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

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...

At the start of my documentary project of the Muay Thai Library – which seeks to archive long-form training videos with some of the best krus and ex-fighters in Thailand while also chronicling my personal growth as a fighter through this process – I wanted to give something more to the amazing men that have become part of the subject of this unique Library. We stand at a turning point in Muay Thai (there have been many already), in which the generation of men from the Golden Age are starting to recede from...

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...

above, is my vlog on this, below are my expanded thoughts When I was in preschool, one of my first friends was a girl whose name I can’t remember now. What I do remember is that she was afraid of dogs, which was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. Her mother explained to me that it was because a dog had bitten her once, but I still couldn’t wrap my 4-year-old head around it. I’d been bitten by my dog; I’d been run over by my dog when he...

Study and Support my Patreon Muay Thai Library with Legends – suggested pledge $5 The first time I worked with Chatchai at his gym in Bangkok, it was by accident. I’d gone to his gym to meet Karuhat for a private session and it turned out that Karuhat couldn’t make it there. I knew who Chatchai was – not by sight, I had to figure it out by seeing his name and WBC belt and realizing I’d certainly read about him before – but definitely had no idea what Chatchai...

Guest Post: Kaitlin Young Soi Dog Flight Volunteer – Training and fighting have brought me to Thailand twice now, and there will certainly be more trips to follow. If you visit, you will see the many stray dogs and cats that populate the streets and store fronts. (As a reader of this blog, you probably know that the very handsome Jaidee von Duuglas-Ittu came from this situation.) Despite being fairly well-fed by good Samaritans, they are host to ticks, fleas, mange, and various other parasites and skin diseases. Dogs...

I’ve written before about how Muay Thai and fighting, to me, isn’t “violence.” My argument was that I have experienced real violence, the above is the story of my rape as a child, and that the consent and preparation involved in fighting isn’t the same. There is, however, a flavor of violence in Muay Thai – it is, as my old boxing coach Ray Valez would say, “the hurt business” and ultimately any fighter pushing for the highest form of the art of Muay Thai has to embrace this....

[Update May 10: Just spoke with Dieselnoi and he says he’s feeling better but will have to go back into surgery on the 16th this month. I asked if it was a serious surgery and he said it’s the same as what he had before (which I believe means the heart operation he had 2 years ago); but he gamely added that he’s sure after this time he’ll be incredibly strong. No matter how he’s feeling, Dieselnoi’s spirit is up. Heart surgery is serious stuff though and I’m quite worried...

I’m pushing my hands into my gloves for morning padwork when I see a flurry of movement, almost like a shadow, out of the corner of my eye. I hear the sounds of alarm from various other people in the room before my eyes actually focus on the horrible scuttling of a rather large centipede, scurrying along the floor. These are wretched not-so-little insects and if they bite you it’s a world of pain, and if you’re allergic they can be fatal. I just don’t like how they move....

I had the opportunity to meet this group from various gyms around Australia, as they all came together for a training excursion at two gyms in Pattaya: Sityodtong and Winner Muay Thai (the new gym from Tum, who used to be at Sityodtong). The leader of this group is Matthew Ball, who was kind and generous with me. Below is his description of the organization that brought these students, aficionados and travelers together: The Bob Jones Martial Arts organization was the first group to introduce Muay Thai to Australia...