Muay Boran
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Muay Boran, which translates to "Ancient Boxing" ( Boran is a Thai loan word borrowed from the Khmer Language ), is the predecessor to Muay Thai. Although often not understood by the Thais themselves, this term is quite used, albeit incorrectly, in the West to refer to the ancient origin of the unarmed part of the Thai fighting style.
Muay Boran's aim is to help a warrior survive a battle after he has lost his weapons (until this time, he will use a style known as Krabi Krabong); its style is quite efficient, in that it maximizes the amount of damage that every blow can leverage, and effective, in that it can easily lead to the death or serious injury of the opponent. Most notably, Muay Boran emphasizes the usage of extremely powerful elbow and knee techniques, and combinations thereof, always thrown at full force and speed, with the intent to overcome one's adversary as quickly as possible, because another one might already be coming close or attacking.
Quite evidently, Muay Boran is not suited to tournaments and competitions, and even in Thailand it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a school willing to teach it; they prefer to focus on "modern" Muay Thai, as this is more easily exploitable as a form of income. Today many schools who claim to offer Muay Boran just teach Muay Thai and sell it under the name of Muay Boran. Needless to say, Muay Boran is based on techniques which are now forbidden in Muay Thai and virtually unknown in the West outside a small circle of practitioners.