Wing chun vs. Muay thai: which art is better for the street?

[humblewarrior]

same as topic.

[benny]

its hard to know which is better as they both have their good points. muai thai is one of the only styles i have spared with that can actually kick and punch at the same time. but the only hard kick to block is the straight push kick as you have to take a bigger angle were as every other kick you can just jam them. vt and mt actually have nearly the exact same elbows.
see yA

[ATENG]

i'm no expert in MT but it seems that it is a very hard style that stresses power and conditioning. fighting effectiveness aside, i would want something that i can do til i'm old. thats my take.

abe

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Its all fun and games til someone loses an eye. Then its just fun.

[El_CLap]

Hmm...this is pretty much like giving one guy a glock and one guy a colt and asking who's the better shot. Both will work well, if trained correctly. It just depends on the person, and the degree of training.

[Tai Mai Shu]

Muay thai...no contest at all. Wing Chun has some stuff that is useful but its generally geared towards sticking hands and technique wise, most of it won't translate well to a real brawl. And muay thai practitioners are very well conditioned and tough. Wing Chun guys usually are not.

[kobu]

Tai mai shu,
you have got to be kidding. Ving Tsun does`nt translate well to real fighting?
Techniques that are just usful in sticky hands? LOL. Chi sao is a training exercise, that helps to develop those techniques for real fighting.

[Buhma]

Tai Mai Shu....wow, talk about generalizations. As a matter of fact, I have personally seen my sifu go toe to toe (more exactly shin to shin) with a thai boxer. Do you think all those years of hitting the hardwood of a muk jong would still keep you soft?

I agree somewhat with Tai Mai Shu... Thai boxers are usally better conditioned...but that has nothing to do with style... so as the PC would say, it's the fighter not style.

But let me ask you this, if you want to compare arts for street defense... how long do you think you can use Thai boxing or WC for defense? I mean, are you going to train 24/7 (as Thai boxers do) just to defend yourself on the street? No? if you only go say three times a week in either art... tell me which will be better then? I'd say WC would usually have an advantage... IMHO

[WT-Man]

Wow!--this is a hot discussion. I've studied both styles and would have to say that I'd lean towards Wing Chun. It's true that the kickboxer has to train more vigourously on a regular basis and that competitive kickboxers only have a 3-5 year career in the ring. All that aside, Thai fighting is PURELY YANG (force meeting force), while Wing Chun has both yin and yang aspects. Wing Chun ABSORBS the directional energy of an opponent's attack (the yin aspect)and redirects it back to the attacker--often times TENFOLD. Also, I'm part of the Wing Tsun system, which has a very strong counter-kickboxing program (complete with elbow and knee programs to go up against the toughest of kickboxers). I could go on, but I think you get the point.