Rajadamnern Fiasco

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

Last night at the Petchyindee show at Rajadamnern Stadium there was a disagreement about the outcome of one of the main events and this happened:

https://fb.watch/dHq7PRppGW/

Gamblers stormed the ring and the man waving his arms around trying to get the crowd more riled is known as Hia Dtee (in this case the "hia" part means an uncle, but it's often changed in comments to be spelled like a swear word). He's a major player and is associated with TDet99, which is a group of fighters that are managed separately but train out of Petchyindee.  Sia Boat, the head of Petchyindee (the "sia" here also means a ruch uncle in Chinese dialect) has struggled with his fits at his shows many times.

Petchyindee just announced they will be adding another show on Monday nights, making them the most frequent promotion around with 3 shows per week (Mon, Thurs, Fri) at 2 dofferent stadia. After last night's erruotion, Rajadamnern announced that Hia Dtee and 2 other gamblers are banned from entering the stadium, at all, indefinitely.  Petchyindee's Monday show is at Rangsit, so we'll see if the ban carries over or if it comes dorectly from the stadium.

(Hia Dtee in yellow, Pern and Lek flanking)

there is a general consensus that gamblers and gambling is out of control with their influence over decisions. Gamblers think referees and judges are corrupt and fighters are lazy. Arguments over decisions are as frequent as there are promotions, every single one has SOME online debate raging for a day or two after. Promoters are tired, fans are always complaining, and Lumpinee banned ALL gambling when they reopened their doors after Covid closures (the stadium is more or less dead as a result of that and a few other factors). Raja banning individual gamblers is a better move than attemtping to ban all gambling, but these are also heavy hitters... the state of Muay Thai in Bangkok is complicated and this is today's hot issue. Yesterday was Mathias's dad being an ass, tomorrow will be whatever happens tonight.

[Carter]

Wow. I never have seen fights in thailand in real life, neither have I seen how intense the gambling community looks. I'm sure it is not the same for every stadium (I might be wrong because these are all assumptions) but I'm just so shocked by this eruption. And there should be no influence from gambling in my opinion on the decision, that saddens me.