Muay Thai. A system of unarmed combat, Muay Thai (or Thai Boxing) originated in what is now Thailand over two thousand years ago. Its precise beginnings are shrouded in legend, but early records show that monks trained novices to become bodyguards for the royal family. Exhibition fights were frequently staged for the royal court, and they could be brutal. Fighters had their hands wrapped with rope, which was coated with a sticky resin and then dipped into crushed glass. The bouts often ended in death. Thankfully, Muay Thai has evolved over the centuries. Competitors now wear protective equipment as they try to score with punches, elbows, knees, and kicks. Rugged and spectacular, Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. It is also enjoying a surge of international popularity with practitioners is countries such as in England, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Australia, Brazil, the United States, and Canada. Muay Thai differs from Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Kung Fu in several respects; Kicks and punches are delivered with full power and without holding back. Even today, boxers fight barefoot, wearing only cotton anklets on their feet and boxing gloves on their hands. Patterns, or so-called "Katas", do not exist in Thai Boxing. Focus, power, timing, and reflexes are developed by constant sparring practice, hitting the kicking and punching bags and pads, and participating in matches. Muay Thai is primarily a pugilist (boxing) system, which uses basic, but powerful kicks, punches, knee and elbow strikes. Practitioners of other martial disciplines because of its devastating effect revere the Thai swing kick (roundhouse). When aimed at an opponents lower region (rib cage, thigh, or knee) the target area often becomes numb which may cause the recipient to drop to the ground immediately due to the pain. Along with that, add punishing elbow and knee strikes that are commonplace in the Muay Thai arsenal and this system becomes an almost unstoppable weapon for the stand up fighter in the ring or in the street.