Karuhat Seminar At Left Hand Muay Thai
On December 14, 2024, I got to learn from one of the golden era’s great, Karuhat Sor.Supawan. I came across some of Karuhat’s work when I saw Sylvie post about it on her Youtube channel. Seeing Saenchai being nicknamed as “Little Karuhat” drew my interest and the golden era times where it was very hard to retain the belt between Karuhat, Chatchai, Wangchannoi, and Boonlai. I saw an Instagram either story or post that Karuhat will be touring in the US and definitely did not want to miss this opportunity so I booked it ahead for the last of my Muay Thai trips of the year.
The Seminar
The seminar definitely delivered. Karuhat had a lot he wanted to teach us so we moved quickly. A lot of the things he taught were quite simple and straight forward, but with subtle details that makes it work and makes it great. Timing and setup is paramount to how to get the techniques working. He makes a point to note that if your opponent isn’t reacting the way you want them to react to setup your trap, try something else.
A lot of the seminar consist of Muay Femur tactics (since Karuhat is a Muay Femur fighter), mainly anti-clinch, fake setups to draw out the check, and teep defense/counters.
Trips and dumps were a lot of the techniques that Karuhat uses and he makes them effortless.
Technique
Karuhat mentioned during the warm up about Muay Femur shadowboxing was to land the foot forward after kicking so you can continuously kick. As with all the drills when attempting to fake and your opponent doesn’t do what you want them to do, try something else.
I’ll mention the techniques went over below by “flavors/themes” rather than order so it’s easier to follow.
Teep Defense
Standard Return Fire
Step back to head kick
- Eat a few teeps to give opponent a sense of false security
- Step back to opposite stance and fire a head kick with the rear foot
Step back to drag across for rear shots
- Eat a few teeps to give opponent a sense of false security
- Step back to opposite stance and with the lead hand (from new position) grab the heel a little bit and drag it forward to make your opponent do the splits
- Note: You don’t want to hold it too long or else your opponent’s foot is in the way
- You now have multiple options for many rear shots (from other stance) as you’re probably standing southpaw and they’re standing orthodox while trying to not do the splits
Tripping
Foot sweep on teep retraction
- Eat a few teeps to give opponent a sense of false security
- Slide lead foot back and with the rear foot catch their ankle as they are about to put their lead foot back down and you get to trip them
- Note: I found this technique to work on lead foot teeps, NOT rear since the rear is going to retract far back whereas the lead will be planted right in front of you to trip
- In open stance, I don’t need to slide back as both our lead legs are in front of each other so I’ll just trip with the lead foot rather than slide back to use the rear
Dumping (Fancy)
- Eat a few teeps to give opponent a sense of false security
- Use the standard teep parry (where you swap the foot by turning your arm down that most places teach since Day 1)
- Use your lead leg as a shelf as their teeping leg gets parried and your knee should make a shelf for their hamstring
- Torque your torso across like if you’re throwing a hook and this just dump them on the ground
- Note: In open stance, I found this counter effective on rear leg teep whereas closed stance I found it effective on lead leg teep
Anti-Clinch/Anti-Knees/Anti-Muay Khao
Anti Clinch (Supergirl style long knees)
Remember Supergirl’s long knees?
- You’ll be in the full plum, overhook their biceps so you have a steering wheel
- When your opponent long knees make contact, raise your own knee and bump it out the way
- Impale your own knee cap into the side of their thigh on contact and at the same time, turn the wheel with your arms on the opposite side to dump them or off balance them
Denying the Clinch Entry #1
- When opponent try to fish the crown of your head, shrug your shoulder up high and use that as a blocker/shield between their arm so they can’t fully lock
- Use your hand and control their bicep with the space you made
- With your free hand, control their other bicep
- You now have double bicep control
- If they decide to try and swim their hand under, you can elbow them as you will have the hand position on top
Denying the Clinch Entry #2
- When opponent try to fish the crown of your head, swim your arm underhook and try and control their shoulder (like around the labrum area)
- You’ll try and get a 90 degree angle on them while probably kind of hyperextending their arm making it uncomfortable
- You should have options to attack on the open side
- Note: Their other hand is free and so is my hand. I prefer kneeing here because I can use my free hand to break down their head position so it deny their free hand and I get a knee in there
Fakes
Drawing out the front check
Shove away with rear hand fake
- Throw the rear kick and they check it
- Fake the rear kick and use your rear hand, shove their check out of the way
- Follow up with something
Step forward push and kick
- Throw the rear kick and they check it
- Throw the rear kick but cancel it and step forward and get a good base
- With your knee lead arm in opposite stance, shove your opponent
- Make sure you shove them just enough for them to stumble backwards a bit since if they fall down you won’t get the follow up shot and being just slightly off balance takes more work to regain balance while they get hit with a secondary shot
- With your knee lead arm in opposite stance, shove your opponent
- Throw your new rear kick from opposite stance as they try and regain balance
Step forward and back elbow through the guard
- Throw the rear kick and they check it
- Throw the rear kick but cancel it and step forward and back elbow through their guard
Drawing out the cross check
Long Knee to Sweep
If you are in closed stance, use a switch knee (or switch kick). If you are in open stance, use a rear knee (or rear kick).
- Fire your knee, your opponent will cross check
- Now when they cross check again, you step pass their raised leg and frame your arm to their chest and scissor
- Arm push forward, leg goes back, like a scissor motion and they should fall to the floor
Long Knee to Football Tackle
- Fire your knee, your opponent will cross check
- Fake your knee again, control their arms (or bicep) to avoid being elbow, wrap around the waist or double bicep control, and take them down
Long Knee to Hand Control Elbow
- Fire your knee, your opponent will cross check
- Fake your knee again, get your hand position on top of their hand position and elbow over the top
Level changing
Cross to rear head kick
This is best done in open stance since easier to line up the head kick
- Throw a few body cross
- When they hunch down to brace for body shot, spring your legs up like a springy and launch the rear head kick
Conclusion
After my latest obsession of studying some Muay Khao tactics, I definitely enjoyed going through some Muay Femur tactics and anti Muay Khao abilities in case they try to engage the clinch and how to get out in case I run into a superior clincher. The Muay Femur style is something I definitely resonate with me as someone who likes to use my brain and figure out the more efficient tactic to solve the problem. After 190 fights without a cut on his face, Karuhat’s defense speaks for itself.