, but using hard angles

Despite being able to move your head more, you are getting tagged way more with the MMA stance. To me the clear advantage of the MMA stance is to create openings for strikes by feinting TD, and obviously being better able to explode into TD. I don't buy the lower stance being that much better for defending takedowns, Jose Aldo has been stuffing TD at the highest level of MMA out of a MT stance for over a decade. But I also acknowledge his goal is to keep the fight standing not to use his own TD. I prefer the MT stance personally.

I've trained Muay Thai for over a decade, but recently doing some Sanda and Boxing which both use a toe/heel alignment type stance that's lower. It resonates when you talk about the Muay Thai stance being a more lazy and laid back stance. In Sanda and Boxing I'm using a lot more energy.

When I'm messing around and sparring my friends I'm usually switching multiple stances around as you can feint different attacks that way and give them a lot to think about. Out of the two stances you showed off, I'd definitely say your MMA stance looks a lot more natural. I know sometimes you do style breakdowns like that one you did about Wonderboy. Just curious if you would consider doing one of Corey Sandhagen? I feel he's an excellent striker who brings a lot of interesting things to the table

now that's an ad i would'nt skip

I think stances should be dynamic depending on the circumstances Even a side stance may be useful as someone circles to your outside, and you catch them with a side kick or hook kick!

Second round slightly shifted from pronounced mma wide stance towards a less pronounced more mis thai/mma, with saenchai shuffle included (a lot like lerdsila stance). Great post Jeff. Thanks.

You don't need a MT stance to teep or kick catch, and you don't need a wide MMA stance for take down defense. A less wide, evenly weighted "MMA stance" gains the benefits of both. You can easily shift your weight from leg to leg, or "float" on one leg (remove the weight from one leg without shifting weight for a quick teep/guard). You can also move in all directions easily as your weight is evenly distributed on both feet, so you don't need to shift weight to move. And if a take down attempt is made you can still sprawl easily.

Jeff been watching you from beg and I gotta day not only have you improved but you are one of the best strikers I have ever seen period. Was excited back then, still excited to see you keep rising to the top!

I really like the Muay Thai stance but the mma stance is more realistic for a street fight scenario and obviously mixed martial arts.

Definitely mma stance also I'm more comfortable with because of my tkd and karate background

I like using the Muay Thai stance against less experienced grapplers or if the rules are more kickboxing style and not MMA. However, I use the MMA stance for MMA or when sparring wrestlers. I like seeing you mix and match styles when I watch your videos though you have very good transition work I've noticed!

just wanna say that your fighting style looks awesome. Idk why its just very fluid, fast and accurate.

That was the best phone commercial I've ever seen. I'd love to hear the at&t audio behind that

This helped me alot, realizing my mma stance isnt gonna work in my predominantly kickboxing/muay thai gym, thanks for this

World class content as always brother, i am so thankful that you and your channel exists.

I prefer using MMA stance because of the footwork and it's easier for me offensively and evasively, but I tend to eat leg kicks because of it. Vice versa, when I use the Thai stance, my defense is very high, but I have a hard time being offensive and using pressure. Trying to get to a point where I can mix them both up a bit.

On the weekend I was at sparring session with many other fighters (Muay Thai, K1, Boxing, MMA). 20 rounds sparring on the feet. When I occasionally fought a boxer with a more bladed stance I realize that they move in and out quicker. I stayed in my usual Muay Thai stance and tried to make it working because I don’t do Boxing or MMA. Seems like good opportunity to work on cutting corner and stuff like this

As a non-fighter and musician, I notice that there's not just different options and advantages to each stance or even a different strategy but a different psychology. Think stance as in someone's stance on some controversial issue. The underlying assumptions and attitude that produce the physical setup we call a stance are different before the physical stances ever appear. Don't know if this helps you at all in understanding what you're doing but thought I'd point it out

Great video. I can see you’re more comfortable in the MMA stance. For me, I would switch up in stances depending on my opponent. Guess it’s the same for you too.

Definitely the mma stance. It helps to circle arround more and be able to hit or enter opponents perimeter more and get out easier. 👍

Depends on what type of style your opponent have. But I think both style is great.

This is great information, id enjoy seeing this same video but with takedowns involved to see the difference in takedown defense in the Muay Thai stance vs MMA stance when the striking, setups & feints come into play. I think we all know what the results would be, but watching it play out would be informative and entertaining. Who knows might find a surprise within the lesson. Thanks for the great content!

Hi Jeff. Love your videos and your fights . I really like the sideways stance. Think Wonderboy Thompson or Raymond Daniels. Think of this stance as an in-between of the two you mentioned. Sidekicks are even more effective than teeps for blocking incoming blitzes and intercepting your opponents with power and you also have a great boxing base ( for straight punches anyway) and a wide enough stance to stop TDs. It is also great for setting up kicks over the shoulder and for blitzing your opponent with the constant bounce and explosive first step. The cons are that it is really high maintenance and both your leg durability and cardio must be superb to sustain this stance for 5 rounds but it can be done. Also head movement + angle creation are required when using this to properly maintain your distance and create striking opportunities. I have been fighting in point fighting and TKD since I was little and have recently transitioned to full contract kickboxing finding a lot of success against Thai style fighters and pure boxers by using this unusual style . Give it a try sometime. Even if it doesn't fit you it helps knowing how this works fir when you eventually fight a guy that uses a stance like that. Sorry for the long comment, much love.

Another great video Jeff, it's crazy how fast your reactions are. An interesting video idea could be a theory breakdown, like how you think when you spar and maybe a you could talk about tactics you used to improve. For example I always walk into class with a new technique from your videos and drill them in sparring.

As usual, I'm learning a lot from your tips. Thank you! I've been experimenting with mixing up my stances depending on the flow of the fight and my opponent's fighting style.

Hi Jeff great video once again. How about this follow up: "Witch stance should i use based on my opponent's style"

These videos are always entertaining 🤘 I like to think it helps to switch between stances for different techniques and movements. I have the same sentiment when it comes to the Muay Thai stance where it's difficult to have quick feet, but it's easier for me to do front round kicks and defend. But the MMA/ablative stance is so much fun because of how fast you become (side kicks!!!) 😄 To reiterate, I think stances can be situational 😅

Loving the physical comedy Jeff! Keep it up, it adds a lot to your videos!

Thank you for the breakdown, it was perfect. I generally practice mma more often than muay thai, hence I have the stance that allows me to box also, defend takedowns quickly, and move in and out. What always bothered me in muay thai, that I always get wrecked by very good defensive thai fighters, that don't really engage and keep kicking you from distance and don't use punches much. This video really helped me understand more that if you want to fight muay thai rules, you're gonna have to stick to their stance.

Great breakdown! Also nice Saenchai style footwork starting at 5:06 lol

Jeff, I love your vids, man. To answer your question, of course as any educated fighter would tell you, switch it up. Use both. There’s a time to utilize both stances, and as you pointed out, both have their benefits and their flaws. You already mix it up well. You seem to have switched back to the Muay Thai stance at the end of the video. I like to see that. I use a mixture of the two. I guess mine would be considered an MMA stance, but I refuse to stand bladed. I hate the blades stance. It doesn’t feel conducive or natural to me. That’s just my preference and my style I’ve adopted. After watching your vids, you’ve certainly adopted a very beautiful style of your own and I dig it. Btw, I’ve totally stolen a few of your techniques and used them in sparring. Absolute gold. Keep making your videos. They are pure inspiration. 🙏🏽🥊🔥🔥

I like those switches your throwing from the MMA stance, just appears you have more options in general from this stance.

I'd like to see you try the Muay Thai stance again but fighting someone trying to set up takedowns on you. See if you can still sprawl and stuff the takedowns, or get back up quickly enough to still use the Muay Thai stance effectively in the spar

Your low kicks are a thing of beauty!

Nice breakdown of pros and cons. What do you think about switching between these stances to political your opponent,s style? Shoutout to you and your sparring partner showing how the pace and power level of sparring should be. High-level spars with etiquette. Well done.

I would love to see more Muay Thai influenced sparring videos

I generally mix it up in class. When I'm figuring out my partner and working defense, I stay in my Muay Thai stance often. Also I fall back on it when I get tired. When I move in and circle, it's generally a hybrid. When I throw combos, the stance changes pretty organically to a more "MMA" style stance

Bladed when facing a puncher or a guy who goes for low takedowns, squared and narrow when facing a kicker or a clincher. Regardless of the stance pop the jab and teep frequently and stay balanced :)

Ur videos are Awesome dude. I often try to use some of Ur combinations in shadow boxing or sparring sessions 💪🏿

Great vid, thanks jeff! There's an editing mishap at 1:30 though, I'm sure you can fix that easily enough. Sounds like a sound clip is doubled and has delay.

I have always alternated between stances, as with my guard placement, being constantly elusive. If I were to say I preferred any of them, it would be the Muay Thai stance, as I have a highly developed teep and front leg kicks, and I am better at defending the legs from there. I also develop much power lunging forward off the back leg with the front leg light like that. But I will always switch. ( I also switch between squaring my feet up and using my hands, or lining them up sideways and using kicks, at times, for the extra speed and evasive ability that doing so lends to the usage of either of those [ punches and kicks] respectively. [ Much like many Karateka do] ).

mma stance is also super open to calf kicks though on the lead leg . Really have to switch it up according to the opponents game plan.

I like MMA stance. You know Jeff. I inspired you and changed my stance since from the last year.. Thanks bro as always...🙏

I like the consecutive switches to set different things up. Slick

Just leaving a comment to say thank you for making these super dope videos Jeff! Much respect bro!

So in other worlds, it's good to learn both and mix it up when needed.

There is no one stance,you have to adapt to situation. Its not the strongest one that survives,nor the smartest one but the one who can adapt to change.

Personal preference for everyone based on comments. I had an instructor who was a mma fighter, and always wanted me in that stance. It was never for me, so I always stayed up high. It never felt comfortable to keep myself low at punching height.

Definitely the MMA Stance my bro. Love that slick and smooth movement 🔥🥊🔥

Hey Jeff I have almost all of your programs and in sparring I will use a lot of combos from you tactics and defenses. My favorite combo is the dart in cross with low kick and I land it every time unless I’m too slow. I have also tried different style stances and mma suits every technique to an extent. I like to throw lead leg techniques like lead Rh or side kick or front kick and teep and sometimes I feel the stance hinders them so when I do throw them I’ll shorten the stance to pull them off. But for everything else ( mma stance is probably the best for all around different techniques) thanks Jeff

i like using a thai stance if i feel like the person is a bit straight forward aggressive and like using teeps to open them up/get them baiting on teep feints. long guard when i feel like i'm a bit quicker than them and if they're larger than me and try and use dodge/parrying more and a traditional high guard stance as a base.

Hey Jeff, in your muay thai stance, i think you don't use your knee enough and that's why he's able to change level and close in. It's not really a question of stance but timing with the knee to the body. Knee to the body is used most of the time, especially for tanks opponents wanting to go in fight. But for sure, i understand you are much more mobile with your mma stance (mostly because you are light, young and fast :) ) Anyway, thanks again for your awesome content. Always a pleasure to hear from you.

Great video and great explanations! Great channel! Thanks

Each stance has its strengths and weaknesses but I prefer the MMA stance more because I like to use more boxing. The Muay Thai stance is better if you’re a kicker and defending kicks in general. But the MMA style makes you more unpredictable also if you’re grappling a Muay Thai stance is going to be problematic.

Jeff, you went from Muay Thai to Dutch Kickboxing. Great choice. Kept your guard, increased your punching agility. Right?

Muay Thai. I feel like the stance gives me a better base to absorb blows which allow me to be more agressive at a slow constant pace.

Saenchai and Lerdsila's stances are that of a hybrid between Muay Thai and MMA stances. No wonder they are the most evasive Muay Thai fighters tjhrough fantastic head movement and footwork. Their stances and fighting style would work very well for MMA and/or street fighting!

Personally, I like the Muay Thai stance better. When kicks and knees are allowed as they are in MMA, I want to be as tall as possible. I see too much potential for getting kneed or head kicked with a low stance that encourages slipping, bobbing and weaving/ducking in for takedowns. I also see MMA fighters keeping their hands low and relying on head movement. The hand eye coordination needed for that is too risky. I realize with the Muay Thai stance that you’re exposing yourself to takedowns, but I much prefer getting taken down and having to resort to my jiu-jitsu to getting ko’d any day. I’m curious to hear your thoughts about this.

depends, use the Muaythai stance whern you want to rely more on kicking teeping and clinching and use the MMA or a more boxing stance when you want to punch, move or defend takedowns. Thai stance takes less energy, easiier to counter and makes the lower body strikes quicker and less telegraphed but the MMA stance takes more conditioning but yields quicker footwork, increased punching power, better head movement and most important the ability to defend take downs. In K1 either the Thai stance or using a combo ( think Raymond deckers) where when you want to kick and counter you do thai stance and when you want to box and wheel you use MMA stance and you use these interchangably thu out the fight.

Jeff, I noticed that you sometimes lower one guard hand to parry leg/lower body kicks, moreso than Kevin, who doesn't seem to at all and just accepts leg kicks. 2:44 (in Muay Thai stance) 4:07 (successful) 4:40 (in response to a feint) 5:13 5:19 (twice) I trained doing this as well but it was before the rise of MMA so it wasn't as dangerous. I wonder, if you're in a stance or position that isn't conducive to checking kicks with your leg and you can't evade, is it better to attempt low parrying (and risk having your head taken off or your arm damaged) or simply take the shots to the leg. BTW, I prefer using more of an "MMA" type stance.

I love Muay Thai stance, practice throwing leg and roundhouse variations at 200+ kicks a day and you can end a fight with a bone shattering kick

For Sanda, a wider stance is a little bit better because it's easier for in and out movements and also is better to defend takedowns, I tried to use the muay thai stance when I was training only kickboxing, but it's weird for me, I'm not that good using lead leg teeps and I can focus better on the fight when I'm light on my feet

Hey Jeff! I’m a big fan of your videos and recently subscribed to your channel, I’m looking to improve on my own training and one thing I’ve found to be crucial is the ability to balance hard, high intensity training sessions or days with lighters ones and rest to avoid injury and improve recovery. Are there any tips or pieces of advice you can give on this subject? I would love to know

the phone case bit was AMAZING 🤣🤣🤣

I like to modify my stance depending on who I’m fighting. If I know I’m going to use a division one wrestler I’ll keep my hands low and my feet far apart. If I’m fighting an A class fighter from Thailand I keep my leg angled so I can check kicks. It’s completely situational to my opponent.

The stance comparison aside, I honestly LOVE your ad concept Jeff. I would watch it on a loop actually. 😂 It also shows how dangerous the world can be now. Any guy can just randomly tackle you while you're texting. But as long as you got that hard cover, you're Good. 🤣 Great video as Always!!!🔥

Since it's not your primary stance I'd like to see you use the muay thai stance a little more. I seen that even in your muay thai stance you still revert back to your MMA stance.

I'm a kickboxer and i usually do the MMA stance , but God how many low kicks i receive. I'm willing to switch to a MT stance

Do you ever use the 50 50 Muay Thai stance in mma? Square, still tallish, not as wide. I think Jorge Mas, Khalil round tree, and Jose Aldo use it. Seems good for checking calf kicks but less dangerous than the light lead leg Thai stance

As much as I believe the MMA stance is more versitaile, the Muay Thai stance has something beautiful and elegant to it. Maybe it’s just because I have a thing for it, but it can look so effortless, technical and powerful at once.

Thank you for the video! I've been replicating a lot of your videos (or trying to) and this video will definitely help me have a more consistent stance!

In my muay thai gym my coach prefers stance that is more like the mma stance in this video bc it’s easier to move and strike and also your back leg is always ready to fire

I really like the Muay Thai stance. It has it's draw backs but the main thing with it for me is how easily you can throw out teeps, I love the mobility and versatility of the MMA stance but for me personally those easy teeps are just too useful a tool to pass up.

I personally really like the shorter stance, and I love clinch work, so I use that to compliment its weaknesses. I still use a wider stance a lot though, as do a lot of muay thai/kickboxing fighters. I just know, when take downs aren't a constant threat, you better be ready to check a kick.

Thanx for the tips Champ 🏆!

Was that a superman punch faint at 2:47 to 2:30. It looked awkward as hell lol big fan of the channel, love the content. In no way am I trying to disrespect you. Please keep doing what your doing

LMAOOOOO Testing the phone case was hilarious

I stay in the Thai stance, as my style is balanced and evasive, countering shots technically.... MMA stance has benefits, but I also think it tends to favor those who are less relaxed in their movements

A lot of people say this about having a light lead foot but a lot of the great defensive boxers box with most of the weight on the rear foot so in reality this should not affect your foot movements when you're in the Muay Thai stance

Obviously you are a much more experienced martial arts than I am. Where I practice Muay Thai they teach us to have like a marching stance. Yes more like 30/70 or 40/60 to protect from front kicks and check, but always shifting your weight and rocking back and fourth. That way you can again check but two make it easier to transition into strikes and feints. It seemed like you were more flat footed in the Muay Thai stance rather than the MMA stance, you had more bounce.

0:25 headmovement 1:05 stance:muaythai stance (tall narrow squared ) 3:05 stance: low wide bladed 4:48 move in out

Hey Jeff! Can you please do another 'Best tactics' or breakdown video of Alexander Volkanovski? Feel like he has a lot of new ones he has adopted and utilised since May 2020 when you made a video on him :)

The cons with the MMA stance even though its more balanced is exposing the leg. Other than some of my other martial arts. I mainly used a boxing stance similar to the MMA stance you have. When I went to one of the Muay Thai gyms. Even though my sparring partner was an ass and went 100 percent instead of 15 percent that the coach said. I learned a valuable lesson on not exposing the leg to a very strong Thai kick and an easy slam or dump. Not all Muay Thai stances are the same though either.Weight on the rear leg is more commercial and used mostly against a foreigner. But when Thais fight against each other seriously, they have more of a modified boxing stance where the weight is distributed evenly and never using the weight on the rear leg throughout the whole time. The other stance is the more squared stance even though its more exposed on the body. Power is almost even and hits are more unpredictable. But the weight on back foot stance is seldom used and over commercialized by movies and video games. While sparring is the most realistic next to fighting its a double edge sword of confidence and false confidence. You rarely see anybody unless its a street fight. Go all out with that much tempo. It reminds me of people that are good at paintball or airsoft that can beat military guys wont translate to a real fire fight when shit hits the fan.

Great vídeo!

I like something somewhere in the middle. My first coach taught Dutch style kickboxing/mma

Aesthetically I prefer the muay thai stance but not sure it's the most practical stance for mma - you have good access to throws from the Thai clinch but obviously sacrifice the ability to blast a single or double leg with as much fluidity. You also lose a lot of mobility but then I suppose it's hard to say from a light sparring session because your partner can just walk through those teeps without worrying about taking damage, whereas in a match you'd expect him to have more respect for it as he tries to close the distance.

I was about to say,that mma stance looks a lot more my boxing stance.Like you said,helps you get in and out(or in my case just in lol),and gives you more power

MMA stance is better obviously because it's more universal. You can shoot in and all that good stuff. But you seem too used to Muay Thai and you need a lot of grappling experience to learn how to use the MMA stance well. So it's up to you. Do you want to learn how to wrestle? It takes a long long time but its up to you in the end.

The squared stance creates SO many more striking opportunities... Bladed stance appears to dull down the action even though it appears to increase power.

I was/am currently taught to stay 50/50 in my muay thai stance, at my gym we do change the distribution for checking and what not but its not the default/main stance distribution. I'm probably wrong lol, but I feel like maybe your muaythai stance feels better defensively than offensively because your stance is back heavy more often than it could be.

Low bladed stance for me because of my boxing I do use the Muay Thai stance every often though and practice with it

Jeff I've always wondered about this. Like you said about how more skilled Muay Thai fighters could utilise more techniques effectively. Like if someone, for a lack of a better word "mastered" the Thai stance, the ability to catch kicks and sweep people off balance are such valuable tools that Thai fighters make look so easy even against other highly skilled Muay Thai fighters. You see how Saenchai literally toys with people. We have still yet to see someone that high of skill set at the highest level in MMA imo. I know a few have crossed over in ONE. Dejdamarong and Stamp. But Dej doesn't use that stance I've noticed. Stamp definitely comes the closest and is the more impressive so far. Rafael Fiziev is one of my personal favourites too. Would you agree though in saying that we still haven't seen the highest caliber Muay Thai completely utilised in the highest level of MMA? Also Jeff what do you think about the Rodtang Vs DJ fight. Would love to see you make a video about it. Keep up the great work.

Beautiful sparring.

Amazing footage of Jeff and his partner " just warming up..." lol I'm dreaming to get to that level next life time ! I find the Muai Thai stance to be the safest and most reliable to study the opponent game and weather a storm, also to enter the clinch game. I also occasionaly switch to an unusual bladed stance if my opponent is less capable than me I surprise him with point fighting blows, for fun...cause it's about having fun ! You could review the dutch style guard ? Thank you

Hey Jeff (or others), quick question: what do you think of instead of dodging or muay thai style checking leg kicks, putting weight on you leg and kinda lean into the kick. I think this is what causes a lot of the recent leg breaks in mma off calve kicks and in general it doesnt hurt so bad to eat a kick when you tense your tigh muscle. My coach prefers this kind of checking over lifting your leg because of the balance/takedown issue with lifting and when you pull away from the kick but the foot scrapes behind the knee it can cause the leg to give out.