I just stumble onto this thread and would like to say a few things. I witnessed this kind of match in the late 70s , the Muay Thai challenged the Kung Fu.
I learnt Kung Fu since young and my dad was a Shaolin Kung Fu practitioner. From the beginning we knew Kung Fu will loose to Muay Thai...why? It was the fighting rules , all rules were base on the boxing ring and the Kung Fu masters were asked to wear gloves.
The MT were trained for years hitting with a pair of gloved fist, wherelse the Kung Fu were trained with all kinds of "Fa Shou" Flower Hands. Basically they were asking the KF master to tie their hands and fight. We saw almost every KF opponent being knocked down untill the famous (if I remember right) Wong Ngok Fei who used to shaved bricks with his bare hands refused to wear anything when his turn came. The Muay Thai guy refused to fight with him for fear of his famous bare hands or for break of rules we don't know.
To us there is only one way to know and that is no rules. The Thai can use all the gloves and knees they want and the Kung Fu can use all the fists or finger jabs they want including eye jabs. Fight the way they were trained, be ready to die. And also no boxing ring, boxers have always used the enclosed ropes to their advantage. Muay Thai were trained to knock out, Kung Fu have training to go for the kill. With no rules you will see Muay thai wouldn't be so aggresive.
I have seen some famous Tai Chi master in action, the late Master Liew of Kuching the direct student to grand master Wong Shin Kin ( spelled as pronounce in Cantonese) had a demo in my house with my younger bro' who is a Wing Chun and Tai Chi master. My bro were asked to chop as hard as he can onto his throat and Master Liew took it like nothing. Now some of you please tap your throat and see how you feel. Next I saw (or literally didn't see) the best demo yet, Master Liew asked my bro to hit him anywhere as fast as he could. Now my bro was fast, very fast and very strong too, he shot out a punch at the jaw of Master Liew and flash!! , the Master swept his punch off and gave my bro a slap which we saw the 5 finger mark.
I have known a few Tai Chi Masters that took on a few good fighters and literally swiped them off just like that.
Back to the TS topic, Muay Thai were trained as a sport, Kung Fu were trained as an art , a defense art. People who always want to compare this two are people who just don't understand the nature of this sport and art.
It is like a photograher challenging an oil artist who can come out with a better picture.