Muay Thai 4 MMA | The Teep as a System: Lessons from the Library (Patreon)

Our note: Out of the enthusiastic study & support of all our patrons we've begun hiring passionate writers to add to the incredible things going on here. This is the first article by Ryan Wagner who writes insightful articles for the Fight Site, - want to read something good, check his breakdown of the legendary fighter Wichannoi  - you can find him on Twitter here. This column focuses on the application of the muay that is documented in the Muay Thai Library from legends, elite krus & fighters from all over Thailand, preserving the legacy of Thailand's heritage, but in the context of MMA. We feel it's important to build bridges from the legendary techniques of the best who ever fought to the contemporary fighting sports of our time. If you are interested in the Muay Thai Library project here is a list of everything documented so far, over 100 commentary hours has been archived, with an ultimate aim of 250 hours. By fostering conversation between the deep, ring-proven techniques of Thailand and MMA we hope to shine a light on preservation and appreciation. 

Lessons from the Library: The Teep as a System

by Ryan Wagner 

The evolution of techniques in Mixed Martial Arts often occurs in a sort of punctuated equilibrium. After a period of stasis, a “new” technique is introduced to the metagame and quickly gains popularity. We’ve seen it with front kicks after Anderson Silva’s famous knockout of Vitor Belfort, and more recently with leg kicks below the knee, which allow strikers to target the leg while limiting exposure to takedowns.

This rapid development implies that a wealth of untapped potential still exists in MMA. Not only are individual techniques previously thought ineffective still being adapted into MMA, but new, consistent uses for existing techniques are often discovered and implemented.

MMA’s metagame changes at lightning speed, largely due to its novelty in the world of combat sports and the breadth of its constituent arts. MMA is still a very new sport, and best practices for coaching and athlete development are still very much a work in progress. With every generation of fighters, we see some technique or implementation that leaves pundits surprised such a thing works in MMA.

A vast pool of arts from which to draw also necessitates gaps in the metagame. The amount of techniques and tactics a fighter can adapt to MMA is limited by time and access. Where Western combat sports like boxing and wrestling, as well as many traditional Martial Arts have become the fundamental backbone of MMA, tactics drawn from high level Muay Thai have seen far less crossover. There are many reasons for this too detailed to get into here, but suffice it to say that elite Muay Thai fighters rarely venture into MMA, and MMA fighters spend very little time training with and learning from elite Muay Thai fighters and coaches.

Sylvie’s Muay Thai Library provides an endless resource for combat sports enthusiasts, documenting techniques, tactics, and training processes in Muay Thai from the sport’s Golden Age to the modern era. Not only is the library incredibly valuable as an ethnographic project, preserving the culture of a rapidly changing national sport, but it also provides a wealth of instructional content for martial artists. The potential links between MMA and elite Muay Thai are rarely explored in depth, but the library provides an excellent foundation from which to theorize what Thai trainers have to offer MMA fighters.

The Teep as a System

The teep is often compared to the jab, but seldom is that metaphor unpacked fully. MMA has a complicated relationship with jabs - it wasn’t too long ago that former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Bas Rutten, famously questioned the effectiveness of jabs in MMA, recommending instead a powerful lead straight punch. With time, the sport has evolved past that conception.

One of the major leaps forward in the recent MMA meta occurred when fighters started learning to systematize their jab. No longer are jabs thought of as merely a single strike, but instead they’re recognized as the foundation of a style or an invaluable ancillary tool. They’re equally valuable to close and extend distance, prevent an opponent from safely entering, and set up more powerful strikes. MMA fighters have also increasingly learned to develop tools that build on one another, and jabs play a crucial role in a coherent system, acting as a safe lead allowing a fighter to draw and punish reactions without exposure.

Teeps are similar to jabs in terms of their function as an all-purpose Swiss Army Knife, but with greater stopping power and commitment. They offer a versatile option for controlling the space of a fight no matter which directionality a fighter prefers - outside fighters can use teeps to maintain distance and juggle their opponent’s at long range, while pressure fighters use them to physically push opponents back to the cage or ropes, stepping in behind them to close distance.

Just like the jab, the teep can represent a fundamental building block in a fighter’s style, facilitating their control of space and allowing them to build off it, opening up consistent opportunities for their high-percentage scoring attacks. But while MMA has fully adopted the jab into its lexicon and began thoroughly exploring its possibilities, the teep has received no such treatment.

Looking At Luktum Sityodthong's Session

below will be several GIFs and explanation drawn from Luktum's 2nd session in the Muay Thai Library

watch the full Luktum's session here 

In Luktum Sityodtong’s 2nd library session with Sylvie, he demonstrates how the teep can be used as an effective strike in itself and built on to facilitate control of space and exchanges. Luktum is a trainer and active fighter out of Winner Muay Thai in Pattaya.

Note: Remember to toggle the sound on when viewing the clips of Luktum’s session, as the audio contains important details

The Side Teep

One of the larger knocks against teeps in the MMA community has long been that they’re considered easier to catch than the piercing, karate-style front kicks that have become so prevalent. In addition, MMA stances tend to be rather bladed due to a focus on boxing and wrestling, whereas the teep is seen as requiring a more square stance.

These disadvantages aren’t difficult to mitigate, however.

watch this GIF with sound here 

Luktum demonstrates a side teep, angling his leg sideways while throwing the teep. Not only does this teep fit perfectly with a more bladed stance, in which the leg is naturally positioned at a diagonal angle, but it makes the kick much more difficult to catch without the heel acting as a hook on the kick’s retraction.

Side teeps function in a similar way to side kicks, which have become increasingly prevalent in MMA amongst heavily bladed, Karate and Sanda style fighters. The success fighters like Stephen Thompson and Li Jingliang have had employing side kicks in the Octagon (and the rarity with which they’re caught or countered) shows that there’s a clear place in the meta for side teeps as well.

Sylvie mentions Samart in reference to the side teep, and perhaps the best fight to demonstrate their efficacy is his fight with 1986 Fighter of the Year Panomtuanlek Hapalang:

watch the fight here 

In just three short minutes, you can see Samart use the side teep to control range and deal significant damage. He juggles Panomtuanlek on the outside, using the teep to enforce his preferred long range and force Panomtuanlek to rush onto his counters. Panomtuanlek is unable to catch any of the kicks, as the angle of Samart’s foot on impact allows him slip out of the grasp. A teeping game in MMA would need to be more restrained, however, as having the leg tied up or parried across the body slightly can still leave you open for takedowns,

The teep has several key advantages over stabbing front kicks. It provides more force to physically move opponents and can be more easily thrown from a strong stance. In order to throw an effective piercing front kick off the lead-leg, your stance needs to be fairly narrow, which is at odds with the low, wide stances common in MMA. This means that to consistently close distance behind the lead-leg front kick, a fighter will be bringing his feet together or marching into the opposite stance. Some fighters work well with this marching style, but it’s not suitable for a great majority of styles, and it leaves them off-balance and vulnerable to both counters and takedowns.

On the other hand, teeps can be thrown smoothly off the lead leg without needing to bring the rear leg directly underneath your stance, as the power comes more from thrusting outward than lifting up. It can also be thrown behind a short hop, allowing fighters to cover tremendous amounts of distance while still remaining balanced. This makes teeps ideal tools for setting up entries.

Teeps as a Setup Tool

A classic method of closing distance in Muay Thai is to pick up the lead leg as if winding up for a teep, before planting it down in front of you and striking. It can be adjusted with a hop off the back leg to close even more distance, while keeping the lead leg elevated to block against counter kicks and knees.

watch this GIF with sound here 

The teep feint is commonly paired with a knee off the rear leg as the motion of planting the lead leg to return to stance fits perfectly with the weight transfer on the knee, but it’s also capable of acting as an all-purpose entry, setting up practically any strike.

MMA fights tend to take place at a longer distance than other combat sports involving continuous striking exchanges, which makes tactics for closing distance even more important. The sheer breadth of attacks to worry about makes defense less reliable, causing fighters to rely on distance more as a catch-all defense. The presence of shot takedowns and relatively low overall defensive striking skill are also contributing factors.

Many MMA fighters still struggle to close distance soundly in a sport where effectively closing large amounts of distance is often necessary to initiate an attack. Teep feints offer a consistent tactic for initiating entries at long range as well as methodically closing distance.

see this GIF here 

The small gloves in MMA make punching off teep feints even more viable. ONE’s Jonathan Haggerty (above) is a great example of how these feints can be used to quickly close distance for power punches.

Any tactic that allows you to close distance while keeping your feet underneath you can easily be adapted to wrestling as well. Given the long distance in MMA, figuring out how to enter into your takedowns becomes much more important than in pure grappling sports. Finishing takedowns is easier in MMA as the upright stance allows opponents to get in on the hips easier, but blending takedowns with striking is a must in order to establish a strong initial position.

see this GIF here 

Above you can see Khusein Khaliev and Sanda fighter, Kang Li, using side kicks to close the gap for their takedown entries. Teeps can be used much the same way, with the planting of the lead foot acting as a penetration step for the takedown.

Controlling Space

Luktum also shows how teep feints can be used moving backwards to extend distance and change direction:

watch this GIF with sound here 

The teep feint flows right into a pivot, allowing the defending fighter to break the line of their opponent’s attack and take an angle, further opening up their own offense. When a potent teep has already been established, lifting the leg up as the opponent comes forward can freeze them and buy time to attack or pivot away.

Adopting a stance with the lead leg elevated and rear leg weighted does expose you to takedowns from an advancing opponent, as a strong sprawl or down-block requires pushing off the front foot. But it’s also viable to defend takedowns by using footwork to avoid entries. Jose Aldo, the greatest anti-wrestler in MMA history, would use a pivot similar to the one shown by Luktum in order to cut off takedown attempts at the entry, denying his opponent the ability to establish the positioning necessary to finish the takedown, and leaving them clinging loosely onto a leg that could be easily ripped away.

Throughout Luktum’s session - watch it all here -  a system behind the teep emerges complete with specific responses for a variety of situations. It acts as a tool to manipulate range in any direction, using the force of the kick to herd opponents around the ring, but it also provides a platform from which to build further offense.

Like the jab, teeps can be easily feinted without much commitment, allowing a fighter to confuse opponents and disguise offense without exposing themselves. The commitment of the teep feint can easily be varied as well, with short, consistent lifts of the leg acting as a desensitizer, programming opponents to constantly look out for the attack, and more committed feints serving to initiate entries into strikes. Lifting the leg can also draw reactions and counters, exposing an opening to exploit.

watch this GIF here 

While the teep can occupy a similar role to the jab in MMA, there’s no need to replace one with the other. Jabs and teeps have excellent synergy between them, and developing a strong teep will only make your jab more effective. Luktum explains the pairing:

watch this GIF with sound here 

Teeps and jabs present a dual threat, where reaching down to parry the teep exposes you to jabs, and focusing on the jab leaves you open to teeps. Pairing the two also allows a fighter to maintain a linear threat off the lead side at two different ranges - in some sense, the teep becomes an extension of the jab, allowing its user to seamlessly blend ranges by mixing them up. Teeps close distance to put you in jabbing range, jabs extend distance to teeping range, making it more difficult for an opponent to maintain their preferred range and deny yours.

One of the best Thai fighters to demonstrate the potential of the teep as a tool for manipulating range and setting up further offense is Anantasak Panyuthapum. Anantasak is known for his devastating elbows, as well as having one of the most effective teeps in Muay Thai. In his fight with Singdam Or Aukrit, you can see how the system he’s built around his teep supports his entire game - it serves the purpose of controlling range in all directions, and sets up his more damaging offense.

watch Anantasak vs Singdam here 

Not only is Anantasak’s teep a brilliant setup strike, but it allows him to effectively blend three different ranges. He pairs his teep with his jab, feinting both to make the other more difficult to see coming, and he uses elbows as a punishing blow in close quarters. His teep lets him close distance into jabbing range from the outside, and the jab takes him farther into elbow range.

Anantasak’s fight with Singdam also demonstrates the value of a consistent teep as a defensive tool in ways that make it well suited to use in MMA. Singdam is a brilliant kicker - when Anantasak attempts to close distance by punching into range or walking forward, Singdam is able to counter with a kick, even doubling and tripling up on body kicks to catch Anantasak as he moves forward. But when Anantasak uses his teep to close distance, Singdam has a much more difficult time landing his kicks, and is quickly trapped in punching range.

A Case Study

In MMA, the level of kicking offense and defense still lags significantly behind boxing skill. It’s not rare to see even high level MMA strikers look puzzled when faced with a strong kicker. The standard answer is to apply consistent pressure and force the kicker onto the back-foot, but that forces the aggressor to wade through the kicker’s power strikes, and not everyone has the skillset to employ a pressure game. But allowing a kicker to maintain his preferred range can often be a death sentence - look at Dan Hooker’s fight with Edson Barboza, in which Hooker found himself stranded at range and quickly ran out of ideas, both in terms of closing distance and defending Barboza’s power kicks, before having his body and legs brutalized by the Brazilian kicker.

A strong teep offers fighters a powerful tool to deal with skilled kickers, allowing them to cover large distances safely. A teep tends to beat a round kick thrown simultaneously, as the linear strike takes a shorter path to its target. Kicking leaves you posed briefly on one leg, without a stable stance, and taking a teep during the delivery will disrupt your balance, killing the kick and opening you up to follow up strikes. But the teep doesn’t necessarily need to be thrown often with commitment to act as a deterrent to kickers - even regularly picking up your leg and showing the teep feint gives them something to think about, lest they wind up kicking into a bony shin or knee rather than soft flesh.

Perhaps the best fight to demonstrate the value a strong teep can offer MMA fighters is Jorge Masvidal’s fight with Donald Cerrone.

Cerrone is known as a powerful and skilled kicker with a defined weakness to close-range boxing. The fighters that beat Cerrone the easiest tend to be those with strong hands (particularly southpaws) who can pressure past his kicking range and force him into boxing exchanges. Masvidal is more of a generalist, possessing a skilled kicking game, but relying significantly on his offensive boxing as well. Given his more active boxing game as well as a reach disadvantage, it would benefit Masvidal to close past Cerrone’s kicking range.

watch this GIF here 

Instead of charging forward and risk exposing himself to counters (above), Masvidal closed distance behind an elevated lead leg. He established a lead-leg teep early, dissuading Cerrone’s kicks to the body and leg. Masvidal would initiate attempts to move forward by raising his lead leg, which not only threatened a teep if Cerrone chose to intercept his movement with a kick, but dissuaded the kicks by keeping the lead leg in position to check. Cerrone was able to time some leg kicks as Masvidal’s lead leg planted down from his teep feints, but Cerrone was largely hesitant to kick into Masvidal’s block.

Masvidal paired the teep feints with entry feints and jabs. He’d fake a committed step forward, prompting a response for Cerrone, and then enter more methodically behind the raised lead leg. Masvidal used these entries to crowd Cerrone, controlling his center line with the elevated leg and sneaking jabs up the middle.

watch this GIF here 

The entry feints and elevated leg threw off Cerrone’s timing and confidence in his kicks, forcing him to constantly reset his stance as Masvidal advanced, rather than risking an ill-timed kick that could result in a counter or damage to his own leg. When Masvidal did commit to an entry, Cerrone’s responses were dulled by the feints, and he had an easier time getting in on his punches unabated.

watch this GIF here 

Masvidal occasionally used the teep feint to quickly close a larger amount of distance, picking up the leg and hopping in behind it to land strong punches or kicks. Just as we saw Luktum and Sylvie demonstrate with the teep feint to knee.

watch this GIF here 

Masvidal would later finish Cerrone in the second round, using his teep feints, entry feints, and jabs in tandem to fluster Cerrone’s reactions and draw out poorly timed counter kicks, which he would parry across his body and counter.

The remarkable thing about Masvidal’s performance is that he didn’t even throw the teep that much, and when he did throw it, his teep was rarely very hard or particularly well-executed. He used his teep mostly as an auxiliary device, and it still allowed him to control the fight through its potential for distance management. The teep feints and elevated leg carried him safely past Cerrone’s kicks into his jabbing range, where he could initiate his high percentage offense.  A fighter with a mechanically stronger teep could build on that foundation, establishing the teep as a legitimate damage dealing threat, which even further increases its efficacy as a setup tool.

At the moment, there aren’t many fighters in MMA who use teeps effectively, and the few that do rely more on smart use of auxiliary tactics than a true mechanically proficient teep. That’s not likely to change any time soon, as elite teeping skills are found mostly in Thailand’s Muay Thai, and MMA fighters have far less access to experienced Thai trainers than they do to elite training in arts like boxing, kickboxing, or any of MMA’s constituent grappling arts.

The risk of grappling also makes fighters more hesitant to open up with kicks, as a single takedown can easily mean losing a round. But there exists significant advantages for fighters who are willing to invest enough time to develop a proficient teep and learn to mitigate some of its disadvantages.

If you’re interested in a lesson focused more on the mechanics of the teep, I’d recommend checking out Sylvie’s session with Golden Age teep specialist, Chanchai Sor. Tummarungsri, who thoroughly explains how to throw a powerful, mechanically proficient teep:

watch this 11 minute trailer of the full session here, free to the public, explaining the mechanics of the teep from a legendary teep fighter.

Watch the full 54 min session with Chanchai below:

watch this session here as a patron 

follow Ryan's voice & discuss the article with him on Twitter: Raja Champ Fahbunmee 

More teep resources in the 110+ hour documentary Library:

watch this slow motion capture of Kru Manop's teep. Kru Manop is famously known as Saenchai's padman when he was with Yokkao. Kru Manop is famously known as Saenchai's padman when he was with Yokkao.

Related sessions in the Library:

#25 Luktum Sityodtong 1 - Positioning and Trips (62 min) watch it here

Tum is an active international Thai fighter raised out of the famed Sityodtong gym. He shows the importance of positioning and timing in this session with a fantastic lower body system of tripping attacks towards the end. His muay is both physically close, but also evasive and tactical.

#55 Manop Manop Gym - The Art of the Teep (90 min) watch it here

An absolutely brilliant technician, Arjan Manop who is famed as Saenchai's Yokkao padman, teaches the art of the teep in fantastic detail. Some of his corrections were so small, like the timing of the plant foot, but have made big impacts on my practice. If you love the fine details of beautiful Muay Thai technique this is a session for you.

#72  Tak Cho. Nateetong - Art of Femeu Interruptions and Balance (73 min) watch it here

One of the most difficult things is to teach Muay Femeu timing and distance control, but Kru Tak is one of the great femeu instructors in Thailand. In this beautiful session he opens up his technique of tricks, feints and shifting deceptions, even in the clinch.

#47 Silapathai Jockygym - Master of Teep Distance (64 min) watch it here

One of the great femeu fighters of the Golden Age unlocks the secret of his teep oriented dominance which made him one of the most difficult fighters to face in his day. The lessons here are precious as he unfolds the details of how to use the teep and tempo to always put the fight where you want it.

#34 Samart Payakaroon - Balance, Balance, Balance! (81 min) watch it here

Atop the tower of Muay Thai legends probably stands Samart. 3x Fighter of the Year, 4x Lumpinee Champion and WBC World Boxing Champion, no fighter more brilliantly showed what femeu fighting could do. In this session he shows the foundations of how to build true balance, the ultimate key to his fighting style. watch it here 

#40  Gen Hongthonglek - Muay Femeu Tactics & Mindset (70 min) watch it here

The Muay Femeu (artful fighting) style is more than just a set of techniques, it's also a mindset and strategy of how to score, and how to score big. The warfare is not just in terms of damage, but of psychology, displaying dominance through skill and timing. Gen in this hour outlines how he likes to fight, and how he pulls off the biggest scores at the right time.

#28 Jaroenthong Kiatbanchong - Femeu Muay Thai Hands (50 min) watch it here

Super slick, 3x Lumpinee Champion Jaroenthong is considered one of the Yodmuay of the Golden Age, often pictured with Samart and Somrak as killers from that day. In this session he teaches how he marries great boxing hands with femeu footwork.

#19 Attachai Fairtex - Timing and IQ (72 min) watch it here

2x Lumpinee Champion Attachai Fairtex is one of the great femeu fighters of Thailand. Namsaknoi, himself an elite femeu fighter of legendary status called him his most difficult fight as he just was too hard to read. This is a window into that quality, and how to build it.

#46 Bluksek "Kru Noi" Sityodtong - Internal Knees & Elbows (59 min) watch it here

Learn techniques that go all the way back to Old School Sityodtong, some of these I've not seen before. Kru Noi has a system of internal elbows and knees that work offense and defense together. And don't miss what I'm calling the Low Kick Destroyer, sure to end your opponent low kicking you.

#13 Kem Sitsongpeenong - Building a System (52 min) watch it here

Kem, one of the best fighters of his generation, shows me building blocks of his system. He teaching a firm, defensive frame, and especially likes an upward elbow that explodes out of blocks, checks and fake teeps.

Remember, you can browse the entire Library here, over 110 hours of commentary documentation of the Muay Thai of great fighters and krus of Thailand: Table of Contents