Documenting my journey as a female Muay Thai fighter in Thailand, sharing techniques, culture and personal perspective - over 250 fights fought

Kevin and I are starting a new effort in our Preserver The Legacy project. With the support of our patrons we are hiring translators to create subtitles for classic Muay Thai fights. We’ve all enjoyed watching great fights and hearing the enthusiasm, but we are missing a ton of information when we can’t understand the commentator. The fight above with Chamuakpet going for his 8th national stadium belt vs Paidaeng, younger brother of Nokweed Davy, is our first translation fight. There are so many great things in the commentary,...

look at a hi-res version of the photo: Before the Mirror by Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu In this series both Kevin and I write independently about a photograph, first my thoughts, then his… Sylvie writes: This photo is of me at Thapae Stadium in Chiang Mai, where I’ve fought over a hundred times. It’s any moment, just putting Vaseline on my face before my fight. This is something that in and of itself is a story. Fighters often depend on their cornermen to wrap their hands, give the oil massage,...

Dieselnoi is my hero, it’s no secret. Over the years of knowing him, I’ve been influenced by him as a fighter, a teacher, a mentor, a friend, in ways that I couldn’t even articulate fully. He’s had massive impact on me, in how I think about Muay Thai, how I think about training and fighting and the honor of self-responsibility. We text to each other into the night, until his thumbs get tired and he just changes over to voice messages, or just calls me. And yet, he cuts...

I’m working on improving Dieselnoi’s wikipedia page which for a long time was quite bare, and held some mis-information. There just isn’t much authoritative on Dieselnoi in English. I text with him pretty regularly, maybe 3 days a week, on other things, and have started asking for clarifications and acquiring new information to at least keep the record straight. For a long time, for instance, the English speaking Internet was under the impression that he had lost two of his late career fights vs Sagat Petchyindee, when in fact...

Have you ever watched a “battle,” between singers or dancers, or even intellectuals on a panel? In dance battles, often the “retort” begins with an imitation of the initial performer’s moves and then expands out to an elaboration and then one-upping. Like, “I see your splits and raise you a flip.” In singing, the words can be the same but the improvisation gets more intense. With intellectuals, you try to make a really brilliant point sound elementary. These exchanges are very exciting, so long as you know what you’re...

There’s something about the actual “event” of going to a movie, the excitement of not knowing much about it other than that you like the main actor, or that it’s in a genre you like. You get your ticket, you find your seat, you sit in a strange state of anticipation before it begins. And then you can get lost in it – assuming the movie is good. That’s a bit what sitting down to watch a Golden Age fight with Kevin is like. We know at least one...

Kevin and I are calling this the “Diamond Guard,” but because it’s influenced by some familiar boxing guards from legends like Archie Moore, Joe Fazier, a little by George Foreman. I personally first ever saw it when Kaensak Sor. Ploenjit, 2x Fighter of the Year and Muay Thai champion (who did spend some time in western boxing) flashed into it during one of our training sessions, 9 years ago in New Jersey. I was like, “what was that?!” So this is exciting because it isn’t what it will be…...

It started as the thought to draw attention to the huge Sylvie Intensive collection that documents the Muay Thai of Karuhat Sor. Supawan. No great fighter ever has been so documented, I believe. But, in this time of shutdown, profits of the purchases of the videos, downloads or subscriptions go directly to him, and also Yodkhunpon The Elbow Hunter. It really is amazing material, and now that many of us have much more time to study it seemed like the good time to do a giveaway. Discover great content,...

Muay Thai Bones grew out of the discussions that Kevin and I have, all the time, about all things Muay Thai. It’s endless. Usually we’re driving across Thailand, returning from a fight (as that’s generally when we travel) and we have hours upon hours in the car. This episode is in the midst of the Covid-19 shutdowns all over the world, so we’re sitting on the balcony of our rented room in Chiang Mai. Different setting, but still almost 3 hours of discussion. I rather enjoyed this way of...

This Sylvie’s Technique Vlog is shot at a time when most of us are experiencing “social distancing,” “self isolating,” or “shelter in place,” depending on how it’s called. But we’re at home, quarantined to varying degrees, and largely locked out of our gyms. This technique vlog is perfect for these circumstances because it requires no equipment, no instruction, no sweat, no partners, and practically speaking no space at all. You can do this from bed. You can do this while brushing your teeth. You can even do this while...

This is part of a series that Kevin and I really enjoy doing, that we call “Watch With Me.” We watch Golden Age fights and just react and talk in a very informal way. These aren’t “break downs,” at all, although we do try to give context to the match ups or the fighters for those who are not familiar with why Kevin and I might be so excited about the fight. It’s more of what I’d describe as a “geek out,” because we do tend to get quite...

The first time I met Dieselnoi for real, meaning I got to talk to him rather than just a photo snapped between me gushing and him crossing a parking lot with the charisma of an Old Hollywood movie-star, was in Bangkok for our first session together for the Muay Thai Library. After showing me how to turn on the thresher and blend the life out of your opponent with endless knees, Dieselnoi sat down with his legs folded, holding his phone in his left hand and wiping sweat off...

Watch the full 15 minute video as a patron here. I’ve always been responsible for training myself. Not in a “I’m self-made,” kind of claim – those are all bullshit – but because from the very beginning my training has been completely unusual. When I first started, Kevin and I lived in a cabin up in the woods of Fort Montgomery, New York. We’d have to drive an hour, each way, to get any instruction from Master K. Then I’d come home and spend as much time between sessions...

watch the full Kru Pot Library session here Kru Pot is relaxed, confident in himself, but I wouldn’t describe him as “laid back.” He has an energy just under the surface, which sparks through in the way he moves and the expression he holds on his face most of the time, which is a little bit like he’s continually amused or surprised by what he’s looking at. But relaxed about it. This energy, this just-under-the-surface wiring, sparks and erupts with complete power and economy when he demonstrates a knee,...

This post is to mark the release of the full interview with the late, dear Sirimongkol Luksiripat. Previously the full interview was only available to patrons, but realizing what is best it has been made public now, in its entirety. This is history. It was a blessing to talk to him, and to get to know him the little I did. If you haven’t listen to it previously, hear how he rose up from the tragedy of an early opponent of his dying in the ring, only his second...

I’m not a Kru. I’m not a teacher. I’m still a full time fighter, I’m still a student, I’m still nowhere near the Legends and Krus and fighters who have taught and guided me. But, that said, I’ve put in the work for nearly 8 years in Thailand, and I’ve given my love for clinch a lot of thought – and I really do love it a lot – so I’m more than happy to share what I know with anyone else who wants to learn. Everything I know...

This is a follow up post on the first post: Legends Tell Their All Time Greatest Muay Thai Fighters – Dieselnoi, Karuhat, Namkabuan. It all started out as an informal curiosity. Kevin and I had seen a few posts on a Thai Language Facebook pages, which share videos, photos, news, and informal “polls” about fighters from all eras of Muay Thai. Part of the importance – urgency, even – of the Preserve the Legacy Project and the Muay Thai Library, is that what we in the West know about...

Guest Post Sylvie wrote about what she felt is probably the best Muay Thai private session in all of Thailand, here. This guest post is about why you should, generally, plan and budget private sessions on your trips to train in Thailand. Either long or short term. It now has become a really important part of the tool box of experiences that Thailand offers to serious students of the art and sport. Things have really changed, and indeed changed rapidly, in Thailand. It was not long ago, maybe even...

Below is a collection of videos I’ve started as part of my Preserve The Legacy efforts. So far 3 legends – Dieselnoi, Karuhat and Namkabuan – speak to who they believe are the five best fighters of all time. Much of this article is on Dieselnoi, as he was the first I focused on for this particular project. More to come, this is history. You can follow my YouTube channel to make sure you don’t miss new videos in this series. After this post, you can read part 2...

The work we are doing with the Preserve The Legacy project not only includes the building of the immense Muay Thai Library, archiving the techniques, and documenting the men who embody them, it also includes interviews with legends, in Thai, letting them tell their own story. We’ve interviewed Fighters of the Year Dieselnoi, Namsaknoi and the late Sirimongkol. Going further, we’ve started through Patreon the Legends Speak series, which will largely be composed of living legends watching a fight video of theirs in real time, reliving their moment of...

Most every All Time Greatest list of Muay Thai fighters we read is made by people who hadn’t even seen most of the greats fight in person, or lived through the eras that produced them. It’s good to hear from someone who was there. When we drive across Thailand with Karuhat, for a fight usually, he sits shotgun and I act as an interpreter between him and Kevin as we all three chat about the Golden Age, the problems with modern Muay Thai, and what fighters were the best....