Because people want to watch guys get slammed and beaten to a pulp on the ground. But they also want it to be "real" so they can't watch pro wrestling. It's all very retarded.

Its boring as hell for one
They compete every weekend so the goal is they're trying to cruise and win on score cards, not going for KOs, and the first round they aren't even competing. Its a warm up round while the bets come in so both guys just chill until round 2 before they start trying
Everyone that talks about how muay thai is the real deal has never actually watched it
It's point sparring

They market the same way the chineses do, for whatever reason people take the bait
Chinese guy breaks a brick with Kung fu, super cringe!
Thai ladyboy kicks over a dead banana plant, ZOMG THE POWER OF MUAY THAI

>>217236
>Everyone that talks about how muay thai is the real deal has never actually watched it
>It's point sparring
There's like 1 death in muay thai reported on the internet every year and I guess not all of them are reported on internet cause it's the third world

>>217238
well yeah it's 3rd world, deaths could be from anything

>>217230
It seems to be popular under ONE Championship.

>>217238
vax status?

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>>217230
the more popular mma gets the more popular muai thai gets and both are on the rise, ONE had a big event in Denver a couple months ago when superlek knocked out haggerty early and it was pretty lively

>>217230
Arguably the second most popular striking art behind boxing.
>Why isn't muay thai a big thing
Shut up.

>>217236
Just lol at this cope

>>217230
Like everything else bro, marketing. If muay thai had UFC / WWE tier marketing and event structure it would mogg everything else.

>>217318
>UFC / WWE tier marketing
Those are two different tiers of marketing. WWE has A tier marketing, like boxing does. UFC does not.

>>217270
>>217301
Ironically, despite muay thai unanimously being considered legit, it actually has less representation in MMA at the highest levels than most other striking arts. Sure, everyone knows how to throw a leg kick and has a passing familiarity with a thai clinch, but you rarely see champions with bonafide competitive muay thai credentials.

>>217336
because it's just asian kick boxing

Muay Thai is HUGE in Japan, France, the Netherlands, and pretty much the rest of the world. It's only retarded burgerland that doesn't appreciate it because:

A) US Full-Contact Karate fighters were getting thrashed by Nak Muays so there was a nasty propaganda campaign against it

B) There are no good US Muay Thai fighters. They lack the skills to hang with the big boys in Lumpini and Rajadamnern; the Mecca and Medina of Muay Thai competition.

C) The wai kru ceremony before a bout would alienate retarded burgers

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>>217346

>>217346
unless the economy suddenly becomes 1920s overnight or over the course of a few years being a fighter will never been a profitable thing unless you become ali, tyson, mayweather or mcgregor levels of famous where your name is known by people that dont even follow fighting.

The US will never turn out pure career fighters again until the economy gets that good.

>>217336
Kickboxing copied Muay Thai after getting their asses kicked by it. Look for all the kickboxing champs, and that's where you see the Muay Thai influence.

>>217230
People want to see fights with the least restrictions possible, and MMA is the best we've got in that regard.

>>217308
Identify one false statement

>>217353
>Kickboxing copied Muay Thai after getting their asses kicked by it.
lol no. Three karate guys from Japan went to Thailand and fought three muay thai guys and the karate guys won two of the fights. When they returned to Japan they decided to create their own version of muay thai which became kickboxing.

>>217360
and yet, when kickboxers were using the karate's bladed stance, they kept getting their asses kicked until they adopted the Muay Thai stance and popularized low kicks. There is Muay Thai influence, no matter how much you deny it.

>>217383
Couple of points:
1. I didn't deny muay thai's influence on kickboxing. In fact; I stated clearly that kickboxing was created BECAUSE of muay thai. Influence doesn't get any bigger than that.
2. Bladed stance? Are you talking about non-Japanese kickboxing? Specifically American/Canadian kickboxing from the 70s and 80s? Because Japanese kickboxers didn't fight in a "bladed stance." American and Canadian kickboxers did because low kicks were illegal in North American kickboxing and a lot of those kickboxers came from traditional martial arts backgrounds that utilized a bladed stance. North American kickboxing evolved as its own thing. It was basically a combination of boxing and point karate.

>>217383
>>217412
Bladed stances are also fairly prevalent in MMA even though the threat of the leg kick is there, so it's not so cut & dry.

>>217236
Idk Muay Thai makes some people extremely dangerous. Only some tough.

>>217412
You can also see how it developed over the years to become more and more like MT. Got some boxing influences too. I don't even know how this debatable if you're old enough to know what early Kickboxing and K1 was. Or just watched the vids

>>217346
>there are no good us muay thai fighters
>steroids has knocked on the door

>>217346
It's huge here in Brazil. Pretty much the number one striking art assuming you aren't already going to a specialized MMA gym, just leagues above boxing and any other kickboxing variety in number of practitioners.

>>217833
desu most casual MT gyms here are just kickboxing but MT sells better.

>>217840
Kickboxing has become an imitation of MT so it's the same fundamentals. I hear what you're saying though

>>217430
Because both guys are in bladed stance more often, they have to defend takedowns. From a bladed stance it's slower to throw kicks

>>217349
The only thing the US can churn out are wrestlers

>>217230
People enjoy a slipped punch into a big takedown into big ground and pound or snapping into a submisison. They don't enjoy footstomping against the cage and positional grappling on the ground.

>>218001
Yeah, the Thaijitsu style can work, but you need to be both scary off your back and have good sweeps such that you don't really care about getting taking down, but you need Oliveira-tier BJJ for this gameplan to work

>>217840
Most MT gyms are actually cardio classes for women with fake eyelashes and lip filler but we pretend those don't exist

>>217230

Americans don’t look to other countries for sports.

>>217230
If it isn't MMA no one gives a fuck. Why would we settle for only partial full contact?
>Why not Muay Thai big?
Fuck muay thai, why not Kudo bigger? All the upsides of MMA + the variables introduced by gear + resets when tap attempts go on too fucking long.

>>218510
>If it isn't MMA no one gives a fuck.
Boxing

I'm glad it's not more popular to be honest. One is fun to watch but i'd much rather watch RWS, Thai Fight, Petchyindee, Jitmuangnon etc over it. I like the pace, I like the tradition, and becoming more popular would just water it down. Plus there's amateur promotions here that people in my gym fight for so I get to see live amateur fights from time to time.

>>217357
>People want to see fights with the least restrictions possible
Explain the popularity of boxing then.

>>217230
>>218526
Muay Thai is boring compared to boxing. You would know this if you had decades of experience of watching combat sports.

>>217236
>it's boring
That's about it yeah.

>>217353
Doesn't make a difference. Virtually none of the striking you see in MMA is influenced by Meme Thai because the stance and footwork sucks for MMA and so does the overemphasis on kicking and fighting in the clinch means jackshit when your opponent is a wrestler or judoka and can just toss you around

>>217230
Because mma has the marketing advantage of being the closest to a real fight

Nobody understands the scoring. Punches and low kicks don't count as much compared to a skilled display of clinch with trips, knees and elbows. High kicks and body kicks is what score the most. Fight with finesse instead of bum-rushing for the KO.

The average plebs think that Ramon Dekkers is what MT should be. Watch Chatchai Paiseetong, Boonlay Sor Thanikul, or Hippie Singmanee showcases the technical display of what MT is.

>>230493
>Because mma has the marketing advantage of being the closest to a real fight
It certainly would be true if they allowed strikes to the back of the head, soccer ball kicks, throat punches, headbutts, strikes to the crotch, etc.

At the end of the day, it's still a game for our entertainment, not a real fight.

>>217230
Because those people don't hate grappling in that way. They hate grappling in the sense that they want striking to be superior IRL in a real fight; in other words, they ultimately hate reality. And since they can't accept the advantages grappling actually has they blame "the rules", there must be some MMA rule "ruining" it, making stand-up striking less effective than they think it would be on tha streeeeetz.

TL;DR you've been arguing with retards. This has nothing to do with Muay Thai, so it doesn't affect viewership.

>>217236
>They market the same way the chineses do, for whatever reason people take the bait
>Chinese guy breaks a brick with Kung fu, super cringe!
>Thai ladyboy kicks over a dead banana plant, ZOMG THE POWER OF MUAY THAI
Worth noting that this marketing strat worked for the Japanese and to some extent Chinese for an entire generation, though. Tards across America were swallowing that bait whole, hook and all, for decades. The only reason the present generation is inured to it is that they grew up watching those baitchomping cringelords make absolute fools of themselves non-stop.

>>230569
I've watched grapplers get punched, kicked or kneed in the face before successfully performing a takedown. The rule that if a fighter has three points of contact with the floor, they are considered grounded and cannot be kicked or kneed in the head does protect your weak asses. I've also seen grapplers injure themselves in the process of a takedown because concrete is very different from a soft gym mat.

What you call reality, everyone else can see is a delusion. BTW, among grapplers, wrestlers and judokas are better in the streets than your blowjob-jutsus (bjj).

>>217833
for real? i thought all you guys did caipirinha or whatever.

>>230612
NTA but Brazil loves sports, more than any other country in South America—all kinds of sports, too.

>>218901
amen, I love watching Thai Fight unlike ONE
just feels more grassroots
>here's a ring in a park
>here's a huge picture of the king
>here's some music, go fight
sovlful

>>230634
yeah but for kick based combat sports i wouldve expected them to be all in on catoblepas.

>>218473
Theyre cardio classes bc most americans dont understand holding back and working on form when they do pad work or spar

>>230488
>Virtually none of the striking you see in MMA is influenced by Meme Thai because the stance and footwork sucks for MMA
this. Not only that, but the thai stance sucks for kickboxing in general. You just don't see people using it anymore nowadays regardless if it's mma or kickboxing rules, it's inefficient.

Same reason all mma promotions other than UFC fail, nobody knows when and where to fucking watch it. I type ufc into Google and I know the date and time of the next event. Try to Google when the a muay thai or baxing event is and it's like trying to read a recipe past all the ads and paragraphs of pointless story.

Until the right influencer or promoter gives it the glamour filter, it’ll stay sacred in Bangkok—and ignored by couch warriors yelling “stand ‘em up!” during a Khabib highlight.

>>230783
Nice try, dog-eater.

>>217240
Kind of this. If UFC didn't dominate American combat sports so much, more people there would be watching something at least close to Muay Thai and Kickboxing.

>>238336
>If UFC didn't dominate American combat sports so much
It doesn't. The US is a boxing country that's developing an interest in UFC.

>>218526
Boxing has legacy status. It's fighting vanilla for most the world and especially older people. MMA is the new hot alternative and there isn't enough room in the imagination of a random normie to care about both mma and muay thai or kickboxing.

>>217345
Kick boxing Is just western Muay thai

>>217230
Muay Thai is a big thing in a lot of places my guy, but theres also western kickboxing as is grappling.. im not sure where you're from but it sounds fucking boring just ask around a bit and you youll find a fight gym near buy where they're big on muay and or BJJ.. get out more broski

>>245738
Agree with this but those Thai fuckers really have taken it to its highest form, flying elbows teep kicks that KO, as you probably know its their national sport, not football, not ice hocky, not soccor but kicking the ever love shit out of each other and they start usually between 8 years old to 12 so by the time theyre about 20 they can just take A grade pro fights like its a sparring season, after training at home (Australia) and going there for some training and getting to fight those cunts are on another lever, so much faster and much better cardio in the avrage Thai!

>>230569
Watch KOTS it literally proves kickboxing is most effective in teh streetz

>>217230
Lack of international competitors. Even if some other country gets a p4p great like Nadaka it's still just him vs a constant stream of petchsueklektungsahurs for eternity. No usual sports nation/race war drama to get behind. The sport itself is pretty mainstream knowledge but there's not much incentive to get behind and follow it.

>>246305
That said even some of my normie friends wanted to watch Superlek vs Rodtang, so just spamming social media propaganda about being the best in the world with like 5 highlights works.

>>217230
Years ago I remember watching a local promo on TV in the US, it promoted as muay thai kickboxing.
Their problem was being tournament based for each event so they didn't allow elbows to avoid fight ending cuts. If other promos are like it, I'm sure that's why they're not popular.

>>245762
Wrestling + doing degenerate shit is what ultimately ends up winning there, even if the base of most people there is striking.

>>246329
Not at all

Most fights end with ground and pound after a punch to the jaw

>>232886
lol wut
>>218901
ONE puts on the best kickboxing shows in the world, they have the most stacked roster from 55 to 70kg

>have any connection to a sports channel via any sort of cheap stream or cable or whatever on the TV
>not be in USA
>5 sports channels or so at the cheapest
>football, voleyball, broom broom racing, boxing and UFC mma alomost 24/7
>actually more like football and people talking about those other sports around live show dates plus re-runs at like 4 am
>some cliff diving or some shit once a month plus golf the rest of the time, and random shit like "skating and fishing lifestyle"
>"why isn't sambo more popular???"
invest in air time and let people gamble on a phone app and the popularity rises (in a paper sheet)
invest in air time AND make it enticing so it's incorporated into cultures/families (actual popularity). Like boxing to be a playboy millionaire, escape poverty and crime and be a real man. Or football to be a playboy millionaire, escape poverty and crime and be a real man. Or handegg to be a playboy millionaire, escape poverty and crime and be a real man. Or basketball to be a playboy millionaire, escape poverty and crime and be a real man.
Or MMA and "it's martial arts but for real again" and to be a playboy millionaire, escape poverty and crime and be a real man
No 50yo is dreaming of going out and picking up parkour, and buying shoes and shit. That's why UFC invests in BJJ. 20yos don't pay per view, have good knees and no money. Fuck 'em.

It's boring as >>217236 said. It's highly ritualized to the point where watching legit MT almost feels like watching some karate or tkd chumps sparring. I respect the fact that they keep it that way for Thai culture but don't expect lots of foreigners to care.

The scoring is retarded and doesn't encourage efficiency. They only care about kicks and clinch work as opposed to western/modern arts that score based on clean hits and damage.

Building on that, it doesn't translate to MMA that well and MMA is pretty big right now. You don't see dudes trying to use traditional Thai stances or the plum anymore because they just don't really work. The strikers who do best in MMA are all very boxing/punch heavy (max, illia, yan, hell even periera in his kb career was known more as a punch heavy fighter) because boxing is literally all about efficiency. Even the guys labeled as MT artists now like Gane are very clearly more boxing oriented in their stances and how they move. MT's skill set is a complement to your arsenal but you can't build your whole striking base off of it and expect to do well.

Lastly, there are no heavier weight classes represented. All of the elite guys are fucking midgets. I don't care how "great" the fights are in ONE. I don't really care to see men under 150 lbs punch and kick each other, even in MMA or boxing. Especially after I saw that video of that black dude with no combat sports training clown an entire gym of MT dudes by just simply being bigger.

>>251880
Link to the video at the end?

>>251858
>Incorporated into cultures/families

Muay Thai is inherently un-western at its core. From the name, to the aesthetic, to the fighters. Can you imagine billy bob sat around his kitchen table discussing fuhtranbums latest fight? No.

Boxing and MMA is inherently a western sport in the minds of people

>>251888
I ment as a thing people engage in, share with their kids, look forward to, see in their movies, etc. Nobody cared about fucking any sport that wasn't from their place at first. Suddenly fat, poor people can play and make money and it's a whole new thing somewhere else.
You just change it up a bit, put some McD's logos, add black people and BOOM.
Like anyone respects and keeps pristine anything when incorporating it. Not ever their own countries keep shit og.
Also nothing more westerner than karate am I right, fellow whaathaa!-ers? ain't none hear of no jeet coon doodoo in ching chong lands.

>>252035
Karate isn't something that's discussed at the dinner table it's seen as a funny mey mey karate chop bullshido or a funny story

All the mainstream dinner table/office cooler/bar talk sports are going to be stuff like BOXING and at a push MMA because they are white coded and western with a deep history both in films and in famous faces the average white westerner can relate to or feel a rivalry towards

>>252082
the years surrounding the 80s considering the difference in technology+capital and the current amount of exposure att
how that built part of what made MMA catch on quick
people bought nunchucks and took ninja classes
chuck norris, jean claude van damme, bruce lee, jet li, jackie chan, karate kid, dolph lundgren, mortal kombat, ninja shit, power rangers, the shaolin myths, TMNT, batman, Mc Dojos, Steven Seagal

do you mean there wasn't karate tournaments every week on tv plus a whole show of people talking about what happened? they went from 3 to 30 channels over a decade if lucky btw

>>217238
Aren't those almost always from overtraining, not matches?

>>252148
I don't know what your schizo word salad is trying to say, but Billy bob isn't talking about nuk loo wans flying knee when he's with his friends

He's talking about Conor McGregor or my race Vs other race boxing match

That's combat sports. Tribalism for 99% of viewers the other 1% are enthusiasts who appreciate it all

>>252178
>state time where it (whaa-cha! in general) was mainstream in the west despite being oriental
>talk about how it was popular and sought after despite fights not being necesarilly televised constantly and people watching matches (not like there weren't any, though. It was an era issue, mainly)
>sprinkle examples of it being incorporated into culture. Also about it being deformed
>imply nobody gives a shit about it now in comparisson (implicit)
>(implicit) rise in popularity could happen to another martial art, or like it happened with WSM thanks to youtube and stuff. Like Bare knuckle is trying to pull. Specially if UFC can't rule out the boredom
Maybe nobody gives a shit about poor Billy and his nog fatigue, but where his trucking bills get spent. Maybe, tomorrow, will be lei tai tickets.

>>252230
The 70s 80s was a different time, no internet etc so karate Bruce lee stuff was seen as the new thing the New craze the new magic that wil btfo 100 guys

How internet rules out bullshit

>>252236
yeah
I remember looking at some no stupid rules mma stuff online and then during the dagestan UFC arc the views multiplied like 100x
Almost as if the internet provided an alternative to "15 minutes in heaven with some dysgenic"

>>252035
>Also nothing more westerner than karate am I right
Bad example, as the West doesn't give a shit about karate; any martial art with kata (dance moves meant to help train muscle memory) is generally only taught to children, plus any martial art that talks about chi/ki/qi is openly mocked.

>>252148
>bruce lee
>jet li
>jackie chan
>the shaolin myths
>Steven Seagal
I'm not sure you know what karate is, anon. BTW, during the 80s when Eastern martial arts became famous in the West, the one to grow the biggest was Judo. TKD and karate had to be westernized into kickboxing because the mysticism of it all was considered ridiculous.

>>217230
Because usa already had boxing for a specialist style, that's not to say boxing is better than Muay thai, i like it far more than boxing but the audience was already captured by boxing so no other style can replace it just like in thai land no other style actually matters because they have Muay thai.
Japan has a variety of styles but all are japanese and lets them pick their flavor of autism.

Mma was able to grow in usa because the concept of a completely alien style facing eachother like boxing vs wrestling was unique and an entire new genre of autism that tickled the tribalism aspect of human nature.
Humans like to create communities and like the feeling of belonging to one and other communities are enemies, this is human nature and its why team sports are so popular, it allows the viewers to feel as part of a community and fight others and prove the superiority of their own, mma allows this which no other specialist style allows.
Mma fans that hate grappling hate it not because grappling itself is bad but because the hyperspecialization goes against the very nature of mma, nobody complains about grappling in mma when they are beating the shit out of eachother then scramble and try to rip eachother arms off or flatten their face on the ground, people complain when there's 20 minutes of ground control and minimal strikes or even submission attempts.
It would be like if in muay thai someone goes for the clinch but never does anything with it, no knees, elbows or sweeps or if they spend most of the match snap kicking the leg while running away avoiding everything to win on points because the other guy didn't land anything.

Muay thai can't be successful outside thailand because everyone else already have their sports established and it doesn't offer anything than the others don't.
That said even in thailand its being slowly assimilated by kickboxing and mma.