Lerdrit

Lerdrit

Also known as	Military Muay Thai
Focus	Striking
Country of origin	Thailand
Parenthood	Muay Boran, Muay Thai,
Olympic sport	No

Lerdrit (Thai: เลิศฤทธิ์, RTGS: loetrit, IPA: [lɤ̂ːt.rít]) is a Thai form of martial arts taught and used by the commandos of the Royal Thai Army. Muay Lert Rit (or Lerdit) is a style of fighting derived from traditional Thai battlefield fighting techniques (Muay Boran). A selection was made among the very large portfolio of techniques already available in the different styles and adapted to close combat. Many of the techniques are either very close or taken directly from the Mae Mai (Standard techniques for bare hand fighting) or the Look Mai (Advanced fighting techniques). As with all military techniques, the goal is radical, with disabling in a terminal way your opponent.

The basic principle is using all body weapons very much like in traditional Thai styles (Chaya, Khorat, etc...), but the way the opponent is struck is different. From one side the attacker tries to surprise its opponent to leave him no possibility of defense (attack without warning) and secondly the attacker tries to get the enemy as quickly to the ground to finish him of, typically through projection of the whole body to the ground with the head first, hammering with the foot on the throat or neck, etc... The attacker will use hard parts of the body to minimize risk of injuries such as elbows, palms, knees, forehead and avoid using round kicks or high kicks except to low parts of the body (Hits to the lower part of the body - Tae Chieng or to the testicles - Tae Pa Mak).

Outside Thailand, Muay Lert Rit is gaining ground in Europe through the impulse of dedicated individuals. Grand Master Marco de Cesaris (Khan 15 and one of the four grand masters of Muay Thai/Muay Boran in the world) is one of the majors drivers to that process. The fighting techniques can be learned. For example, the International Muay Boran Academy teaches and certifies individuals who have already extensive knowledge of Muay Boran.