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

Sabai I focus fiercely on the pads strapped to each forearm of my trainer, Kru Den, as he calls out which strikes he wants me to throw into them. He calls for a kick and I rush to throw it, as if it’s a word-association game and I don’t want him to think I don’t understand the word. I feel on edge, like how a tennis player appears to be perched on her toes, ready to sprint in any direction. Of course, I feel the edginess of someone watching...

After my last Kard Chuek fight, I had a decent black eye and some scratches on the left side of my face from the rope wraps. The impact had occurred mostly in the first round, while I was tense and my guard was up, but rather porous due to being very stiff. But by the middle of the second round I’d adjusted my guard to be more flexible, so I could see and strike out of it, and after that my opponent was landing most of her attempts straight...

see Kevin’s beautiful photos from the event here Some of my thoughts and experiences of this past weekend, as part of a big event. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has a catchphrase, which I think is common of tourism to have – something catchy and memorable like, “Virginia is for Lovers” – which is, “Amazing Thailand.” The first annual “Amazing Muay Thai Festival” in Hua Hin this past weekend is named this way because of the participation of the Tourism Authority, along with the Thai Military and WBC as...

I listened, recently, to a book about how women are mostly concerned/afraid about protection and men are mostly concerned/afraid about feeling shame. There was interesting research into how babies, just naturally, fall along the male/female line in tendencies to maintain or break eye contact. Because female babies can maintain eye contact, their caretakers gaze into their eyes lovingly for long stretches. Because males don’t maintain eye contact well (although after looking up or down or away, they do return to eye contact) their caretakers also look away. When the...

I’m startled awake by a sound on the front deck of my kuti, a little stand alone, elevated, single-room hut. This is a meditation center and there are maybe 5 kutis on this side of the property, separated by 50 feet or so. This side is only women and I believe there are maybe 4 other women staying in the other huts at this time. Why would anyone be coming to my door in the dark? We’re not permitted to speak to one another and it’s 2AM. My mind...

Fight #269 – The plastic I sat cross-legged on crinkled as I changed position, the hard blades of grass that sat outside its limits bit at my thighs with every shifted pose. A group of high schoolers sang and danced on the stage in a “mini concert,” they called it, before the fights started. Only a minimal audience was allowed at the live show, so maybe a dozen people were spattered throughout the plastic chairs around the ring and the distance between those of us getting ready and them...

We’ve heard how much everyone has been enjoying the Muay Thai Bones over the years, thank you for sending us messages on how you listen to our epic deep dives into Muay Thai. We know the podcast is super long, but that’s the way we love it. Got to be committed. So we’ve done a quick turn around and put together yet another Muay Thai Bones, right after the last. There are just so many things happening in Muay Thai right now, especially with Lumpinee and personally as well,...

Our newest Muay Thai Bones podcast is out, and it is a good one. We really wanted to take our time to talk about this first subject right. We take a very deep dive into all the changes that have been coming to Lumpinee, as a New Lumpinee image is taking hold. For us this revolves around the fact that female fighters are becoming integrated into its promotions after women being barred from the ring for more than a half century, due to superstitions about gender and pollution. But...

We’ve noticed that there was a pretty big chunk of fights which never made it to YouTube, existing only on Facebook in their live stream version, so I’ve made a project of voicing over those fights, fights 178-204 in 2017. You can find my complete record here, if interested in following along. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss any of these commentaries. In commentaries I talk about my experiences in and around the fight, my thoughts on how the fight is...

This is something that I’ve battled with myself, many times and in many iterations over the years, and I know for sure I’m not unique or alone in it. This video is to offer encouragement to those of us who don’t identify as “Naturally Aggressive,” which in full contact sports can feel like a serious deficit. It isn’t. But it is something you can work on and you don’t need to change your “nature” or even necessarily get comfortable with aggression itself. In this vlog I lay out some...

The criteria and thinking behind this list Female Muay Thai has always been in need of positive rankings. In the history of the sport as far as we’ve experienced it, orgs have taken turns becoming the relative arbiter of excellence for female fighters. It was the WMC, lacking in accurate rankings and their turn of titles about 10-15 years ago. Then the WPMF attempted to create more updated, performance oriented rankings, but the task proved difficult, very hard to remain current, and (likely) driven by connections and politics, as...

It’s strange, in a way, that there are things about us that we ourselves do not know. I am both fond of reminiscing and also allergic to it, happily recounting memories from my childhood to my husband about my brothers and friends, but I prickle and have sudden amnesia when it comes to a question that raises something more difficult. Recently we were talking about the sleeping arrangements in the house I grew up in. With 4 children and large house, there was a reshuffling several times throughout my...

May 2021 saw the first announcements for women to be allowed to, invited and booked, to fight at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. Famously, women are barred from the Bangkok National Stadia, Lumpinee (Military) and Rajadamnern (Police), both of which are seen as the ultimate goal for young fighters all over Thailand. One of the first women to be invited to fight is Petthae Sor Sopit (or Teptong, above) and, in interviewing her, she expressed what I had already suspected but had not heard outright: this dream is one imparted...

There are few Muay Thai krus who still carry a stick while supervising their students. Off the top of my head I know Rambaa, Sagat, and Sangtiennoi. Of the 3, I’ve only ever been bitten by the stinging whip of Sangtiennoi’s switch, right on my ankle, as he scolded me for not getting up on my toe for a knee. His eyes are kind, he’s tall and feels more towering than his actual stature, and you want to be correct in equal parts to avoid getting hit by the...

Do read the (free) Patreon post which talks much more about this amazing video and has lots more on Dieselnoi and the 123 Book. When I’m able to make historic videos like this they are for everyone. In this interview with Dieselnoi we get the amazing view of the history of Thailand’s fighters from one of the best who ever fought, and who lived through the Golden Age of the sport. And, you get to know him as one of the most passionate men in the world about Muay...

Anime is absolutely incredible, both visually and in what stories are told. The opening to Those Snow White Notes has some of the most beautiful animation that I would never even imagine myself, this soft gust blowing gently falling snowflakes into a dance. I’ve seen that, but I would never think to draw it. And the story is so simple that it seems like you could never make a whole show of it: a young man’s grandfather was a master of an outdated instrument, he knows how to play...

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

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

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

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

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