Muay Pram
มวยปล้ำThai grappling. Green lists thaiplum as a separate Siamese art, and websites today use the name for the muay thai clinch and the muay boran curriculum.
Quick Facts
ThailandCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Muay Pram
About Muay Pram
Muay pram, also spelled muay plam, denotes Thai wrestling. Thai academic texts list มวยปล้ำ as a separate term alongside มวยไทย. A peer-reviewed 2019 article by Gumpanada Ek-chai cites La Loubère, according to whom wrestling and fighting with elbows and fists was performed at festivals in Ayutthaya and Laos. Green, in Martial Arts of the World, lists thaiplum, that is grappling, among the Siamese arts alongside muay thai and krabi krabong. Today the term is used in two senses. The Evolve MMA gym thus calls a clinch fighting style within muay thai by this name, while the International Muay Boran Academy lists it as part of its muay boran curriculum. The website muaythai.com states that the techniques almost disappeared after the introduction of rules and gloves, and that organizations such as IMBA are reviving them. The sources name no documented founder or year of origin. We have not found rules for a separate muay pram competition.
History
The Chulalongkorn University repository states that King Phra Chao Sua taught his sons krabi krabong, มวยปล้ำ and muay thai. Green mentions 1719 as one of the proposed dates for the origin of muay thai, when Phra Chao Sua, according to him, introduced fighting competitions in Ayutthaya. The website muaythai.com claims that one of the oldest mentions of muay plam dates from 1351 and refers to a Thai collection of laws that distinguishes muay and plam. According to the same website, the techniques were shown at rural festivals as part of muay boran displays.
How it differs
Evolve MMA describes muay plam as a style based on control of body posture, off-balancing and close-range strikes within muay thai. English Wikipedia, in the Muay Thai article, describes the clinch chap kho, from which a knee strike or throw comes, and does not mention the term muay plam. Marco De Cesaris's IMBA book describes grips, locks, throws and strikes to vital points.
Technique
Green writes that thaiplum stresses strikes to pressure points and blood vessels. The website muaythai.com lists the techniques chap rang, grab and hold, kod-rad-fad-wiang, embrace, bind, swing and hurl, hak khaen, arm break, and hak kha, leg break. According to the site, throws keep both fighters standing, and locks aim at breaking the joint, not forcing a submission. English Wikipedia, by contrast, states that muay boran includes ground techniques besides standing fighting.
Today
According to muaythai.it, Marco De Cesaris is the founder and technical director of the International Muay Boran Academy, and muay pram is part of its curriculum alongside combat muay boran. The website muaythai.com says muay plam almost fell into oblivion. The Kru Muaythai Association does not mention wrestling on its muay boran website.
Did you know
Green writes the name of the art as Thaiplum, commercial websites as Muay Plam or Muay Pram. A peer-reviewed article by Gumpanada Ek-chai states that northeastern boxers used fists, elbows and wrestling with knee strikes more than kicks.
Frequently asked questions
What is muay pram?
Thai wrestling. Green lists it as thaiplum, a separate Siamese art, and Evolve MMA today calls clinch fighting within muay thai by this name.
Who teaches muay pram today?
For example, Marco De Cesaris's International Muay Boran Academy, which according to muaythai.it has it in its curriculum.
Does ground fighting belong to muay pram?
The sources differ. Muaythai.com writes of standing throws, English Wikipedia lists ground techniques in muay boran too.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.