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Always appreciate the perspective you and Sylvie bring to the table. Having watched her journey towards that 300-fight milestone, it’s clear that her path has been anything but the 'sanitized' version most Westerners experience. The struggle to find 'authentic' Muay Thai today often feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack of commercial gyms. Looking forward to your breakdown of those two biggest areas of difficulty it's a conversation the community desperately needs.

I am a fighter from America who lives in Isaan. I belong to TK Yutthana Gym and train under Kru Tom. I wanted to post and share about the boxing camp because non-Thai fighters don't really know about it yet, and it's been a really great place for me and my boxing development. A little bit about the boxing camp... TK Yutthana is a traditional kai muay located in Isaan (Korat specifically). It is run by Tom Yutthana (ยุทธนา เกียรติประภัสร์ "ขุนเข่าตุ้ยนุ้ย"). Kru Tom is a highly respected teacher in Isaan known for developing local kids into high level athletes competing on major platforms like Channel 7 and RWS. Tom was a Golden Age top ranked Channel 7 boxer himself, and hits a rare balance of being both a former elite fighter and also a great manager. He has a sharp technical eye and an ability to easily translate his own stadium experience into building high-level talent across a wide variety of fight styles. I’ve found Tom’s IQ and versatility especially valuable as a very tall boxer with long awkward limbs (think Dieselnoi) whose body type does not fit very well into most fight styles. The training here is extremely good, and the teaching style is very Thai. Which, for me, is perfect. The environment is traditional. The young Thai fighters live on-site, and the camp is very much a working gym with broken bags and stray dogs. There is zero Western-style pedagogy, group classes, or "show-and-tell" style technical breakdowns. Learning is entirely adaptive—done through raw repetition, observation, and direct correction while on pads. The camp is really a sort of fighter ecosystem with boxers of every age and development stage training, fighting on the provincial circuit, learning and growing. If you are receptive to how this camp operates, the environment itself, which is designed to build boxers, forces you to develop as a fighter. It's possible to be integrated directly into the traditional system and get the same training as the Thai youth fighters, which I think is pretty special. I learn the same skills on pads as what is taught to the kids, but I also learn just by watching and being with the kids, who are extremely skilled. Kru Tom himself is approachable and funny, but serious about talent output. For those looking to get ring experience, the camp is tightly connected to the traditional 5-round Isaan festival circuit. Both youth and adult fighters are also regularly fighting in Bangkok. Since I am here full-time, I can act as a bridge for any Westerners coming in which can be helpful when navigating a very traditional Thai environment. This is a very specific type of gym, hitting a rare window for someone who wants an intimate, old-school development environment before commercialization sets in. Contact info Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkyutthana/ Website: https://tkyutthana.com/ My whatsapp +1(415) 408-8798 (Text me if you have questions about the camp, or if you just want to talk about Thailand)

I loved watching this fight. More and more female Muay Khao fighters are finding traction in RWS. I think Winnia fought GREAT honestly. Very well rounded, great pace, love the body shot strategy. And Sanengam fought in a very difficult to solve style, a classic Thai retreat and counter to the open side, with great fading distance control, and the use of the Supergirl knee that was very elevated. She was able to solve under pressure, and use either leg counters, from a really skilled, rhythmed, pressuring fighter. This is a stylistic clash, more than even a skills clash.

What is really troubling about the above is how some of the things that really made Thailand's fighters like no other in the world were specific qualities derived from Thai culture. The deft control over the fight space came out of a Thai sensibility of what power in the world actually looked like. By adopting International, globalized concept-pictures of "power" (aggression, volume, math-like-point-adding), the very Gift of Muay Thai to the world, its example, is being erased. Thais themselves will learn to fight like the lessor skilled global fighter...with perhaps long term consequence for Soft Power itself. Primary to Soft Power is the anchorage of the Thai Magic Fighter who has preternatural control over the fight space. That is why ultimately people will come to Thailand and passionately commit themselves to the art. That, ultimately, is the core "attraction" which will build international respect and honorifics. After Lumpinee already has lost the standard bearing status for the art and sport (hopefully, one day to regained), its difficult to see Rajadamnern not lean into the traditional, very Thai aspects of fighting which it has hosted for some 80 years. Sometimes you have to look longer term, than short term gain.

We'll see how these anti-Muay Thai (Kickboxing) rules play out, as Thailand is unpredictable, but down-regulating narrative scoring, and up-regulating aggression and volume over actual skill (and even "balance") is radically swerving the sport, depriving it of its uniqueness and honestly its high-skill ceiling. Take for instance Samart's remarkable dominant win over Namphon. Conceivably what wasn't a close fight at all, under the new ruleset Namphon himself would have won the fight (at least as it was fought): Most of what Samart is doing is controlling Namphon in retreat, not scoring "damage" or volume points. It's pure art.

If you mean this: "Thai gyms themselves, will be very willing to make unfair matchups for Westerners", in the local scenes this often will be large size advantages. But, the greater sense is that in the West there is much more of a "fairness in sport" corrective to any natural desire to just have advantages, it pushes back. In Thailand this really isn't there in the same way. It is - and its more complex than this, but - natural for someone above in a hierarchy of power to push DOWN on those below. If you can bully a matchup disadvantage this is actually at least part of a version of a social "good". It's really is gambling that instead works as the corrective (though, this is ideally so). When you don't have gambling, then you are more in the realm of power-flexing. It's important to keep in mind though, advantage taking isn't exclusively a Thai cultural thing of course. I recall private messaging with a Western owner of a big Chiang Mai gym and them saying quite proudly that his gym had won 19 straight fights vs the local Thai competition. My private, to myself response was: This sounds like these aren't well generated matchups. To the guy it was just proof at how good their gym was. The next level of this though is that the Thais running the matchups (in Western owned gyms, its still often the Thais that have all the social power and decision making, Westerners rely on Thai connections) are perfectly happy to dominate the competition, in a cultural sense that is different than some Western mindsets.

There is a cultural dimension worth mentioning here because it goes against a lot of our Western sport assumptions. Because Thailand's society is still largely traditional, and because Muay Thai itself is founded on a certain kind of social capital agonism (which is to say, social standing of gym owners and such is what is actually at stake in variously gambled on fights), "fairness" is not really the goal of much match making in Thailand. That is to say, the Western, somewhat amateur-coded concepts of competition, in the abstract, don't really apply. Instead, putting your thumb on a matchup, forcing disadvantages on your opponent is a sign of your social standing, of your social power. For this reason there is a kind of tidal current in the traditional form of the sport which pushes towards uneven matchups. The disparity goes to the glory of the more powerful agent. Thais - and I don't want to be homegeneous about this, but just being quite general about it - don't really think twice about this kind of top down thumb-on-the-scale, at least not the same terms we in the West do in the light of abstract "equality". It's about hierarchy, and fighters are representing a contested hierarchy of powers. Its for this reason why a gym will be reluctant to take a weight disadvantage, for this can signify a lack of power. Importantly, what corrects this tidal current towards unfairness is gambling itself, at least in principle. If powerful gyms push too hard on the scale, moving towards unfairness, nobody will bet on the fight. Gambling has been a corrective, pushing towards more or less "fair" in matchups. If people are willing to bet, game on. This corrective aspect of gambling though, in trad Bangkok stadia Muay Thai, has been under erosion for some time, as powerful gyms also have aligned with or are powerful gamblers, so the very odds of particular fights can be unduly swayed fight to fight (and again, this thumb on the scale is a signature of social power. It's criticized as "corruption", but it also reads as a respected ability to flex and dominate). The complicated thing is, when dealing with big, powerful gyms in a commercial milieu, without gambling, or at least without it being dominant, in terms of a soft power tourism of Muay Thai, powerful gyms even owned by foreigners (but socially run by Thais), and Thai gyms themselves, will be very willing to make unfair matchups for Westerners. Not only does it help with the overall economy of the sport, a local tourism economy, it actually fits into the traditional hierarchy concept that domination, thumbs on the scales isn't necessarily "bad". It can be a sign of social power in a traditional way. The notion of "fairness" isn't the overriding one in many of these exchanges. This is very hard for Westerners to understand, because it goes somewhat against our framework for sport. You may be given advantages in part because this is a social power flex, if your gym is very powerful in a scene. (Local gambling very well might correct some of this.) This is one reason why Sylvie has steered clear of being represented by big gyms in match-making. What often happens is that once a fighter becomes dominant in a more traditional space, they stop fighting more or less, or fights much less frequently. They will not take on big weight disadvantages to equal match ups because this is a sign of lower social power, and gamblers won't bet on their fights. This is likely why Dieselnoi retired at such an early age, for instance. Not so much that he ran out of all opponents, but because social power displays and gambling interests no longer aligned. The social power of foreign-focused Thai gyms is very hard to gauge. They may have great importance is local Muay Thai scenes. The equality corrective of gambling may not be in full force. It's enough to say that its a complicating aspect of Muay Thai match making. Because Sylvie has wanted to fight as much as possible, she moved away from this complication as much as possible. She didn't want a thumb on the scale if it could be there, and instead took increasingly extreme weight disadvantages that a Thai gym would never really take (due to how it looks). It's not an ideal solution at all, but it was the one we went with. There are all kinds of problems with it, including Sylvie having to become fairly fluent in Thai and building her own fight booking network of friendships and relationships all over the country, in a very idiosyncratic way, and of course at times taking on extreme weight disadvantages. It was our way of avoiding many of the thumb-down power structures in the sport, which can produce wins and some great opportunities but also can be quite imprisoning of opportunity as well after a stretch of success. This relationship to power in-balances in a traditional culture and the idea of fairness we can import into Thailand (to be clear, there are also ideals of fairness as well in Thailand, they are just folded in with older forms of social power expression) makes the question of "authenticity" a very shifting one. A very brief checklist may be: Is social power disparity power involved? What are the weight differences? Is there gambling as a corrective influence? Of course larger bodied fighters can do very little about weight differences often, as the pool is limited, but it is always a factor. They may have to take on those conditions to participate at all, that's how it is. Also, notably, weight advantages often make up for experience or skill level differences in matchups. I only note it as part of the equation.

Sylvie’s advice on under-recovery is still the gold standard for anyone heading to Thailand in 2026. The "don't prepay" rule is especially relevant now since trainer lineups at gyms change so fast you really want to test the vibe first. Starting with one solid session a day to build a streak is way smarter than burning out on doubles and hitting a wall by week two. Even if these tips have been around since last year, the reality of Thai training culture hasn't changed.

I'm more of a grappler too. It took me about three years to adjust my mind to Muay Thai. It's easier to feel swamped in something unfamiliar, plus large gloves feel all wrong when I parry or trap. I also found that I'd sink my weight when I should go light as an opponent gets close. Initially, I was only happy clinching or going for sweeps and trips. My style is still pretty unconventional but I can go a round with a smaller or less trained opponent and not get hit once now and then. Set up strikes with shovel kicks and low kicks, sweeps, and grabbing their guard. Glove blocks use your grappling skills too. Grabbing someones guard and using your knees is good too.

Sylvie's trained a lot with Namsaknoi over the last few months at Singmawin, and even sparred and clinched with Jongangdam a bit. It was very cool to watch Jongangdam's style in the fight, never having seen him fight. He fought with great timing, and managed distance in ways that Namsaknoi (who instructs at Singmawin) teaches, with rhythm and off-beats and lowish power accuracy, adding in teeps and jabs. It's a great fight because he's forced to adjust when Kom (red) smartly decided to refuse to fight in space where he's at a disadvantage. I love how Jongangdam does not trade bite-down combo for combo, against the Muay Maat attack, but is constantly using his eyes. I also kinda love his slurvy left hook in the first few rounds which looks like it has both quickness and hidden weight. link timestamped to 36:21

Welcome to the dark side. Honestly, the "blue belt" equivalent in Muay Thai is when you stop flinching during sparring and actually land a clean teep. If you're training 2-3 times a week, you'll probably reach that "competent" level in about 18 months. Striking is weird because a lucky punch from an untrained giant can still suck, but by then you'll have the footwork to make them look silly.

sorry, I did not see your comment until now. I definitely have some Benjamin influence. I know less about Burroughs in this area though. For Benjamin as well, his stooping Angel of History here also pertains. Also, important contemporary ideas about Capitalism and de-skilling I think apply. I do think there is a kind of capitalist, tourist-oriented avenue of protection (and participation) in traditional Muay Thai. Right now the legacy of the sport is being exploited in certain ways, extracted, and unfortunately eroded, but the depth of the sport and its knowledge is quite deep, and the country's Muay Thai has survived many cultural incursions and pressures. I suspect that the pendulum will swing and Thailand will realize that that true draw of the world, the most substantive draw of the world, is how Muay Thai is like no other fighting art, and that changing it to match what others do is detrimental to that draw.

Your comments here remind me of two authors in particular. The first, Walter Benjamin, who wrote Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction in around 1920, and William S Burroughs. Both were concerned with the ability of modern modes of production of profit increasing quantity, with a corresponding collapse in quality. The intersection of traditional art and contemporary media consumption is not new. We still have art galleries, museums and opera. We still even have cheese rolling, dwile flonking and the Atherstone Ball Game in the UK. Let's hope there are enough lovers of true Muay Thai to support it at festival level, certainly these traditional forms can be promoted, there are numerous examples of art forms which have promoted their pure selves. One example is playhouses live broadcasting to cinemas. The old art form utilises the newer to its benefit. I certainly intend to travel to Chenjigou to train the martial art that the Chen family have taught there since the 1640's. I intend to travel to Thailand for similar reasons.

Thanks for replying. I left my local exercise gym the other morning and was bored so I started looking for some forums to interact with. I found this and figured it was an open site to join? If I'm like a deer in headlights do let me know, Lol. There is a muay thai gym in a city about an hour from me and their site has all kinds of photos showing that it's a reputable gym. This a personal goal of mine I'd really like to try and accomplish but price wise, it won't be like taking a walk in the park down my street. My name is Clay, by the way. My screen name is ZombieMonsterElbowChop because honestly, it sounds somewhat appropriate for a complete novice of the sport looking to get his hands, "or elbows," dirty, Ha.

Today I watched Chatchai imitating Samson Isaan's interfering, smother style when teaching Sylvie how she should fight. It came out of nowhere, but it warmed my heart so much. and his movements were so beautiful. It's not his style, but he was adopting it. He also told a short story of when he used to be a sparring partner of Samson's at Petchyindee when Samson turned to Boxing. He said that Samson didn't really like sparring him as Chatchai would hurt him with select shots (Chatchai more experienced at the time). He knew how to handle that tempo pressure. So something really special today. Chatchai guiding Sylvie into some of Samson's tactics because it would be really good for her style, but also having experienced them directly himself, and knowing the solves. Such a great instructor.

There is a fundamental dichotomy, a catch, which farang will experience when coming to Thailand to dream of becoming recognized in a traditional way. The more "value" you have...in your attempted authenticity, the more you are pulled into a traditional hierarchy in which the fighter holds an extremely low position, and in which your opportunity to develop as a fighter becomes highly restricted to the meaning-system of those held by those high in that pyramid. In short, the more value you achieve, the less opportunity you have. And, for women - because traditional Muay Thai is quite patriarchal - this can be more intensely so. So, if your aim is to develop as a fighter to the height of your capacities, our experience and guiding rule has been: Be very careful about how much "value" you have, especially within traditional concepts of value. This means that to some degree you have to skate by, across some concepts of "authenticity", certain types of recognition or symbolic value (because they can foreclose growth and opportunity), and instead carve out new, creative forms of value to others. This is Sylvie's secret gift and path, the way she carefully avoids kinds or limits of value, while creating value and meaning, so that her horizon as a fighter is not curbed by tradition itself.

above is my photo essay on the Muay Thai Gambler, meant as a commentary on some of the gentrifying, tourism-oriented transformations that Thailand's traditional Muay Thai has been undergoing, particularly since COVID put such a dent in its tourism economy. As various Entertainment versions of the sport have adjusted the rules to favor foreign tastes - and to produce Western winners - one of the more substantive but also hidden aspects of these changes is the marginalization, if not outright removal of the Muay Thai gambler. As I've discussed elsewhere, the Muay Thai gambler arguably has been a core engine of developing traditional Muay Thai's complex and varied fighting style, and as the in-person (and this is important, because online gambling has a very different impact on the aesthetics of the sport) is sidelined if not banished in the sport, it risks shaping itself in a quite deskilling way, more and more meant for unknowledgable, uninvested consumption. To take an example from American sports. Can you imagine if 1950s baseball was redesigned not to appeal to baseball's fanatic fanbase, and instead was meant for the Japanese or Chinese tour groups? Fans, especially in-person fans, collectively shape what a sport is. How it is trained and how it is fought/performed. In sidelining the in-person gambler - this goes from ruling them out by law, to putting them in one location, in darkness, and turning the sport's face toward the unknowledgeable and uninvested, the very anchor of the sport is at risk of being lost. In the theater of the sport, at the ring, the fighter - and the fight - is constantly emitting signs. The signs of their training, the etched hours and years at the bag, on the pads, which customarily reflect the style of the gym, its status and honor, and the individual style of the fighter as it has developed, in the language of the Muay of its time. They are radiating off of the fighter - and the fight; and, the gambler is receiving them, interpreting them, detecting them like the detective in a show, uncovering their rapidly evolving mystery, and himself then emits signs to other gamblers, in a social field of communication which makes up the state-of-the-fight, changing the "price" as it goes. This film short concentrates on the intermediate relay, how the signs of the fight, emitted, enter the gambler's body, causing the body itself to start emitting signs, as unconscious signals. Signals that we all can humanly read. It is this human layer, through which every fight pours, upon which its radiated signals land and reflect, which invigorates, stimulates and steers the fight and the sport itself. These photos, and the film, cut a very thin slice from that living fire. I'm here to present the OTHER side of the story, as complaints about gambling in Muay Thai - by both Thais, and in echo by Westerners - with strong associations with corruption and undue power, are quite common online. These are definite problems, and political pictures of corruption are very important in Thai history, going all the way back to the 1920s when King Vajiravuhd first outlawed gambling in Bangkok, only to eventually rescind it with an exception for Muay Thai because of how damaging it's removal was to the sport. Yes, the shrunken gambling pool has given rise to very powerful gambling whales that have outsized control over fight decision outcomes, which exacerbate the small kaimuay crisis of the sport (small gyms cannot "win" dependably in Bangkok, and eventually have to surrender all their home-grown talent to mega gyms). This is only to argue that some of these trends against the in-person gambler, some of the gentrification of a sport which at root is very working class, provincial and agrarian, some of the tourism reformation, risks undercutting the very substance of who is watching the sport itself. This is what is at risk when a sport and art is made primarily for export. When you watch in-person gamblers in the provinces, ringside, you are looking at the very weave of fighting itself, as it is reflected across their impassioned and knowledgeable investment. To sever this connection, especially in the name of globalization, is to radically change the sport itself.

Thanks Kevin, that makes perfect sense. There is a ton of stuff that one could delve into. For the purpose of Muay Thai I think and feel that you've summed it up very succinctly and accurately.

Not your chosen location, but Pattaya has Rambaa's gym which is famous for its fairly traditional training with lots of Thai boys, and Western fighting kids being folded into it all. He's got a pretty good system developed over time, preserving both the old style gym and welcoming foreign young fighters. Also Silk Muay Thai is a kid adapted gym with much more of a Westernized training style (and much more modern/western accommodations). They also have Thai kids developing out of the gym, and put on trad fight shows, so its a hybrid space. The owner Daniel's kids train and fight there, so the whole thing is very kid conscious, and its well connected in terms of fight opportunities.

Im late to the feast, but reading the starting post and the answer, I do agree. You TS are probably better trained than most debutants I do see in Thailand form the hundreds of videos from there... So dont worry too much... What is the big difference, they dont use protections... And thus, the hits hurts for real... Make sure your belly muscles are super top trained - and be prepared it hurts and thus be prepared to endure sharp pain. Also, to continue to fight althought you got elbow in the head and its bleeding... Essentially, what Kevin talks when he recommends a months preparation to toughen up, to get used to the atmosphere. I have seen more then once decently trained debutant fighters, whom immediately break up as soon they notice it hurts for real. Or they start to bleed... "ref himself did looked and stopped the match" told the otherwise top trained guy... My comment: But the ref didnt stopped the match because it bled, he stopped the match because he saw the foreigner got scared and had enough for today... Ps. Another note: they very seldom use the throw in towel. They KNOW the tradition, but its very seldom used. Most thais do their best to fight into the end... Even if they occasionally dive, ie allow themselves to be KOed. Begging the ref to stop do happens but its most often foreigners whom do so.

This is the problem with assessing if Thai Muay Thai fighters knew how to "box". If you watch their Lumpinee fight in Muay Thai (watch it below), one might think that Dekkers had a big "boxing" advantage, Den Muang hardly really throws his hands, uses a ton of open side kicks, and basically goes back to the ropes and covers when Ramon combos forward. But clearly Den knows how to box, as he outboxes Dekkers in their boxing fight. Muangsurin gym was one of the best boxing gyms in Bangkok at the time. But Golden Age Thais show their boxing acumen in the ring in Muay Thai very differently, not necessarily by "letting their hands go" (other Muangsurin fighters like Saensak and Samransak did throw their hands a lot with power). Somrak, another great Thai boxer, often would seldom punch in the Boxing ring. This goes to the limitation of today regarding forward advancing hand combos as "boxing" in Entertainment shows. Real, deeper boxing skills come from actually training and fighting in boxing, and don't necessarily show up in how much you use your hands. ht to Brian for sending me this fight. at Lumpinee:

The journey should change us. We should not travel a journey contrived for our convenience. I experienced similar working in the Middle-East. People had to live with 'face' and real social pressure, none was projected onto me, at least none that I understood. I love Sylvie's Muay Thai and her approach to fighting, the respect that she shows to the retired fighters and her coaches. Unfortunately, 'All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.' Money corrupts. All relations are social, but those mediated by money and social hierarchy are corrupted too. More power to Sylvie's project! Keep it real!

As someone who loves this sport, it’s hard to hear, but months of symptoms from one sparring kick is a major warning sign. It’s not necessarily about having a 'glass jaw,' but your brain might just be more sensitive to trauma than the average person. In a real fight, the adrenaline is high and the shots are 10x harder if your recovery was that rough in a controlled environment, a fight could do permanent damage. There's plenty of joy in being a technical nak muay without the amateur fight trophy. Please prioritize your long-term health over one night in the ring.

There’s a certain fluidity in Muay Dek that seems to evaporate once the gambling pressure or the 'entertainment' requirements take over in adulthood. It’s like they stop fighting to express the art and start fighting to satisfy a specific market. It’s a shame because the technical peak of the Golden Era felt like it had the best of both worlds.

Hey all, I think training twice a day can be really effective, but it depends a lot on your goals, experience, and recovery. Personally, I usually do a lighter technique-focused session in the morning and then a more intense conditioning or sparring session in the evening. It’s a good balance between improving skills and building strength without overdoing it. The most important thing is listening to your body. Make sure you get enough rest, eat properly, and stretch between sessions. If you’re just starting out, I’d recommend gradually introducing double sessions rather than jumping straight in. Curious to hear how others approach this—do you prefer focusing on technique or conditioning in the second session?

Yodpetch, a FOTY worthy run in 1994. Impressive opponent list:

There can be no doubt that Thailand's culture is a hybriding culture, a synthesizing culture that has grown from the root weaving diversity from influences around the world, reaching well back to when the Ayuthaya Kingdom was the commercial hub for the entire mercantile region, major influences stretching in trade all the way to China and all the way to Europe, if not further, while - and this is important - still maintaining its own Siamese (then Thai) character, a character that was both in great sympathy towards these integrative powers, but also in tension or contest with them. This being said, I think there is a rather profound misunderstanding of the nature of Thailand's traditional Muay Thai and the meaning and value of its underpinnings in the culture, when seen from the West, and this is the (at times) assumed majority of thinking of fighting as "labor", and the rewards or marking of that labor as some kind of "wage". This is often the conceptual starting place from which Westerners think about the value and possible injustices of Thailand's Muay Thai, often boiled down to the question: Is the fighter getting a "fair wage"? I do think there are strong and important wage oriented justice scales that can be applied, but mostly these are best done in the contemporary circumstances of Thailand's new commodification of Muay Thai itself...that is to say, to turn traditional commitments and performances INTO labor, that is to say, to capitalize it. It is then that the question of labor and wage holds the best ground. But, the question of wage or payment fairness really is doing another operation, often without intent, which is by reframing traditional Muay Thai in terms of labor and wage, along with the strong normative, Capitalist sense that such labor should exist freely in a labor market of some kind, one is already deforming traditional Muay Thai itself, and in a certain sense perhaps...adding to its colonization, or at least its transmutation into a globalized, commodified humanity, something I would suggest the core values of traditional Muay Thai (values that actually draw so many Western adventure-tourists to its homeland), stand in anchored opposition to. To be sure, Capitalism is deeply interwoven into the fabric of Thai culture, and has been for much of the 20th century, but this weave is perhaps best understood in terms of how Siam/Thailand's traditional Muay Thai is of the threads of greatest resistance to Capitalism itself (along with its atomizing, individualizing, labor/wage concept of human beings). When we think of the values that not only motivate fighters, but also structure and give meaning to their fighting, at least across the board of the Muay Thai subculture, we really are not in the realm of individualizied workers who sell their labor within a labor market. (This mischaracterization is perhaps most egregious when discussing Child and Youth fighting from a Western perspective, where it is very commonly repictured as "child labor" - ignoring the degree to which such terminology completely recasts the entire question of the meaning and value of fighting itself, within Thai culture). We are instead within a realm of traditional pre-Capitalist values (which themselves have morphed in tension with Capitalizing forces), a world of craft (not "work"), composed of strong social hierarchies that are in constant agonism with each other, where fighting is probably best understood as struggle over Symbolic Capital (with some modification of Bourdieu's concept). The traditional Muay Thai world is primarily not a world of labor and wage - anymore than, to use an even more traditional example, novice monks should be considered to be doing "labor" in wats and monasteries, for the (some would regard as illusionary) "wage" of spiritual merit. Instead, the meaning and value of such commitments and performances are embedded within the traditional frame itself (a frame which can be examined or challenged for ethical failures, to be sure), and to extract them from that embedded value system and its attendant, inculcating motivations, is to subvert the very nature of Thailand's traditional Muay Thai. It doesn't mean that Thai Muay Thai fighters don't fight "for" money, or that monies paid or won do not matter, in fact in a gambling-driven sport - gambling-driven at its very first roots, both in terms of history and in terms of apprenticeship - money amounted indeed matters a great deal. It's just that the labor / wage framework is a significantly inadequate, and in fact destructively transformative in its inaccuracy (even when well-motivated by those outside the culture). This conceptual misunderstanding from the West is even made more complicated in that today's traditional Muay Thai is fast adapting to new "labor" style economic pressures, in the manner that fighters are increasingly "working" more, in a hybrid sense of work, in the tourism economy, both in gyms where they have to train and partner Westerners - from holding pads for clients, clinching up & teaching techniques, to taking heavy head blows in the new Western style sparring training - and in the ring where they have to fight in a transformed aggressive style in Entertainment tourism vs Western tourists: tourists who may be viewed as both customers purchasing Thai services and also as discounted laborers. All of this with the economic view that the Western visitor holds a certain degree of economic priority. Traditional Thais are pressed now in towards becoming something more like laborers, while still maintaining many if not most of the customary motivations and the embedded values of traditional Muay Thai, kaimuay subculture, leaving analysis perhaps best to a case by case basis, because craft/labor hybridization examples are so eclectic.

Another use of the Contax 645 35mm wideview, shots up into the ceiling generate tremendous aura of movement.

The question definitely remains: What is it that Thais fight for if they don't fight for wages? As far as I can tell, and speculatively suggest, what Thai's fight for, and also what they train for is better understood under the idea of a Prestige Economy, which is to say, the social capital of respect and attention in hierarchy which governs a lot of traditional social systems. I've argued before that Muay Thai is governed by an underwritten Spirituality of power relations (see below), and despite deep Capitalist veins within the country, the business of Muay Thai is probably itself best understood within these older frameworks of overlapping mandalas of power. Within such power relations money indeed plays a very serious role, as even might greed, as it becomes signature of power and social place. The kadua that one receives, the winning bonuses and injections, these are signatures of social standing, on a ladder against which one checks oneself vs potential peers. These are closely related to one's identity and esteem. Within the Prestige Economy motivation, in Thailand's traditional Muay Thai, is what I have experimentally called the Gaze Economy. I discuss some of this in this comment here: Far more than wages for labor, it is within the Gaze Economy that the fighter works, under the cultural and customary form of the kaimuay. And not simply the fighter, but the padmen and krus of the gym. This is not a Capitalist, labor/wage agonism. It is a performed social struggle for standing, within which money plays a signature role. *Some of this is quite Thai, but I also believe that these traditional "prize & gaze" dynamics underpin a lot of Western Capitalist behavior as well, and may even be particular to prize fighting in general. The "prize" in its very notion is always in surplus of the value of the work put in achieving it, carrying an aura beyond any axiomatic, which makes an interesting tension with Capitalist labor/wage structuring dynamics. What Thailand's traditional Muay Thai poses, in how it struggles within Capitalist, commodifying pressures, is a sort of critique of labor and wage itself. Attempting to reframe traditional fighting as labor and wage undercuts and hides this critique. In a certain, perhaps even ideal, primordeal sense, one should never be paid wages for fighting, turning fighting into "labor".

While it has been a huge boon to Thailand's Muay Thai to have so much of the sport now directed towards Westerners and other non-Thais, and to have grown the international response after COVID hit the Thai tourist economy so hard, the shaping of the sport (its training and its fighting) towards the visitor is going to have an increased foreign demand for "authentic" Muay Thai, the sport trained and fought NOT for the Westerner. As influencer accounts grow, and gyms and promotions turn their gaze to the non-Thai, even as AI generated content starts to swarm social media feeds, the very core of what fighting is, the hard reality of training and fighting in a foreign way, in ways you cannot get at home, is ironically going to increase. If you travel 10,000 miles a significant portion of sincere students/fighters are going to want something that is not premade "for" them. In this way I believe Thailand's Muay Thai holds a sort of very important signal against so much that is increasingly "fake" in globalizing culture, the draw to get away from everything that is simulated and algorithm-commodified, to experience things that change you in your soul, at a deep level of meaning. And, that Thailand's Muay Thai has a deeply rooted fighting culture still, a culture full of traditions and customs of fighting which have yet to be altered, positions Muay Thai in a powerful way. Yet, there is the very real possibility that it is adventure tourism pressure for the "authentic" which will bring value to that aspect, possibly altering or erasing important values within it...while still giving (government, and other) economic incentive to preserve these "non-tourism" subcultures and practices.

On another level this kind of foreign influence on Thai culture is itself woven into Thai culture. A prime example is that the gendered particles that end sentences, "ka" and "crop" are a modern invention and not "traditionally" Thai, despite feeling VERY Thai. They were part of the gender edicts of the Thai dictator Plaek Phibunsongkhram who was attempting to pull Thai culture into line with Western gender values, edicts which also included legislating clothing differences between men and women. So, the very idea of "Thainess" itself is quite interwoven.

Really enjoyed this title fight between Jaroensook and Captainteam, a classic stand off between Muay Khao and Muay Femeu. Jaroensook is out of the Boon Lanna gym in Chiang Mai and Hill Tribe (and ethnic minority in the North) which has had some modest success in Muay Thai, and Captainteam is Kru Thailand's son, and one of the more femeu specialists in the sport now. I didn't really know Jaroensak so the first round mislead me. He looked really comfortable leading with hands and I thought he was going to be a Muay Maat fighter (Boon Lanna has had a few aggressive Muay Maat fighters), but in the second round he went straight into Muay Khao persistence hunting, never rushing, just getting positive entry positions (better than in the first round) and starting to foil TeamCaptain's excellent throw-game. I'm pretty much always going to subconsciously watch for Muay Khao vs the femeu specialist, so nothing against TeamCaptain (love Kru Thailand!), it was just great to see that classic match up and the dynamics of yore. Also the finish - which looked borderline foul-ish, but clean enough - came out of nowhere in a way that is exactly how Muay Khao style works. You just start slowly degrading the ruup of the femeu fighter, not really winning the point fighting game, not even looking like you are having an effect yet, but then suddenly a door opens, the ruup is broken and open just for a moment and your "doh" (your continuous rhythms) just take the opening almost unconsciously. It's also kind of cool to see Jaroensak achieve some clinch position success with a variety of Long Clinch, a style of clinch somewhat perfected by Tanadet Tor Pran.49. Below is a film study I edited together of his approach: This is an article we put out on Tanadet's Long Clinch style with video and screenshots. Jaroensak doesn't lay out quite like Tanadet, and doesn't have full, wide manipulative base, but several times he got very strong positions in the clinch passing into Long Clinch dynamics for a few beats. Tanadet is Hill Tribe and from Chiang Mai, so I wonder if there was some influence or cross-over? He used to additionally train at the original Lanna Muay Thai, the gym Boon's gym has grown out of. You can find Tanadet's Muay Thai Library sessions here where he teaches the Long Clinch technique and style: #56 Tanadet Tor. Pran49 - Mastering Long Clinch (63 min) watch it here This is one of the most interesting and, if mastered, dominant clinch positions one can use, and the entire session is devoted to it. I filmed with young Long Clinch master Tanadet, and discover all the small refinements he created that turned what for many fighters is just a transitional position, into an entire system of attack. This is a rare session, capturing a little known and used clinch system.

Choosing a gym in Thailand is definitely overwhelming—there are so many world-class spots! I love that you’re focusing on the clinch and elbows; it’s such a technical part of the sport. I’ve heard great things about FA Group specifically for their 'clinch marathons.' For someone looking for that old-school feel, Lanna Muay Thai in Chiang Mai has such a great reputation too.

When I've come out to Thailand to train (and holiday!), I've always trained just once a week for the first one. It takes a while for the body to adjust, especially with the heat and/ or humidity, and gives me a chance to recover and explore. After that, it depends on how I feel/ what my goals are. Sometimes I've switched to twice a day, other times I haven't. If you're coming out to fight, you might want to. If it's just to train, improve and enjoy your stay, sometimes twice a day is a slog. Your decision... Chok dee.

Some common sense thoughts. Leaving aside the obvious fantasy that somehow what people are doing in a commercial ring is anything close to martial combat on a field featuring a huge diversity of weapons, multiple lines of attack and various stratagems, there are some things about this image that not only gets things wrong, it gets them 180 degrees wrong. Balance First - One of the essential elements on traditional Muay Thai is the scoring of "balance", both physical balance, but also psychological balance. Are you in "control" of yourself. In a field conflict the last thing you would want is to fall off balance, or go to the ground. And you certainly don't want to be emotionally out of control. Balance is hard to develop, so moving onto other more easy to train skills (like combo-ing) becomes tempting, as Muay Thai becomes "modernized" for tourism. Throwing 100% power, off-balance combos over and over is not really "martial". Defense - On a SEA pre-modern complex "battlefield", unless you are just being Berserk, defense matters first. You do not expose yourself to even significant wounding (because deadly infection rates would be high). Instead, a priority would be defense-first. One of the aspects of traditional Muay Thai is that it largely emphasizes this A fighter who can defend and control the fight through defensive prowess was rewarded, scoring was biased along this slant for a substantial part of its history. These two core aspects of Thailand's traditional Muay Thai, scored balance and scored defense, are really closer to "martial" principles than anything you'd find in a highlight reel. What hyper-aggressive, low-defense, high-risk Entertainment Muay Thai does is make us FEEL like its war, largely from how we've come to feel about combat in cinema, from Kung-Fu showdowns to WW1 trench charges. Its there for Entertainment, and often really just to produce highlight KOs that can go into social media streams and spread the brand, so people don't even really have to watch the fight. That's okay, part of sport is just "entertainment", and can be swapped with the John Wick 4, or even cute sqeeee kittens on the Gram. But, let's not fool ourselves that it is somehow journeying back into its warfare roots, in terms of how its actually fought. Non-star Thai fighters today are constantly urged to give up all semblance of defensive control, to "sped up" with the new combos they are training on, and take high level trading risks with often bigger foreign opponents who train the same. The core, deeper aspects of fight prowess, control over oneself and defensive priority, is being left behind and some really may be lost. Let's not even talk about the much deeper disparities between ring Muay Thai and much of the warfare in the 1700s in Siam. The battle field had European rifle regiments, elephants, cavalries and every fighter was armed with a blade (on the larger scale most were probably farmers who used their harvest blades), and great deal of it was siege warfare. People were not just giving up their bodies in swinging attacks over and over. There is also significant historical evidence that European warfare was very different than SEA warfare, in that killing the enemy was much less a goal than capturing and enslaving them, because captured "enemy", often full villages, meant wealth (labor). I believe I read an estimate that Burma took more than 10,000 Siamese back to Burma as labor, some for even high level artisan labor, when Ayutthaya fell. Warfare was often a game of capture, and it was fought seasonally - there was "war season" just as wild elephants were seasonally captured.

Speculatively, it seems likely that the real "warfare roots" of ring Muay Thai goes back to all the downtime during siege encampment, (and peacetime) Ayutthaya's across the river outer quarters. One of the earliest historical accounts of Siamese ring fighting is of the "Tiger King" disguising himself and participating in plebeian ring fighting. This is not "warfare fighting" and goes back several hundred years. One can imagine that such fighting would share some fighting principles with what occurred on the battlefield, but as it was unarmed and likely a gambling driven sport it - at least to me - likely seems like it has had its very own lineage of development. Less was the case that people were bringing battlefield lessons into the ring, and more that gambled on fighting skills developed ring-to-ring. In such cases of course, developing balance and defensive prowess would be important. Incidentally, any such Ayutthaya ring-to-ring developments hold the historical potential for lots of cross-pollination from other fighting arts, as Ayutthaya maintained huge mercenary forces, not only from Malaysia and the cusp of islands, but even an entire Japanese quarter, not to mention a strong commercially minded Chinese presence. These may have been years of truly "mixing" fighting arts in the gambling rings of the city (it is unknown just how separatist each culture was in this melting pot, perhaps each kept to their own in ring fighting).

For anyone who follows my writings I do not argue for any sense of a "pure" Muay Thai, or even Siamese fighting art history. Quite different than such I take one of Siam and Thai strengths is just how integrative they have been over centuries of development (while, importantly, preserving its core identity). For instance Western Boxing has had a powerful influence upon the form and development of Muay Thai for well over 100 years, and helped make it perhaps the premiere ring fighting art in the world, but Western Boxing itself was a very deep, complexly developed art which mapped quite well upon traditional Muay Thai in many areas, allowing it to flourish. This is quite different than the de-skilling that is happening in the sport right now, where instead the sport is being turned towards a less-skilled development, for really commercial reasons. The story of whether the influx of attention, branding, not to mention the very important monetary investment that Entertainment Muay Thai has brought will actually help "save" traditional Muay Thai is yet to be written. It very well might, as the sport was reaching some important demographic and cultural dead-ends, and it needed an infusion. But, let's not have it be lost, what itself is being lost, which is the actual very high level of skill Thailand had produced...and how it had developed it. Let's keep our eye on the de-skilling.

One of the more slippery aspects of this change is that in its more extreme versions Entertainment Muay Thai was a redesign to actually produce Western (and other non-Thai) winners. It involved de-skilling the Thai sport simply because Thais were just too good at the more complex things. Yes, it was meant to appeal to International eyes, both in the crowd (tourist shows) and on streams, but the satisfying international element was actually Western (often White) winners of fights, and ultimately championship belts. The de-skilling of the sport and art was about tipping the playing field hard (involving also weigh-in changes that would favor larger bodied international fighters). Thais had to learn - and still have to learn - how to fight like the less skilled Westerners (and others). In some sense its a crazy, upside-down presentation of foreign "superiority", yes driven by hyper Capitalism and digital entertainment, but also one which harkens back to Colonialism where the Western power teaches the "native" "how its really done", and is assumed to just be superior in Nature. The point of fact is that Thais have been arguably the best combat sport fighters in the world over the last 50 years, and it is not without irony that the form of their skill degradation is sometimes framed as a return to Siam/Thai warfare roots. It's not. Its a simplification of ring fighting for the purpose of international appeal.

@Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu has talked at lot about the myth of over training, under recovery, and consistency. https://8limbsus.com/muay-thai-thailand/why-we-quit-early-fatigue-long-runs-learning-from-runners @Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu usually recommend not to prepay for training. Instead, train at a few different gyms. That way you can see which gym you like best and you're not locked in if your plans change. Gyms in Thailand change fast. I'm just a Sylvie fan, I don't train or fight Muay Thai. These are just my thoughts from follow Sylvie's social media over the years. Try 1 session/day for multiple days in a row instead of 2 sessions/day every other day. If you're feeling good, you can always add more sessions/day. Take privates, to get more focused, individual attention. Stetching, foam rolling, heat, and massage can all help stiffness.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNJE3xmsiks/ This is how far Entertainment has pervaded. Tapaokaew vs Nuenglanlek. Nuenglanlek losing the fight in the clinch asks Tapaokaew to go toe to toe for the end of the 5th round so fighters can get the bonus. This is basically...let's stop fighting a "real" fight, you know, one fighter out-skilling another, and instead let's "put on a show" for the Entertainment bonus. That RWS itself posts this, selling the action, just is a deeper dive into building a "content" generator sport. This is just the shaping of the sport by commerce and moving to online content and in-person tourism, away from in-person passionate, knowledgeable fandom...which I suspect isn't sustainable as a business model, and certainly won't develop the highest level skills (building the sport long term). It's also an interesting reversal of the supposedly "fake" dance offs in the 5th round, now there is a "show" of action. This likely will become a trend as fighters learn new ways to play the 5th round out. RWS has a tough line to ride, as the nexus space, the limnal space between pure Aggro ONE marketing and gambled traditional stadium Muay Thai. These are nuances and changes in that space.

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I can only comment on Perth. There's a very active Muay Thai scene here - regular shows. Plenty of gyms across the city with Thai trainers. All gyms offer trial classes so you can try a few out before committing . Direct flights to Bangkok and Phuket as well. Would you be coming over on a working holiday visa? Loads of work around Western Australia at the moment.

Also for reference, this is the up to date poll of ex-fighters and legends on who is the Greatest Muay Thai fighter of all time. Wichannoi currently is 3rd on the totaled list, with 8 first place votes, the 2nd highest behind Samart. See the running list here.

Hi, i have a general question concerning Muay-Thai training camps, are there any serious ones in Europe at all? I know there are some for kickboxing in the Netherlands, but that's not interesting to me or what i aim for. I have found some regarding Muay-Thai in google searches, but what iv'e found seem to be only "retreats" with Muay-Thai on a level compareable to fitness-boxing, yoga or mindfullness.. So what i look for, but can't seem to find anywhere, are camps similar to those in Thailand. Grueling, high-intensity workouts with trainers who have actually fought and don't just do this as a hobby/fitness regime. A place where you can actually grow, improve technique and build strength and gas-tank with high intensity, not a vacation... No hate whatsoever to those who do fitness-boxing and attend retreats like these, i just find it VERY ODD that there ain't any training camps like those in Thailand out there, or perhaps i haven't looked good enough?.. Appericiate all responses, thank you!

There are so many variabilities it is really hard to say. The best comparison is to Western Boxing which doesn't have a belt system. But one would imagine that within 2 years in a good gym you'd be fairly proficient.

The above is the fight from ringside, without commentary, just a great clear feed of the action. This is just a special fight. A lot was going into this, not the least of which that Sylvie would be facing a Western fighter, something she'd had the occasion to do very infrequently in her voluminous fighting career which has been focused on Thailand, and a very skilled Westerner at that. And, adding to the challenge is the fact that the WBC World Title is probably the most present day prestigious belt, given how rigorously they attempt to adhere to Thailand's scoring principles, and the effort and care that they take to keep their female Muay Thai rankings up to date (something that is incredibly difficult to do); this put added pressure on the fight. Sylvie had come off a very significant back injury in August, something at the time really put a scare into us, immobilizing her for weeks - horse, fence - and though had fought well in her return, once, had not been training rigorously in clinch - her meat, bread and butter - for honestly, a couple of years. Much of the conditions of training that had made her so unbeatable had been wrecked by COVID in the Pattaya local Muay Thai scene, and we just didn't know how that would show in a fight this demanding. In video we had seen that Elisabetta Solinas had some clinch strengths, some of which would show in this fight. The real challenge, I imagined, would be that of rhythm and pattern. Many fights are decided at the level of rhythm and pattern, and much less so at the level of tactics and techniques (where many place their analysis). This is just my personal belief, I'm sure others would disagree. If you imagine a fighter's strengths as a wave pattern, with troughs and valleys, how that wave pattern intersects with their opponents wave pattern really can be unpredictable, when fighters are unfamiliar with each other, especially when fighting out of genre. above, wave interference (but in this imperfect analogy fighting opponent peaks would be expressed as toughs, etc). The idea is that strength points, whether they be offensive or defensive, have their rhythm and patterns, and strength points interfere with strength points, weaknesss moments can amplify opponent strength moments. This creates fight rhythm. The pattern is the tempo & amplitude of a fighter's style. And in this poor analogy, a fighter's wave is not a symmetrical series of peaks & toughs. It is shaped with varying oscillations like the EEG of a heart beat, or brain waves. Sylvie's Muay Khao fighting style, its wave pattern, had been developed fighting against the (mostly) Muay Femeu Thai female fighting style, mostly against physically much larger opponents, within the traditional, narrative scoring aesthetic. WBC rules would weight all rounds evenly - though the traditional, Thai stadium judges may score early rounds with a tendency toward the draw, one doesn't know - so there was an imperative in this fight that the shape of the fight, and interactions with Solina's wave pattern was largely unknown. How were these waves going to interact? Would peaks cancel each other out? What valleys would amplify the other's peaks? Until you get in the ring you just won't know. And the fight was a beautiful fight. What the fight became was actually a classic Muay Femeu vs Muay Khao battle. And it's a beautiful thing that the WBC rule set, and the promotion itself which involved high-level Thai judges, and not the least of which, Elisabetta's very skilled femeu style, all made happen (read the WBC Muay Thai rule set; its the best English language rule set I've ever come across). You can feel the work that was put into it). Solinas fought with a great, super balanced (important), retreating, countering, teeping, scoring, pivoting, and also very high-tempo style, which set the stage perfectly for the Muay Khao question mark. Can the Muay Khao fighter catch her? This is the traditional, persistence hunting fight arc was in play. The equation was even further complicated by Solinas's very strong trip game in the clinch. Sylvie has a sailor's balance, developed through the years, which saved her several times, and even allowed her to reverse important positions, but that high level tripping was going to complicate the Muay Khao story. It wasn't necessarily so that when Sylvie caught her that she'd be able to become dominant. Several times in the fight she had clinch positions which stalled, or were slow to develop for the simple fact that she had to stabilize and read possible trips. And, this was even further complicated by the clinch breaks by the ref. Early clinch breaks are sometimes to be expected, as it can be part of trying to create the narrative challenge for later rounds...but there were also clinch breaks when Sylvie achieved very dominant positions, with the head quite down. Perhaps these were for the protection of the opponent, as a female fighter. It happens. But it was not possible to know how these breaks were being scored by judges. These were moments when fight ending, or fight changing strikes could land. This had the remarkable effect of making the fight incredibly exciting at ringside, because Sylvie just could not pull away, and in a way showed that the ref had expertly sculpted a perfect fight. He kept asking Sylvie to do more...and she did more. The result was a near perfect fight of slowly increasing escalation. I think it's pretty clear that the first two rounds went to Solinas (although you might imagine a 10-10 round from a Thai judge?). Going into the third the assumption had to be "You can't lose another round". Solinas had brought out her trips and her gorgeous retreating counter fighting, had cut Sylvie behind the ear, and seemed to be hitting on all cylinders. And that is what you want, in a way. You want fighters being able to express who they are. As the wave patterns had come to meet it didn't seem that Sylvie's wave was interfering much with Solinas's. Yes, in clinch Sylvie showed promise. And Sylvie secret (because people don't pay much attention to it) teep game may have put some snags into the overall freedom of Solinas, but she had plenty to overcome it, it appeared. But this is where the fight gets interesting. In wave patterns there is not only the shape of the wave (where the peaks and valleys fall, like notes in music), there is also amplitude and tempo (frequency). And the Muay Khao fighting style relies on amplitude (& tempo)...a gentle and yet relentless increase in amplitude & tempo started in rounds 3, and the 4. Its the same wave, but with rising amplitude & tempo. Now, this is dangerous under international WBC rules, because Thai style narrative scoring puts scoring emphasis on rounds 3 and 4, and emphasis on who is increasing in effectiveness as the fight goes on. In a more natural Thai setting the fight would have been more or less tied, or slightly in Solina's favor going into round 3. Yes there was a cut, but it was behind the ear and early in the fight. It would be a score that would fade. Under international WBC rules Sylvie could very well be one round away from losing, a kind of sudden death. These are very different states in a fight. What is interesting is that the traditional Muay Khao fighting style which focuses its increase on the scoring rounds 3, 4 and then 5 is best prepared for this position in a fight. That's what its for. Everything you've done up to this point is to prepare the ground for the upped intensity, the rising amplitude of your wave pattern. And its just remarkable to see it unfold in this fight, against a high quality fighter fighting under a different aesthetic. You see the purpose of Muay Khao, what its meant to do and how it does it. And it is really something that this kind of fight can happen in International Muay Thai contexts. We are getting narrative Muay Thai. In terms of the fight itself, at that point, you just see Sylvie become more and more effective, especially in the clinch...(but also in stalking). She's absorbed much of the danger of the trips, having learned the first two rounds, and as fatigue and instincts take over she's more and more able to scramble to dominant positions. And though Solinas admirably commits to the teep as almost a pure signature of femeu muay, with incredible and skilled insistence, the teep itself became less and less effective, as Sylvie teeped through it, interfered, disrupted and muddied it (clashing wave patterns again). The teep is an interesting classic weapon. In some regard it doesn't even actually score, or score much, but the patterns you make with it, and the increasing ways it can disrupt, can make it one of the great weapons of Muay Thai (maybe how the jab in boxing should be regarded). The story of the teep in this fight, both Solinas's and Sylvie's is a very interesting one, and helps explain the dynamics of Sylvie's stalking in the latter rounds. Basically the defensive teep is the perfect counter weapon to the dern fighter, and Solinas pulled out the best weapon...but the teep has to show an increase of effectiveness. And the stalking teep is a, less flashy, secret disruptor. The battle of the teep is actually a hidden inner battle within this fight, aside from the more obvious clinch dominance Sylvie was able to attain. When I came home I honestly watched the last 3 rounds over and over...perhaps 25 times. I wasn't looking for good or bad techniques, mistakes or advantages. The more I watched them they just read like music to me. They were these beautiful, rising tempos and amplitudes created by BOTH fighters. Both fighters made this fight. And the way the WBC promotion presented the fight also made this fight. There is music in those 3 rounds, Muay Khao music, but really the music of Golden Age Muay Thai, the Muay Thai of clashing styles and skill sets, the music of narrative scoring arcs, orchestra of two fighters climbing up over peaks and valleys of increasing amplitude. Yes, Sylvie came out on top. Yes the fight was precipitous to start the 3rd. But Muay Thai is about these kinds of soul to soul evolutions within the fight, where the art of each fighter gets to show itself. That's what fighting is about. That's what makes it more than just entertainment.

Mental training is crucial for enhancing various cognitive abilities, emotional well-being, and overall mental health. Here are some resources that you might find helpful: Meditation and Mindfulness Apps: Headspace: Offers guided meditations and mindfulness exercises. Calm: Provides meditation sessions, sleep stories, and relaxation music. Insight Timer: Features a variety of guided meditations and a timer for silent meditation. Cognitive Training Apps: Lumosity: Focuses on brain training games to improve memory, attention, and problem-solving skills. Elevate: Offers personalized brain training exercises for reading, writing, math, and more. Online Courses: Coursera: Offers courses on a wide range of topics including psychology, mindfulness, and personal development. edX: Provides online courses from universities around the world, covering various aspects of mental health and well-being. Books: "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle: Focuses on the importance of living in the present moment. "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck: Explores the concept of fixed vs. growth mindset. "Atomic Habits" by James Clear: Discusses the science of habit formation and how small changes can lead to remarkable results. Podcasts: The Tim Ferriss Show: Tim Ferriss interviews top performers from various fields, discussing their habits and routines. The Minimalists Podcast: Explores the benefits of living a minimalist lifestyle for mental well-being. Psychology and Mental Health Websites: Psychology Today: Offers articles, blogs, and a therapist directory. Mind.org.uk: Provides resources and information on mental health. Online Therapy Platforms: BetterHelp: Offers online counseling and therapy services. Talkspace: Connects individuals with licensed therapists for online therapy. Physical Exercise: Regular exercise has been shown to have numerous mental health benefits. Consider incorporating activities like walking, running, yoga, or other forms of exercise into your routine.

Just throwing this out there: an interesting thing would be to build a criteria list for judging/recommending gyms, maybe something like: Active Young Thai Fighters - young, developing Thai fighters are a sign that the gym is a living Thai-focused gym that does not only prioritize western tourist, commercial interests Active of Top Stadia Thai Fighters - some people find this to be important. It's great to have high level examples to look at and imitate. Convenience of Location - how hard is it to get to? Surrounding Location - what is the surrounding location like? Is it hospitable? Enjoyable to live around? Gym Atmosphere - what does the gym feel like, it's tone? Food - If food is served (or local food options) what is it like? Fight Opportunities - how easily can you get fights, and what kinds of fights? And how invested is the gym in finding you fights, and why? Female Safety and Respect - is there is history of respecting female fighters and students? are there reports of unwanted advances? are females given top training and enough fight opportunities? Ownership - Management - sometimes management/ownership can be a big positive for a gym. It speaks to the gym's motivations. It can also help smooth difficulties. Language - How much Thai do you need to know? Is English spoken? Are there other western language connections? (Some gyms have specific ties to other countries...Sweden, Italy, etc) Trainer Stability/Turnover - this can go two ways. Sometimes trainers never turnover, and become really entrenched in negatives or lack of caring. too much turnover can suggest unstable management. Quality of Equipment/Facility - some people find new equipment important. Cleanliness - gym cleanliness can reflect the quality of care invested by owners/management. Some people also find this to be very important. Clinch Training - does the gym provide substantial clinch training, practice? Pad Work Training - what is padwork like? Is it consistent? Between different trainers? Technical Instruction - is there much technical instruction or correction? some people really value and look for this. Privates - Are privates offered worth the cost? And do you have to pay for privates in order to get good instruction/training? Training Partners - Are there training partners for your size? Are they Thai? Affordability - How does the gym compare in price to others of its kind and location, short term, long term. Long Term Stay Opportunities - If you want to stay longer term, are there benefits? Discounts, sponsorship? Living Quarters/Options - Is there onsite lodging, if so what is it like? What are nearby apartment options like, cost and quality? Farang Gym Culture - Is there a long term western gym culture? If so, what is it like? Off-Time Entertainment Options - What are the things to do on off-days? Maybe add any aspects you find important if I missed any?

Gyms that I have heard positive things about, or which I visited and have qualities that might appeal to a certain kind of traveler/student/fighter. These are not gym reviews, just quick impressions. Sitjaopho (Hua Hin) - This is a gym in Hua Hin that is quiet popular with those looking for "technical" instruction. It has a strong Swedish connection, as well as a following with some from the East Coast (USA). I've have experienced one afternoon session here and was really impressed by the organization and work put in by everyone. Kru F is the captain of the ship and works directly with his students, sparring and padwork and clinching, and he seems to set the tone that is carried on by everyone in the space. There is a LOT of sparring (very light, very technical), padwork, shadowboxing, some students hit the bag but most didn't, and about 30 minutes of clinch (many participating, but not all), followed by group conditioning. Friendly space, dedicated students, Thai trainers and on this day all non-Thai students, but everyone on the same program from beginners to definitely-experienced fighters. Their fighters mostly appear on local shows, but there have been some high-profile fights among students preparing through Sitjaopho (not sure if they booked through the gym or just used it as their "fight camp".) Chatchai Sasakul Gym (BKK) - the former WBC world champion boxer Chatchai is highly recommended if you want to work on your boxing. Precise technician, great instructor. Probably the best boxing gym in Thailand, home of several current world champions. Private sessions are best. You can see a full private session with him here. In 2025 a larger gym was constructed out in Lam Luk Ka (north of Bangkok) called Thai Payak Gym, and accommodates both Boxing and Muay Thai. The gym puts on fight cards, both in Boxing and Muay Thai, although the Muay Thai tends to be kids with maybe 1-2 beginner adult fighters from Samart's Gym. Dejrat Gym (BKK) - This is a hidden gem in Bangkok run by the coach of the Thai National Team, Arjan Surat. Watch our session together. It just is a very "Thai" gym, so I couldn't recommend it in a broad way, either in a cultural or instruction sense. It's no-nonsense Muay Thai that is focused on its serious Thai fighters. They have had experience with female fighters. Go here only if you want some sort of immersion, are prepared to work very hard, and be positioned in a traditional hierarchy. Not a lot of English spoken. My session with Arjan Surat: Arjan Surat 2 - His Old School Tough & Defensive Style (94 min) Burklerk's Gym (Lampang, contact here) - outstanding instruction from a Legend in sleepy and beautiful Lampang. He and his wife have opened up a brand new resort style gym in Lampang. I wrote about his original home gym here: Burklerk's Family Run Gym in Lampang. Burklerk has a beautiful, powerful style and each time I visit I learn things. Even 5 minutes with him is gold. Go there for the time with Burklerk, but there won't be much sparring or clinching. My session with Arjan Burklerk in his original home location: Burklerk PInsinchai - Dynamic Symmetry (82 min) Keatkhamtorn Gym (Bangkok) - This gym is an authentic kai muay gym in Bangkok in that it is still very focused on growing Muay Thai stadium champions from an early age. This means that it is a great gym for small bodied westerners especially those interested in immersive clinch. Immersive clinch the way Thais learned, but be warned it takes a while.They have tons of young male fighters between 45-52 kg, and are a Muay Khao gym, which means that you'll be encouraged to develop proper clinch fighting habits. I will definitely make this my clinch gym when in Bangkok. The owner, Teerawat Chukorn is a Police Captain and very kind, and speaks English. You can contact them through their Facebook page which will respond in English. PK Saenchai Gym (Bangkok) I have never been to this gym during regular training at all, but it is a favorite of Westerners both who are seeking to train under a big name and those who have been in Thailand for a long while and decide to move over there for the fight opportunities and training alongside contemporary stars of Muay Thai. A head trainer is Detduang Pongsawang, who was a great fighter in the Golden Age. From what I understand it's a kind of "build a bear" method for training, so you can decide how much or how little you want to do by speaking with the manager and he works it all out for you. He sounds very personable and his English is very good. NungUbon: (Ubon) this is a lovely little gym just 10 minutes from the Ubon airport. There are fighter rooms, local fights, and NungUbon's son is a stadium fighter in Bangkok so trips down occur when he is fighting. It's mostly westerners, who for whatever reason tend to be tall, so if you are a larger person and looking for a more rural experience but want similarly sized clinch/sparring partners, this is an option.