ONE CHAMPIONSHIP MUAY THAI RULES
ONE Championship runs Muay Thai under its own Global Muay Thai Rule Set, published on its website. Compared with the Thai Boxing Board code, it uses 4-ounce MMA-style gloves, a one-minute rest between rounds, non-title bouts that are always three rounds, and its own published criteria for tied scorecards.
AT A GLANCE
- Rounds (non-title)
- 3 × 3 minutes
- Rounds (title)
- 5 × 3 minutes
- Break
- 1 minute
- Glove size
- 4 oz
- Punches
- Allowed
- Kicks
- Allowed
- Knees
- Allowed
- Elbows
- Allowed in Muay Thai (not listed for ONE Kickboxing)
- Clinch
- Allowed; inactive clinches reportedly broken
- Scoring
- 10-Point-Must, round by round, three judges
ROUND STRUCTURE
ONE Muay Thai bouts are three rounds of three minutes, with a one-minute break between rounds. World Championship bouts are five rounds of three minutes, also with a one-minute break. The Thai code uses a two-minute rest. With three rounds in non-title bouts there is less time to build into the fight.
HOW ONE BOUTS ARE SCORED
ONE's three judges score each round on the 10-Point-Must system and a majority decides the result. If the totals are level, the judges fall back on ONE's judging criteria: knockdowns, damage (internal, accumulated and superficial), number of clean strikes, then aggression and ring generalship. ONE's criteria do not name particular techniques, and each round is scored on its own.
GLOVE SIZES AND EQUIPMENT
All ONE Muay Thai athletes wear 4-ounce MMA-style gloves, whatever the weight class. Under the Thai Boxing Board code, gloves are 6 oz up to featherweight, 8 oz to welterweight, 10 oz to super middleweight and 12 oz from light heavyweight up. Smaller gloves have less padding, which is generally thought to make knockouts more likely. ONE Kickboxing is a separate rule set with 8-ounce boxing gloves at bantamweight and lighter and 10-ounce gloves at featherweight and heavier. ONE's published rule set does not list other equipment requirements.
ELBOWS ARE LEGAL IN ONE MUAY THAI
Elbows are legal in ONE Muay Thai and a bout can end by elbow knockout. ONE Kickboxing is a separate rule set that does not list elbows among its legal knockout strikes, so check which discipline a card is using.
CLINCH
The clinch is legal in ONE Muay Thai. ONE describes upper-body clinching as allowed, with sweeps and trips a valid means to put an opponent on the canvas; the Thai Boxing Board code lists sweeps and trips as fouls. ONE's own rules page publishes no clinch time limit. Secondary reports say referees break the clinch when neither fighter is striking.
SOURCES
Rules checked against the published rulebooks on 24 October 2026.