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I get caught with the jab pretty often, usually when someone is anticipating to my own. If I see the jab coming, it’s either parry 1-2 or throw a lead hook over the jab if I’m taller, which is usually the case. The two counters I said really only work if I can parry or move my feet in time. If I ret really hit solid, I lose my momentum, shelling and back stepping to circle or jab back in. Is there a simple one shot counter that I can use while my opponents glove is still pressed on my face? Something that I don’t have to think much to land that will stop my opponents rhythm for a combo. If it helps with suggestions, I’m usually the taller man. I don’t often see technique videos on how to take advantage of height in a reactive way after getting hit. Usually it’s all “be first, be far, feint” type stuff which is all well and good I’m trying to figure out how best to respond after I eat the jab. I’m not good enough to block every jab and start every exchange on offense. Thanks

Naked Hooks To The Body Another sign of the devolving art, spurred by Western example. Lead hook to the body (liver) from orthodox (or even southpaw) is becoming more common in stadium Muay Thai. This is just something that you couldn't do back in the day because you'd be walking right into someone's power. You'd eat a straight or an elbow (or even a head kick) that might end a fight, because they had eyes to see it. Now, even commonly from out of the pocket, defending yourself with distance, you'll see walk-into lead hooks to the body, unset-up, total disregard for the power they're walking into...because you can. This came from Western combo fighters in the sport. More and more things "work" that go against sound principles, because defensive prowess and eyes are eroding. Counters will not come on time, and will not be accurate. Nothing wrong with setting up a body shot, but just walking into it naked, multiple times, is because defense is leaving the sport. And the more "entertainment" influence the sport gets, the faster defensive capacities will drain away.

Sylvie asking Chatchai about this fight above vs Boonlai at Rajadamnern. He says it was a rematching having beaten Boonlai previously, but lost this fight after he got a toe in the eye in the 5th round (if the translation is right). Their first fight may have been in Saraburi.

Top Thais Losing Motivation to Hit Weight on Entertainment Muay Thai In Entertainment Muay Thai Thais losing the motivation to be on weight, from this thread discussion Rodtang missing weight. There isn't a concept of fighter "professionalism", something that is an individualistic economic Western concept: As Thais are cut away from their social obligations and traditional sub-culture, treated like free agents, motivations change. He is making a public apology (which in Thailand is an important move), and in doing so he takes the public face-losing heat off of those, like the head of Jitmuangnon, his family, particular people, who suffer from him missing weight. But, its not just him. Superlek blew past the agreed upon weight vs Rodtang, for the very same reason. The strings of control, all the traditional social, shame-driven dynamics that make fighters adhere to strict expectations, were being, or had been cut for Superlek. There was no reason at all to be on weight really, other than a modest amount of embarrassment. There's no "Be a professional!" shame for a fighter in Thailand. Instead, Superlek got a significant weight advantage in a big showdown fight (weight advantages in trad Muay Thai are often power play signatures), and beat Rodtang. After losing to Superlek who was what 5 or 6 lbs over (I forget what it was), why in the world would Rodtang kill himself to get on weight again? There are no guardrails. All the social constrictures are gone, and I imagine the purse penalty doesn't matter at all, he already has more financial success than he dreamed of.... ...I am only guessing from very basic ideas about Thai relations I have learned in the last decade, as they surround the Muay Thai subculture. My intuition told me that Sor Ae lost face by being forced to continue with the Superlek fight, after an almost absurd miss of weight. In trad Muay Thai if a fighter missed weight like that the opposing gym would just walk away from the fight, insulted (and the fighter's gym would have been VERY shamed by showing no control over their own fighter)..but Chartri or some other factor forced the matchup anyways. Rodtang did the cut, this was really a violation of trad norms. Being forced to be the lighter fighter contains social stigma. Powerful gyms force other gyms to take the disadvantage...so that, including the loss, probably was a big loss of face. I don't know what followed, but maybe Rodtang's easy matchup schedule, which everyone complains about, was to make up for the loss of face?...which doesn't really make up for it. One would think that Sor Ae would just be like: Fuck this! on some level, there's no trad respect. It could very well be that she is on the same page with Rodtang missing weight, or at least being pretty big, realizing that Entertainment Muay Thai is kind of non-professional in the sense that trad Muay Thai is about being exactly ON weight, perhaps in the sense that the promotion didn't treat them well in the Superlek matchup? When you are a powerful gym you tell opponents to give up pounds, not them telling you. There is also probably the sense that the promotion weight bullies Thais all the time, with Western fighters showing up huge, obvious in the ring, being able to cheat the hydration test. Thais have caught onto this. Tawanchai seems to have responded by just getting as big as possible, so he can't be weight bullied. Rodtang may have handled the possible weight bullying issue by remaining in a lower weight class and just missing weight, winning his fights, retaining his belt, taking a 20% haircut. So maybe all of this is just factored in. Rodtang doesn't want to go up and get weight bullied by massive Westerners, and the guardrails that force him to make weight, in the traditional sense, aren't really there. These are just wild speculations, including possible face-saving or status motivations. Rodtang already is extremely famous (this is a big deal and its own reward) and already is wealthy beyond his expectations. What motivation does he have? I do suspect though that the Superlek fight changed attitudes about weight cutting. Again, I have no particular insight or expertise, this is just me thinking about what might be going on. But...the idea that a sense of "professionalism" is going to somehow correct all this seems very, very unlikely. It's not in a Thai fighter's concept space of obligation.

Judo, Muay Thai and the History with Japan This came about because Muay Thai wanted to distinguish itself from Japanese Judo (and probably from anything Japanese). This is one of the more murky aspects of Muay Thai history that likely went through phases, depending on Japanese-Thai relations. When Muay Thai was being modernized in the image of British Boxing (1910-30s) Judo also was popular among the elites. Judo was a very International sport, purposely presenting itself as a modernizing, global art. Thai Royalty taught Judo they had learned in England, and Judo was likely taught in police academies...but between 1930-1950 or so (it seems) that Muay Thai took pains to separate itself out. I may have been the growing power of a large Chinese presence in sport in Bangkok (Japan was a mortal enemy), even though the Chinese were a looked-down-upon ethnicity, or it may have been backlash against the Japanese occupation in WW2, which a lot of Thais recoiled from. But, by the 1970s there was a strong NOT Judo ethic, it seems. In the 1970s as well there was a sense that the Japanese were trying to "steal" Muay Thai with the invention of entertainment Kickboxing, which was connected to Japanese Ultranationalism (Fascism). All this is to say a lot of the best eras of Muay Thai were characterized by not having any dynamics that resembled Judo. This is probably one of the reasons why Thailand Muay Khao and clinch fighting became such an artform in the 1980s and 90s. Grappling was refined in a narrow ruleset, so other principles of control had to be developed. Even basic trips that today are common were not allowed. In the early 2000s the sport started allowing trips, and eventually sweeps. This likely changed Thailand's clinch and Muay Khao style a great deal, favoring locking, bigger fighters, using more power, grappling in ways that warded off trips. It lost some of its sinuous, continuous movement, its complexity. The crackdown only seems to be notably happening in RWS, probably because its internationalized, and Thais feel like the sport is being represented...and because high profile fighters seemed to be purposely hooking with very blatant trips behind the leg, which is very "Judo". I'm guessing these two things are connected. The crackdown on the one obvious foul has led to pulling the whole ruleset back away from Judo style trips. My guess. I'm not sure what is going on in the stadia gambling cards, maybe there is some residual enforcement. And I'm not even sure of there is a scoring penalty on RWS (if you ignore the warnings), the ref advisements may just be instructional.

The Advantage of Wealth in Tourism Muay Thai In Medieval warfare, "knights" (really the rich) fought in battles armored, and trained against the less armored and less trained. In Entertainment fighting, if the sole economic and social motivations are to sell product to tourists (not just fight cards, but also every degree of adventure tourism), then one starts to enter into Medieval states. That is, opponents know their role, if they are just working for the promotion. One of the curious, ironic things is that the fear of fighting a "Tuk Tuk driver" that followed Thai fighting tourism through the 2010s, those conditions, have quietly and subtly expanded. Thai fighters are understanding the assignment, even in high profile fights. People worry about fights being thrown in the stadia because of gambling, but there is a growing inequity within Tourism Muay Thai (Muay Thai for entertainment). Muay Thai cannot survive being "fought for the foreigner".

Also I think, aside from even the ideas (and values) inside of all our heads is that what must be respected is just how authentically people experience Thailand in differing ways. It is a transportive country, and Muay Thai, no matter how you encounter it, has a way of opening foreigners up and showing themselves a possibility that is extremely meaningful...to them.

Yes, Lamnammoon is a perfect example (too bad he kind of has left go of his ambitions to restart his gym). He has that aura, that presence, that vision, that ethic.

Thanks for the good words. I used to write a Philosophy blog some years ago, so you could get a sense of my interests and influences from there. Most of it was research around Spinoza, with influences like Deleuze & Guattari, Wittgenstein, Davidson, Autopoesis, Bourdieu, minor influences like Agamben, Negri, Campanella, Vico. Most of the blog was organized around research into Spinoza's lens-grinding and optics. I'm not sure though how to recommend books, as some of the stuff I read feels very, narrow of field? This was my list of 10 greatest philosophers: 1. Spinoza (parallel postulate under a register of power) 2. Plato (formulating the Orphic) 3. Augustine (Immanent Semiotics of truth) 4. Plotinus (Degree of Being transformation of Plato) 5. Davidson (Triangulation and Objectivity) 6. Guattari and Deleuze (Ontology of Affects) 7. Wittgenstein (Language Game) 8. Nietzsche (Ascent of Metaphor) 9. Sophocles (The Surpass of Tragedy) 10. Maturana and Varela (Operational Closure)

I really appreciate and learned a lot from this perspective. Also love the way you attempt to define what many people, myself included, are trying to say when we use terms like "authentic". It really has so many different meanings from person to person and really helps to look within and try to find what we are really communicating when we say "authentic". We all will certainly have our own definition of authentic muay thai. But what is truly authentic, we would have no part of as foreigners. Really good food for thought there. There is so much romanticism around what muay thai in Thailand is and this write up helps me get a proper perspective. Beautiful writing as well and thank you for this insight. Also think your spot on about what I quoted above. "So the first thing we look for is not a successful "business", but a personal expression, a culture of Muay Thai, under a moral force of character". I think Lamnammoon embodies this quote. Also just wanted to ask Kevin, if there's any philosophers, authors, or books that really made an impact on you? Would appreciate any recommendations.