how many of you ever fought in pure standup muay thai guys? What internal style techniques do you guys find the most effective in this sort of fight?

Enforcer,

I've studied with Tim for roughly 3 years and now live in Thailand where I regularly spar with professional Muay Thai fighters. You have to keep in mind that a lot of things that work against these guys you can't really use because it doesn't fall wthin the framework of legal Muay Thai rules. Muay Thai is a sport.

If you are sparring according to the rules then you'd better learn their game. If you take the rules away and just "have a go" for the hell of it then it's not too difficult to beat them - but you're gonna get struck for sure.

I've been able to take them down with single or double leg takedowns and have been able to take their back standing up as well. It's harder to grape-vine them then you might think as they do have pretty good root and are pretty sensitive in the standing grappling range.

There's some really good stuff to be "borrowed" from Muay Thai. Elbows and low round kicks and their push kick all top the list. They are also much better at catching a kick than you might think. They rules don't allow any cool throws from there though. And they don't duck. It's really hard to get their head down.

I've gone all out with some of these guys and taken the sparring to the ground. They are all pretty natural on the ground. It wouldn't take much to train a Muay Thai pro in ground-fighting. But they need to make money and have better options with Muay Thai.

Hope this helps.

Enforcer,
Keep in mind Muay Thai fighters can take a beating... and are willing to take it to get to the inside range(elbow and knees).

I have sparred with alot of Muay Thai and Karate artists. I have noticed the techniques that confuse them the most... sticking and simultaneous striking(hand block/parry with a low lined kick) as in wing chun. But they are some tough fighters... bring some dit da jow with ya.

they dont strike and block simultaneously. Neither od boxers, they sue boxer hands.