At my last fight I was really excited for the final bout of the night, which was two women I’d fought recently going against each other. They had both attacked me with thigh kicks and I anticipated a Battle Royal of leg attacks, but I’ve also noted that when I see fighters I’ve fought against other Thais they fight very differently, so that was an exciting prospect as well.
These two were a great match. Nong Maem (blue) is strong and gets a weird smile on her face when she either gets a good strike in on you, or conversely, when you get one on her. She’s awesome. Nong Ploy (red) is maybe 15 or 16 years old and Muay Thai is part of her studies at a Physical Education vocational college in Chiang Mai. She’s great at high-low combos.
Early in the fight Nong Maem (blue) got dropped to the floor and the crowd went crazy. In round 2 Nong Ploy (red) caught Nong Maem in the ribs with a kick and it looked like she might not make it out of the round – she was gassed. But then Nong Maem pulls this out. When she’s being attacked with a string of combinations and getting worked over pretty convincingly, she waits for a couple of high kicks, then blocks one from the right leg, stomps down and lands an elbow on Nong Ploy’s chin as she’s coming off the kick, knocking her out. It was beautiful! The crowd went nuts and I was jumping around because it was a technique that Wung had just been working with me on maybe a week before, off of a caught kick whereas Nong Maem used it on a block. Perfect execution. Anything can happen in a fight, so keep your guard up.
(As a side note, Den was chiding me for not knocking Nong Maem out in our fight – I won on points – because he felt there was ample opportunity. “She fight same as Wung,” he said, demonstrating wide and haymaker punches and then showed how to cover up and wait out the onslaught before launching your own precision punch or knee. “Easy,” he said. After that fight I agree, she does fight like Wung – but I say so in a tone of admiration because I love how Wung fights.)
