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

The downstairs floor of the house I grew up in was always significantly cooler than the upper floor of the house. The floors were concrete, whereas upstairs was unfinished wood that offered splinters and creaky betrayals of each footfall. A long crack ran along the length of what we called the “downstairs kitchen,” but was more or less an extension of the “laundry room,” which really was just a little extra space next to the enormous octopus-shaped central furnace to the house; behind that was my room, which was...

I woke up shivering, my teeth ground together and my temples aching from the pressure. My fingertips felt numb as I consciously uncoiled them from the sleeping bag, which I was clutching around my body. Only a few feet from me was a black pot-bellied stove, a pile of wheat-colored wood next to it. I took a breath and peeled the sleeping bag from around my shoulders, kicking my legs to escape the pupal casing. A thick cloth, not unlike an oven mitt, wrapped around the coiled handle of...

I’m starting to write again on my blog. There is a lot of amazing content on my Patreon, which I spend most of my off-training hours creating for my wonderful patron supporters, but I want to get back to writing. These posts won’t have a purpose, or maybe even a focus, just me sharing my thoughts and writing for myself, and for you too. Dusk is falling like a cloud over the landscape around the taxi, which is chewing through the road in front of it. The glowing green...

Much has happened in the last weeks, some of it quite painful. This post is about my return. I had a chance to train with Karuhat for a few days following our attendance of Namkabuan’s Funeral in Nongki, Buriram. We drove back down to Pattaya and he stayed with us for a couple of days. I wanted to spar with him lightly, and even more just work with him and move. It’s been a while. Above are my thoughts on the first day, so many things coming back to...

*The phrase “Female Fighters” is used in the title for brevity and discovery, read as: “People Who Menstruate”. Read more of my Gendered Experience articles here. There are a lot of reasons why talking about the menstrual cycle – the whole thing – is important for athletes. Firstly, the “this is super private and should be kept private” approach keeps us from acknowledging that our bodies are going through some serious swings throughout each month, and not just our bodies but our brains are actually generating and responding differently...

We shot more than an hour of my training at Sangtiennoi’s gym about 40 minutes north of Bangkok, just to give everyone a sense of what it is like to train there. It is one of the more authentic Thai gyms, run by a legend of the sport. Kevin’s beautiful photography captured the feeling of the space in the morning, and I put my commentary over it all, talking not only about the training itself, the great padwork, Sangtiennoi’s instruction, but also broadly about training in Thailand itself, the...

Lots to get caught up on! The Muay Thai Bones podcast is back, with an episode covering some of the more psychological aspects of Muay Thai and being a fighter, as well as the preciousness of the Muay Khao fighting style which recently has been under some threat of being phased out, albeit briefly. Watch episode 18 here on YouTube (below), or get the audio version for your listening ease here as a patron. So much more has been going on I shared a story that Yodkhunpon told me...

I’m writing this to create a resource chain for anyone else who wants to take a deep dive into exploring this technique. I’ve been working on a side project, along with Sylvie 3.0, a process of leveling up in all my skills and habits as a fighter. This side project is what Kevin and I are calling the “Diamond Guard.” It’s a guard inspired by the Old School cross-armed boxing guard from western fighters such as Archie Moore, Gene Fullmer, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman (I link...

It is no exaggeration to say that there is nowhere else in the world like Thailand to teach you how to clinch. Yes, it’s the high level of technique and deep pockets of knowledge, the sheer breadth of skill. But more than any of that it’s the possibilities for experience. Some who come to Thailand gyms with an aim to learn clinch might be disappointed by how little “instruction” there is, because the pedagogy of Thailand and the methods of everywhere else can be so different. But I like...

It’s been a while since I’ve vlogged my process, so this is a big one. Join me as a ramble about how I’m handling coming back to training with a new mission. I’ve talked about Sylvie 3.0 and “growing eyes” in past Muay Thai Bones podcasts. This is devoting the next full year to a transformation in my capabilities. Most of all I want to start to see much more in the pocket, and in the name of that I’m just going to take on much more sparring, a...

This video is “Part I” of a Sylvie’s Technique Vlog that I’m filming, examining the simple but very detailed way in which we can all learn to “feel” our techniques. Feeling is so important. It’s more important than any of us ever really know, but it’s something that I’ve been taught more times than I could ever count. The teachers who really stand out for explicitly focusing on feeling are Chatchai Sasakul (Trainer of the Year across all sports in Thailand in 2011) and Sagat Petchyindee. They’re so brilliant...

Below is a story told by the incredible yodmuay Hippy Singmanee. He posted this on his Facebook Page (and the story is apparently in his biography, but I don’t know where you can buy this). You can find the post here, and follow him, but I include the Thai below as well. With the support from my patrons, one of the projects we’ve been able to do is Thai to English translations. Mostly we’ve been putting these projects toward translating interviews with Thai legends, or more recently in translating...

Guest Post – I’ve been exploring serious photographic captures of what Muay Thai is in Thailand, and of Sylvie’s particular experiences as the most prolific western fighter in history, in the country, and as a nakmuay ying, negotiating the traditions, customs and habits of a masculine space. You can find some of the better photos I’ve produced on muaynoir.com where higher definition versions can be seen with a click. A lot of what I was originally doing was around the concept of Muay Noir. I discuss the beginnings of...

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,...