Muay Thai 4 MMA | Samransak and the Fundamentals of Punching: 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 article is the 3rd written for us by Ryan Wagner who writes for the Fight Site, - want to read something good of his on the Fight Site, check his breakdown of the legendary fighter Wichannoi  - you can find him and talk the fight game 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 understood 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in the Muay Thai Library project here is a list of everything documented so far, over 100 commentary hours has been archived, with an ultimate aim of 250 hours.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 growing conversation between the deep, ring-proven techniques of Thailand and MMA we hope to shine a light on preservation and appreciation. Get ready to ready for some of the best writing on Muay Thai application on the internet, talking about hands of Samransak. 

watch the Samransak session in the Library here:

Samransak Muangsurin - Muay Maat Legend Keys to Powerful Hands (61 min)

Other articles from Ryan for our Patreon:

Chamuakpet’s Knee Pressure: Lessons from the Library 

The Teep as a System: Lessons from the Library 

Thailand’s Muangsurin gym was known for producing thunderous punchers with ferocious aggression. Samransak, one of Muangsurin’s star fighters, was one of the hardest hitters in Muay Thai’s Golden Age, possessing one of the most versatile rear hands in Muay Thai history.

Samransak was a brutally effective and efficient puncher with a consistent delivery system behind his power punches. He mixed powerful uppercuts and hooks with lightning-fast straight punches to manipulate his opponent’s guards with combinations, but was just as capable of shutting their lights off with devastating counter punches. These tools lead Samransak to knockout victories over legends such as Saencherng Pinsinchai and Chanchai sor Tamarangsri.

See in this segment in the Muay Thai Scholar Samransak highlight 

Muay Thai’s natural scoring preference for kicks and knees over punches places Muay Mats ["Muay Mat": a fighter with a punch heavy style] like Samransak at a disadvantage, as they have to overcome not only a weapon that acts as a natural counter to punches, but a scoring preference toward those weapons as well. At the same time, it also ensures sharpness and skill in the Muay Mat - anyone consistently successful in elite-level stadium fights who relies primarily on punches is not only a skilled puncher, but they’ve necessarily learned how to implement that skillset against fighters with brilliant kicks and distance management.

In MMA, much focus is placed on how boxing tactics need to be adapted due to the presence of kicks, and many fighters still struggle with implementing their boxing against a fighter who kicks actively. Who better to take lessons from, in that case, than the Muay Mat?

Perhaps the uphill battle faced by Muay Mats plays a big role in the success of Muay Thai-to-boxing converts. No other striking sport has as rich a history as Muay Thai in terms of fighters who successfully convert to boxing; Saensak Muangsurin, the most well-known product of the Muangsurin gym, still holds the record for the shortest time to a boxing world title, accomplishing the feat in only his third professional boxing fight.

The Importance of Positioning

In his session with Sylvie (watch it here), Samransak lays the foundation of a punching style built from the ground up in a way that seems rare among MMA camps. In a sport where fighters often learn to spin before they build an educated jab, fundamental boxing principles are both critically important, and sorely underemphasized.

Samransak reveals that proper punching starts with the feet. Not only is foot positioning responsible for controlling the weight transfer of punches, but positioning - both within one’s stance and relative to his opponent - is key for pretty much anything in combat. Samransak stresses the importance of keeping a balanced, staggered stance, always ready to respond to whatever threats are presented.

watch this GIF from the session here 

A fighter’s stance is his home base in a fight, allowing him to smoothly transition into his attacks and providing a measure of protection. In a balanced stance, the rear foot acts as a cushion to absorb impact - eating a clean strike while out of stance removes that cushion and presents a much greater chance of being hurt or knocked down.

A strong stance is also crucial for threat generation. If a fighter is constantly scared off when his opponent advances, losing his feet and stepping out of stance, the opponent has no reason to hesitate when walking him down. He can advance freely and impose his own game. In contrast, walking down an opponent maintaining his stance, with his rear hip coiled and ready to fire at all times, is a daunting task. You need to keep that threat in mind, or you risk walking straight into fire, and that constant threat limits how free you can be with your own offense. Samransak puts this succinctly, as Sylvie translates: “If you have a good foundation… you don’t have to be afraid of anybody.”

watch this GIF from the session here 

Samransak demonstrates how the benefits of maintaining a stable stance are present regardless of which direction a fighter is moving. A pressure fighter advancing in a strong stance forces his opponent to back up through the threat he’s generating. Refusing to retreat means exchanging with a powerful puncher who’s ready to strike immediately, while punching back at an advancing fighter opens up his counters. It works similarly when a fighter is retreating without compromising his stance.

See this GIF of Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas here 

Here you can see how a strong stance opens up counters for a pressure fighter. Chad Mendes feints Ricardo Lamas back to the cage, taking away his time and space. When he closes distance to hit, he does so with a hop-step that leaves him in a balanced stance, ready to respond immediately. With his back to the cage, Lamas lacks the time and space to set up his own offense and is forced to punch on Mendes’ initiative, which goes poorly for him as Mendes remains balanced to slip his right hand and counter.

See this in Conor McGregor vs Brimage here 

Conor McGregor chops up Marcus Brimage on the back-foot. While McGregor makes committed movements and takes angles with his feet square, he instantly resumes his stance as soon as Brimage steps into range. Unable to convince McGregor to abandon his stance, Brimage’s aggression leaves him running head first into punches, as McGregor subtly positions himself to maintain his stance and continue the barrage.

Part of maintaining a strong, threatening stance is using small steps to manipulate distance:

watch this GIF from the session here 

Large, committed steps briefly commit your weight to a direction, allowing an opponent a moment to land a strike, advance freely, or escape your pressure. Small, efficient steps keep you within a strong stance while moving, allowing you to transfer your weight to defend or counter in motion. Small steps are especially necessary for pressure fighters aiming to cut off the cage, as taking large, lateral steps allows opponents to trick you into stepping toward one direction before sliding out the other.

link below

Later on in the session, Samransak has Sylvie using her jab to close distance into a rear elbow. Initially Sylvie is leaving her rear foot behind when she enters, causing her to throw the elbow from far away. Samransak reminds her not to jump forward, and instead to use her weight transfer to flow smoothly into elbow distance - when Samransak demonstrates it, you can see how he follows his jab by transferring weight sharply to his lead foot, and sliding his rear foot slightly forward while pivoting on it to take him right into elbow distance.

Samransak’s demonstration of using weight transfer and small steps to close distance reminded me of Yoel Romero’s finish of Luke Rockhold:

Watch the Yoel Romero vs Luke Rockhold GIF here 

This is one of the prettiest implementations of a simple combination I’ve seen in MMA. Romero starts the sequence off by stepping his rear foot up to his lead, allowing him to sneakily close a large amount of distance and take him into punching range. He flashes a jab to cover a hop-step inside, allowing him to stay with Rockhold as he retreats and take an angle to shorten the path of his rear hand. He follows that up with a distracting jab as his weight transfers to his lead hip, and continues to close distance by sliding his rear foot up as he throws the left, blowing right through Rockhold’s check hook before it can reach the target. His steps take him startlingly close to Rockhold and he maintains full extension on his punches, forcing the power shot right through its target. The weight transfer, rhythm, and smooth footwork hide his intentions, causing Rockhold to underestimate how close Romero is to him at every point of the combination.

If you have only one lesson to impart to a fighter, the concept of stance and positioning might be the single most important. It’s especially critical in MMA, where positioning is often all over the place for a few reasons.

The sheer variety of offense in MMA makes fighters less comfortable standing their ground and maintaining a strong stance, as you not only have to be wary of punches and kicks, but wrestling as well. That variety also necessitates a broader focus - MMA fighters don’t have time to train every skill to an elite level, and large holes are going to exist even in the skillsets of elite fighters due to the sport’s breadth.

But it’s also exacerbated by a lack of proficient striking training in MMA gyms. Fighters like Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor, and Petr Yan have regularly demonstrated how strong positioning and comfort under fire can provide a massive advantage over opponents, but it’s still relatively rare to see fighters who don’t primarily defend strikes by giving ground.

Compare these two recent knockouts that occurred on back to back UFC cards:

Watch this GIF  of two differing KOs

In the first clip, Jonathan Martinez loses his feet in response to Davey Grant’s naked stance switch. He steps back into a square stance, losing his balance and ability to transfer weight efficiently, and is starched by a big hook that lands as he’s out of position. In the second clip, Gustavo Lopez initiates a similar naked stance switch, but Adrien Yanez holds his ground and remains in his stance. Without abandoning his positioning, Yanez has time to briefly shift weight onto his rear foot to load up a quick right hand that catches Lopez while his feet are square.

Those subtle shifts of weight facilitated by strong positioning can make all the difference in exchanges.

Over-emphasizing the factors in MMA that complicate positioning can also seem like a crutch at times that stymies development; it’s absolutely true that it’s more difficult for a striker to maintain strong positioning when dealing with a grappling threat, but in certain matchups and contexts, the threat of wrestling makes positioning even more important. It’s not uncommon to see strikers concede minutes, rounds, and fights not because their takedown defense failed them, but because their positioning lead to them being constantly put in positions where the takedown could be pursued repeatedly.

Delivering Power Through Mechanics

In his fights, Samransak displayed a relaxed, effortless sort of power. Massive, thudding punches flowed right out of his natural stance and motion, with none of the wasted effort and conspicuousness that comes from tensing up. Samransak spends much of the session nailing down minute mechanical details of his punching form, revealing how cleaning up one’s positioning and weight transfer makes a starling difference in their ability to stay balanced during combinations and hit with power.

One important “secret” of power punching is that power is generated through a combination of mechanics and physical attributes, while knockouts are produced by clean connections. Developing strong punching mechanics will always increase the force of your punches, but power is only as good as its delivery system. It’s a common refrain in combat sports for heavy hitters to fall in love with their power to their own detriment, forgetting the crucial setups, rhythm, and timing that played into their earlier knockouts.

Watch this illustrative GIF from the Samranksak session 

Samransak stresses the importance of moderating one’s power: “If you try to punch one-hundred percent, you’re never gonna hit anything.” Efficient punching mechanics allow you to work effectively while remaining relaxed; they keep you balanced to put together combinations while still delivering stopping power.

Operating in the 70-80% range also provides a cushion of intensity to play with. If all punches are thrown at maximum intensity, the opponent is rarely left guessing about the cadence and timing of the strikes within combinations. But ramping it down just a notch allows you to speed up or slow down, varying the gaps between strikes and the speed at which they’re thrown to add concealment. It’s that concealment which consistently produces knockouts.

The stance Samransak shows has the lead foot pointed straight forward, with the rear foot sticking out at an approximate 45 degree angle. The angle of the rear foot keeps it primed to turn into punches at a moment’s notice, while the angle of the lead leg provides room to transfer weight into strong lead hooks, as well as a measure of protection against leg kicks.

Bladed stances are common in MMA, and often fighters with their lead leg turned in heavily struggle to deal with leg kicks. The threat can be mitigated, but it requires great distance management, counters, and/or a commitment to wrestling, and the opening is still large enough that elite fighters regularly fail to deal with leg kicks effectively (see Conor McGregor’s recent fight with Dustin Poirier, or Jimmie Rivera vs Pedro Munhoz 2). Samransak’s stance would function well in MMA, offering innate protection against the leg kicks that are becoming an increasingly prominent threat.

Watch this Max Holloway GIF here 

Max Holloway is a good example of how this lead leg position can benefit a boxer. He tends not to check leg kicks, but is able to deal with outside leg kicks effectively by entering with his lead leg pointing straight forward. His leg is still hittable, but the stance gives him the stability to avoid having his knee collapsed, meaning that he’s able to continue forward and counter the kick, often causing his opponent to lose balance and dissuade them from throwing further kicks.

Watch the Samransak Session GIF here 

Samransak demonstrates the mechanics of his rear straight. The rear foot is pinned to the ground with his pivot as he transfers weight to the front leg, and his rear leg extends as he torques his hips into the weight transfer. Keeping the ball of the rear foot rooted to the ground ensures that he doesn’t lose power and stability by overthrowing the right hand, instead maintaining proper hip torque for maximum power. The starting position of the rear leg in his stance extends the length of his punch by naturally moving the ball of his foot up an inch, effectively “cheating” slightly on the pivot to deliver the punch quicker and longer. As Samransak highlights, everything comes directly from stance with no extraneous motion to initiate the delivery.

Watch Samransak teach his stance and weight transfer in this GIF 

Samransak shows his lead hook with a sharp pivot on his lead leg, which facilitates weight transfer onto the rear leg and adds hip into the punch. Often MMA coaches will warn against pivoting on the lead leg while throwing the hook, as turning the knee in leaves your base vulnerable if the opponent intercepts with a leg kick. However, everything in fighting is situational, and mechanics are rarely that simple.

Samransak's lead hook tends to come amidst combinations and flurries, where his opponents are too worried about defending his punches to exploit the leg turning in. He shows it as a tight hook from in close as well - there's no overextending or leaping, and he uses the jab-straight to close into range for the hook, taking away the space and time with which an opponent can counter. Finally, the weight transfer on the punch also lessens risk - Samransak moves his entire front side as a unit, sending the fist out right as his knee turns in. It's common for the hand to trail the hip and shoulder on a lead hook, with the hip and shoulder acting as a whip that follows through first and pulls the punch with it; this creates tremendous snap and power, but also leaves a short gap which can be exploited by a kick (at the right distance) or a takedown. Samransak's form allows him to get power and rotation into the punch, while remaining balanced and safe.

Watch the illustrative GIF here 

His uppercut is similar to the other punches demonstrated in that it comes directly from his stance, with the power produced from driving off the rear leg while transferring weight to the front. Uppercuts are one of the more confusing punches to throw, and fighters often have a natural tendency to take power off the punch by driving up rather than transferring weight forward. Once again, the motion comes directly out of a balanced stance with no over-commitment, and he has Sylvie working inside before throwing the uppercut to ensure that the punch naturally goes through it's target rather than reaching for it.

Maintaining a balanced stance while punching doesn't just increase power by keeping you rooted to the ground, but it also allows you to respond to your opponent’s reactions. When you overextend, you lose control of your weight, creating openings when you're forced to recover. But keeping a strong base allows you to use committed punches as effective setup tools, closing distance or extending combinations based on openings the punches create.

Watch the illustrative Samransak GIF here 

Samransak shows how the rear hand can be used to close distance, stepping his rear leg through to enter into a kick. The efficient mechanics of his straight punch - keeping the weight balanced and head between his feet - gives him the option of stepping through to set up another attack, without committing his weight and forcing him forward. He has time to see where his opponent is going and adjust, matching his own step to theirs based on how much ground they give.

The concept remains the same regardless of the specifics of the attack. Maintaining a stable base while moving keeps a fighter in position to adjust his attack or respond to threats, while losing his feet leaves him at the mercy of his opponent. Given the long distance at which MMA is commonly fought and the trend of defending strikes primarily by giving ground, it’s very common to see fighters cover distance with long right hands and drift forward into the opposite stance. This can be a valuable distance-closing tool to set up punches, kicks, takedowns, and clinch entries, but we frequently see fighters get badly hurt for losing their balance when closing distance off the rear hand.

watch Peter Yan shifting combinations 

Petr Yan is an excellent example of how a combination can be adjusted based on an opponent’s reaction. He frequently steps through off his rear hand to close distance, and his sound mechanics and balance allow him to step through with intention rather than necessity. If his opponent backs up, he’ll continue closing distance with straight punches, catching them with arching shots if they instead circle out. If opponents stand their ground, he’ll step his rear leg deep to convert it into an outside trip takedown, or catch an underhook and enter the clinch in dominant position. He overthrows his rear hand at times and can end up falling forward, but when he does he tends to include a measure of proactive defense, dipping his head and changing levels off his entry, which often serves to avoid counters and create further openings.

There’s an abundance of valuable lessons to take from Samransak’s fighting style that can’t be covered in the space of an hour lesson. He was one of the best examples of a versatile rear hand’s value, especially as a puncher fighting skilled kickers. Long straight rights and leaping hooks allowed him to threaten opponents from far away, keeping kickers on their heels and allowing him to close distance into his combinations with consistency.

In close, the rear hand was doubled and tripled up on, highlighting the importance of manipulating an opponent’s guard. Samransak would hook the body to encourage opponents to drop their guards, send rear uppercuts up the middle to close their hands together, and fling wide hooks and overhands around the side to widen it. By playing various angles off each other with his rear hand punches, he’d ensure that his opponent’s guard was seldom in the right position to catch his shots.

Watching any of Samransak’s fights also underscores the importance of using subtle angles in the pocket to set up the haymakers. Whenever he landed a hard punch in close, he’d take the opportunity to reposition himself while the opponent was distracted. Pivoting to an outside angle allowed him to find space for his rear hook or turn his opponent into devastating uppercuts, while stepping inside created paths for the lead hook and opened a line for the uppercut up the middle.

Samransak’s fight with teep specialist and Golden Age legend, Chanchai sor Tamarangsri, demonstrates these concepts and more:

watch and study Samransak vs Chanchai here 

You can see the length of Samransak’s punches that Sylvie was discussing in their session; he covers a ton of distance on his punches without losing balance, allowing him to effectively close down the kicker. The effect of Samransak’s punches is also clear. A fighter relying primarily on punches against a kicker must be able to create impact with his weapons. This is especially true in Muay Thai where the only way to outscore a kicker with punches is to show a significant effect, but even in sports like MMA where kicks aren’t valued as highly, a puncher is still at a natural range disadvantage against a strong kicker. One of the most reliable ways to offset a kicking advantage is to punish the opponent for kicking with heavy punches, dissuading the kicks through impact, and instilling panic.

Punches still tend to be the highest-percentage strikes in MMA, constituting most knockouts and making up the brunt of most striking skillsets. But fighters who rely primarily on their hands often struggle to implement their offensive boxing without exposing themselves to kicks.

Not only do Samransak’s style and teachings offer excellent insight into boxing fundamentals in general, but they lay out a roadmap to effective punching in a kicker’s sport, through a process of fundamental positioning and footwork that translates brilliantly to MMA.

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Related Materials

These are Muay Thai Library sessions that are either referenced or on similar Muay Maat themes, from some of the best heavy hands Muay Thai fighters Thailand has produced. Take a deep in the immense archive of true Thai techniques, and the men who wielded them.

#88 Samransak Muangsurin - Muay Maat Legend Keys to Powerful Hands (61 min) watch it here

Samransak was nothing if not thunderous as a fighter in the Golden Age. He threw with serious, heavy hands and just brutalized his opponents. He teaches the basics of his Muay Maat style, how he brought boxing into the ring to massive effect. One of the all time legends of the sport.

#69 Sagat Petchyindee 3 - Muay Maat Tigers & Snakes (67 min) watch it here

Sagat details his ferocious, hands-heavy style in this session, teaching perfect balance and very aggressive spacing. The secrets to his power, how everything flows out of his core and his organized stance are on full display. Nobody like him.

#60 Sagat Petchindee Session 2 - All the Strikes Tuned and Dangerous (101 min) watch it here

One of the great, legendary names of Thailand, Sagat Petchyindee the inspiration for the Street Fighter character, goes through his entire striking philosophy with lots of technical correction and fine tuning. See the secret to his creation of smooth, efficient, explosive power, and witness the amazing man himself.

#37 Kongtoranee Payakaroon - Power In The Hands (89 min) watch it here

5x Lumpinee Champion, 2x Fighter of the Year, Kongtoranee teaches the fundamental grounding of strikes that made him one of the most feared heavy-handed fighters in Thailand. Such economy of movement expresses the true beauty in his style, quite different than - but no less admirable - that of his young brother Samart.

#43  Kongsamut Sor. Thanikul - Muay Mat Style (74 min) watch it here

This Lumpinee champion is perhaps most notable for when he lost a fight for the 102 lb Lumpinee belt, against famed Samart. Samart winning his first belt of many. Kongsamut has a beautiful Muay Mat (punchers) style that he mixes with low kicks, very differently than the Pornsanae style. He fights in close, and is constantly twisting, hitting high and low. Any Muay Thai puncher would benefit from the principles in his style.

#75 Lakhin Wasantasit - Boxing & Muay Thai Organized Destruction (76 min) watch it here

Lakhin was a beast, to stand in front of him was to invite disaster. Perhaps no fighter of the Golden Age was more feared for his hands. In this session he shows just what made him so intimidating, and how he developed a style predicated on inflicting maximum damage.

#64 Chatchai Sasakul - Elements of Boxing (72 min) watch it here

Chatchai is not only a former WBC world champion, he also is the recipient of Thailand's Coach of the Year. He is one of the great striking coaches in the world, and in this session he breaks down all the basics from the footwork on up. Nobody has a more beautiful and potent hands foundation. Watch and learn from a master.

The 14 Fighters of the Year in the Library:

Yodwicha  (2012): #10 The Clinch Techniques of Yodwicha - Session 2 (34 min) watch it here and #4 Yodwicha - Clinch and Muay Khao (Knee) Specialist (35 min) - watch it here and

Singdam  (2002):  #22 Singdam Kiatmoo9 - Making the Basics Beautiful (71 min) watch it here

Naksaknoi (1996):  #65 Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn - Sharking The Angles (67 min) watch it here  and  #73  Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn 2 - Overcoming Distance (61 min) watch it here

Wangchannoi (1993):  #93 Wangchannoi Palangchai - Deadly Step Counter Fighting (70 min) - watch it here  and #95 Wangchannoi Sor. Palangchai #2 - The Secret Powers of a Cool Heart (77 min) watch it here

Jaroensap (1992): #91 Jaroensap Kiatbanchong - Silky Power (63 min) watch it here

Samson (1991):  #41  Samson Isaan - The Art of Dern Fighting (64 min) watch it here  and   Samson Isaan 2 - Muay Khao & Western Boxing Excellence (59 min) watch it here

Kaensak (1989, 1990):  #24 Kaensak Sor. Ploenjit - Explosive Defense (55 min) watch it here

Samart (1981, 1983, 1988):  #34 Samart Payakaroon - Balance, Balance, Balance! (81 min) watch it here

Langsuan (1987):  #45 Langsuan Panyutapum - Monster Muay Khao Training (66 min) watch it here

Chamuakphet (1985):  #49 Chamuakpet Hapalang - Devastating Knee in Combination (66 min) watch it here  #81  Chamuakpet Hapalang 2 - Muay Khao Internal Attacks (65 min) watch it here

Kongtoranee (1978, 1984):  #37 Kongtoranee Payakaroon - Power In The Hands (89 min) watch it here

Dieselnoi (1982):  #48 Dieselnoi Chor. Thanasukarn - Jam Session (80 min) watch it here  AND  #30 Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn 2 - Muay Khao Craft  (42 min) watch it here  AND  #3 Dieselnoi  Chor Thanasukarn  - The King of Knees (54 min) - watch it here #76 Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn 4 - How to Fight Tall (69 min) watch it here

Padejseuk (1979): Padejseuk Pitsanurachan - Old School Greatness (67 min) watch it here

Sirimongkol (1972):  #54 The Late Sirimongkol and Lertrit Master General Tunwakom (81 min) watch it here