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Lerdrit (Thai: เลิศฤทธิ์, lit "formidable"), officially known as Muay Thai Lerdrit (Thai: มวยไทยเลิศฤทธิ์, lit. "Formidable Muay Thai") or Muay Thai Beab Tahan (Thai: มวยไทยแบบทหาร, lit. "Military Muay Thai" or MMT for short) is a Thai form of martial arts taught and used by the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
A variant of Muay Thai, this style focuses on striking, with emphasis on forward pressure, kicks, knees, locking, clinch fighting (the art of grappling from a standing position), palm strikes, and elbows, in order to quickly knock out and/or kill the opponent (typically enemy soldiers) though close-quarter combat.
Description[]
In real life, Lerdrit were developed by the namesake Royal Thai Navy officer Wisit Lerdrit (Thai: วิสิทธิ์ เลิศฤทธิ์) in 1967, who combined various grapping and striking martial arts such as Aikedo, Karate, and traditional Muay Thai style known as Muay Korat, of which he is said to be the master of this style. Lerdrit intended to create the most "optimal" close-quarter combat martial arts to teach the Thai soldiers.
Lerdrit demonstrated the technique to King Bhumibol (Rama IX) the next year. The king is impressed by his technique, though remarked that the martial art Lerdrit has created is too dangerous to teach an ordinary citizen. As such, Lerdrit is only taught to the Thai soldiers to allow them to defend themselves in CQC scenario.
In Street Fighter universe[]
In Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, Lerdrit is cited as a martial art developed and taught by M. Bison. Lerdrit would join the military training of Bison with his previously obtained paranormal powers. Bison only teaches the secrets of his arts (like the deadly Psycho Crusher) to his best disciples.[1]
M. Bison's fighting style in the main games (usually referred to as Psycho Power[2]) may borrow elements from Lerdrit.