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

An upside down world where going forward can mean you’re losing, and retreat means dominance. More people seem to be aware now that the first two rounds in Thailand aren’t so important, that scoring really begins in round 3 and the most important round is 4, speaking in a very general sense of the narrative structure of Thai scoring. The first time I saw a fighter “dance off” round 5, I was utterly confused – why are they not fighting anymore? I wasn’t aware that one fighter was ahead...

I’m in a terrible emotional state at the moment, starting maybe 2 days ago but really reaching a crescendo today, and Kevin asked me to look at my wall of Extreme Mentors and pick which one of them could help me through this. “None of them,” I very unhelpfully responded, but then I gave it some thought anyway. “Lewis Pugh,” I said. Pugh is an extreme guy. Not in his persona – he seems pretty mild in disposition – but he undergoes extreme experiences in the name of his...

above, a video walk through of the new Hongthong Gym in Chiang Mai w/ some fighter interviews When I did my first private session with Joe Hongthongnoi at the gym several months ago he and his twin brother run in Chiang Mai, he mentioned that they were planning a new gym location in the next six months. It was still kind of unannounced as the planning wasn’t finalized, but what Joe described sounded great. The existing Hongthong gym was beautiful as it was, surrounded by these enormous trees that...

This is a part of a series of planned posts sharing my thoughts and experiences as I participate in a special mental training group. Read my week 1 post here. There’s this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that goes, “…Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it.” This quote was one of two that I used as my Senior Quote in High School, God only knows what...

This is a part of a series of planned posts sharing my thoughts and experiences as I participate in a special mental training group.  Some things seem, on their surface, to be really simple. Answering the question: what is it that you want?, for example, seems pretty straight forward. This, for me, is incredibly difficult. Identifying a desire in the sense of a goal is something that is so difficult for me that I begin to wonder if I’ve in some way been conditioned to avoid even thinking about such things....

above, 17 minutes with one of the great elbow fighters of the Golden Age, Yodkhunpon. Yodkhunpon Lead Side Attack One of my favorite things about Yodkhunpon (and there are a lot of things I really like about him) is how alive his mind is when it comes to working out a strategy, technique, or solution in Muay Thai. He’s a pretty quiet guy to begin with, but sometimes he’ll fall into a silence and turn into himself, where you can see his calculating it out – if it’s a...

my vlog from this morning, above Years ago, Kevin and I watched a documentary on Muay Thai and there was this talking head of a dude (some kind of scholar/academic) who was saying that Karate and Tae Kwon Do experts in the past would come test themselves against Muay Thai fighters in Thailand and just get destroyed. It wasn’t that Muay Thai was “better” technically, he explained, it was that the sport versions of Karate and Tae Kwon Do (and whatever other Martial Arts were involved) had lacked the...

above, my short Sylvie’s Tips on how I’m practicing Long Guard on the bag lately Everything little thing we do on the bag is repetition, even unconscious things can be “trained” into you. Simply taking a time out and walking back from the bag to reset during your rounds is that kind of small element. The further I get in my Muay Thai journey, the more I’m examining my bagwork (and shadow) for unconscious elements that I’m accidentally, or even non-efficiently training. It’s about awareness, so that I can figure...

above, my short video showing the application of liquid stitches I’ve written before a kind of “Stitches 101” post, a guide on how to Care for Stitches in Thailand covering all the basics. That’s a good place to start if you have questions about receiving stitches, healing time, training with them, scarring, etc. This post is kind of the update to those basics, like how every time I discover something new about treating knots and bruises on my shins I’ll make a video to update that information. My stitch...

I wasn’t sure what to expect from my private with Kru Thailand, as I was not very familiar with him as a fighter. He was a Rajadamnern (118 lb), Lumpinee and Thailand champion (122 lb), out of the famed Pinsinchai gym, you can read the Siam Fight Mag interview of him here. What was very quickly evident was his comfort, familiarity and keenness in focusing in on techniques when instructing, with precision. One of the things that westerners can crave when coming to Thailand is technical, corrective instruction and...

December 24, 2016 – Loi Kroh, Chiang Mai – full fight with audio commentary above This was one night after my loss to Thanonchanok Kaewsamrit, when I had pretty bad food poisoning. So, I was feeling awesome in the sense that I was no longer suffering from the poisoning, but still a little tired from the stress to my body over that ordeal. This was my 3rd fight in 4 days. Nothing extra remarkable, just notable. This opponent was, incidentally, a teammate from the sport school that Thanonchanok is from....

the televised broadcast feed of my Kard Chuek fight, June 16 2017 – if you cannot see, link here What Kard Chuek Was Like I feel simultaneously like I have so much to say about my experience fighting Kard Chuek, and yet not much at all to really express other than how much I loved it. There is an additional freedom to the minimalism of ropes instead of gloves, the way taking headgear and shinguards off just frees you up – the same reason runners wear the lightest, tiniest...

After struggling out of my wet sports bra, I stood in front of Kevin who was lying on the bed and waved my hands around animatedly while regaling him with the stories of evening training. I slipped off the rest of my clothes as I laughed about clinching, probably with a string of cuss words flowing out as I recounted the events. “Jesus,” Kevin said, looking at me, “I should take a picture.” I was feeling pretty good, do it, I said and kept talking. So Kevin snapped a few...

updating 10/25 – I haven’t updated this page since it started back in 2017! Here is the latest description of the Kru Fund for the Muay Thai Library: “Note: 10% of all pledges go to a Kru Fund, which is distributed among the Kru and ex-fighters according to the role they have in the Muay Thai Library. Every August 10% is taken off the top of the grand total of annualized, August-to-August pledges and distributed between all the krus in the Library, each kru havng one share per entry...

December 23, 2016 – Kawilla Stadium, Chiang Mai – full fight video with commentary above Oh man, this was a rough one. I fought two days before against Hongpet Liangprasert and had won by TKO, so on my rest day between these two fights I had gone up to the Pettonpung Gym in Mae Rim to clinch a bit with Phetlilaa. She’s wrenched on my neck pretty good and that gave me some nice Gumby neck, but that’s not a huge deal. Happens often enough. But somehow I’d caught...

above, video: Saya Ito talking about her career arc, and a little about how our relationship unfolded Saya Ito grew up as a “child phenom” in Japan, nicknamed the “Muay Thai Genius” due to her youth and success as a young fighter, winning almost 100 fights before she turned pro. Last year she took the 100 lbs WPMF title off of Japanese superstar Little Tiger. The latter had been holding that title for some years and is a protected fighter, so Saya dressed in her school uniform (still in...

My interview with Angie this morning: Angie has been training consistently and with dedication at Petchrungruang Gym in Pattaya for about a year and a half now. When she first appeared at the gym we didn’t speak at all; she was only there in the afternoons and came with a friend, who wasn’t really into Muay Thai, so the pair of them kind of peripheral to my awareness. But over time Angie became more serious – she wanted to fight – and her training became more sincere as her...

Ever since viewing the documentary “Buddha’s Lost Children,” (watch the full film here) I have been looking to support Kru Bah’s efforts at the Golden Horse Monastery in the hills of Northern Thailand. In short, Kru Bah is a monk who takes in Hill Tribe boys as young novice monks in order to give them support and structure in an area riddled with drug trafficking and drug use. The young boys are given guidance and even train Muay Thai under Kru Bah. With my “Saonaklengkhao” Miss Gangster Knee T-Shirts...

5 minutes of our session together showing 2 mid-clinch escapes – see the full 48 session here, suggested pledge $5 Join and Study from the Patreon Muay Thai Library – suggested pledge $5 I’ve worked with Yodkhunpon numerous times now, on video and off. He lives right next to the gym and will conduct private training lessons some afternoons, usually with middle-aged western men, some of whom have been training with him during brief stays in the Kingdom for a decade. Very often Yodkhunpon, or “Khun” as it is...

December 21, 2016 – Thapae Stadium, Chiang Mai – full fight video above I was supposed to be fighting Hongpet at a different event just prior to this, but I can’t remember why that didn’t work out. I’ve fought the Liangprasert gym before and am friendly with their owner/trainer to some extent, but I don’t think I’d ever fought Hongpet before. She’s a Tom and has a very cool style about her, very confident in herself and kind of self-contained. I was watching her gym on the mat prior to...

My hands are shaking as I loosen the laces of my gloves, my fingers pruned and pale from all my sweating. I unwrap and fold the wet strips of linen so that I can hang them up to dry for afternoon training. Normally, Pi Nu is deciding at this point whether we’re going to do some insanely difficult conditioning drill together or scrap it for the morning because he’s too lazy. I’m hoping for the latter. He comes and stands in front of me, kind of watching me silently...