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

April 23, 2016 – Wat Chaiyo, Ang-Thong – full video above, video with commentary below As we walked toward the ring, set in the flat open field of temple grounds, I held the phone to my ear and listened to it ring for what seemed like a very long time. “Shit,” I said to Kevin, “he’s not answering.” We didn’t know where the team was, as they’d arrived at the venue before we did and we were meeting them. The show was supposed to start fairly soon and I...

I run for about an hour every morning and occasionally add a short run before my afternoon sessions as well. For whatever reason, a few years ago I stopped wanting to listen to music when I run, but I also didn’t want to ditch listening to something all together. Being one with your footsteps is kind of a cool thing, but it’s not an every day and surrounded-by-traffic kind of thing. So, for the past few years I’ve been listening to podcasts when I run. Here’s a list of...

The video above is the full podcast on YouTube Emma is from England, living and working in Bangkok for the past 5+ years; she’s a teacher, blogger at Under the Ropes, and a fighter who is currently looking for a new home gym. Sylvie (me) is from the US, living and training in Pattaya for the past 2 years (in Chiang Mai for 2 years prior to that); I’m a fighter, blogger and content creator at 8limbs.us, as well as a content creator for the Private Session for Nak...

While time consuming, I think this is a worthwhile undertaking. About 6 months ago I posted my personal ranking of the top 48 kg or under pro female Muay Thai fighters in the world. As female fighters we just need rankings and a lay-of-the-land perspective, and as there currently is no governing body to accurately do this in an up-to-date manner, it just feels like something I have to do. As a female fighter here in Thailand for 4 years now, and in the lower weight classes, I know...

above: photo credit: Lord2k Petchrungruang is unusual in that because it has a growing reputation in training Thai boys and is open in spirit, western boys who are serious about becoming fighters are brought by their families to the gym and experience a kind of immersion into Thai training. Thai training is not only “boot camp” toughness. There is a refrain, “there is no winning or losing in sparring.” The idea is that it’s just about learning, letting go and trying things out without having to “win.”  I agree...

In afternoon training I’m dripping wet from both sweating and repeatedly rinsing myself off under the hose at the corner of the gym – it’s what I call a “courtesy rinse,” where Thais will rinse their bodies before clinching for hygienic purposes. Unlike the boys, I wear a shirt, so I have to go wring it out and remain sopping and dripping for the duration of training. On this day it was raining, so I was very cold. Yeah – cold in Thailand. A guy who I met last...

This is a Nak Muay Nation private session with greatness feature. The full 1 hour+ can be viewed by Nak Muay Nation members. This post includes a 10 minute excerpt, with audio commentary. You can read all my Nak Muay Nation feature articles here. Rambaa, Thailand’s first MMA world champion, is an unassuming guy. He’s got a sweet, polite demeanor that comes off as a kind of boyishness, although his ability to pick you apart with technique and speed is nothing short of masterful. However, those two things aren’t...

In my Dieselnoi Instruction post I made a video demonstrating some of the different sorts of knees used in Muay Thai. I’m not an expert in any of these, but I felt it might be good to just present an overview as a single, “proper” knee does not so much exist in Muay Thai, and there are many different techniques used for different purposes. Sometimes the focus is damage done, or accumulating points, or even just making sure the knee is clearly visible to the judges. As I say in...

April 16th, 2016 – Hua Hin – full fight video above, video with commentary below This was my third fight in four days, the last in a little collection of traveling and fighting. I’d fought the night before up above Bangkok in Nakhon Naiyok and then came straight down to Hua Hin, down on the opposite side of the gulf from Pattaya. I’ve fought in Hua Hin a few times and when we arrived we went straight to that stadium because it was the same promoter, but it was...

I’m a big fan of the all-female Pettonpung gym in Mae Rim. I’ve fought a few women who trained there over the years I was in Chiang Mai, but it wasn’t until I went to visit them that I realized it is all female fighters. The trainer there, Khun Yai, appears to really like me. He remembers me from fighting one of his top fighters, Nong Ying, who is a beast – she now lives and fights in China – and he probably likes that I fight a lot,...

A lot of us feel that aggression comes with an “on/off” switch, and that we should be able to flick it back and forth based on context. Many of us who are learning Muay Thai struggle with aggression, perhaps because we don’t feel that we are “naturally aggressive,” and it’s frustrating to watch those who are seemingly naturally gifted with aggression succeed in ways that we don’t see in ourselves. But aggression isn’t natural, even if it does seem innate in some more than others. I contend that aggression feels natural...

Listen Here! Listen to Paul, Sean and me Talking Muay Thai on the Muay Thai Guys Podcast! Across continents and time zones, three introverts turn on their computers to sit in isolation and have a video call with each other. What an amazing world. But this is the thing, not one of those three introverts comes off as such because each of us is responsible for sharing a great deal about our paths in Muay Thai with the larger world: Sean Fagan is Muay Thai Guy, Paul Banasiak is...

first watch the mini- 8 minute documentary on PTT, the star of Petchrungruang gym, shot about 3 years ago when PTT was not yet famous. It is beautiful. In English voice over it tells PTT’s own story, in his own words, detailing his lowest times, and his life as a fighter. He is a hero to me, someone I look up to, despite being only 18. Mornings at Petchrungruang Gym are just me and my trainer, Pi Nu. The boys have already trained in the early hours of the...

First a Little Bit About Daeng Daeng is one of the most fight-focused trainers I’ve trained with. When I was training at Lanna Muay Thai in Chiang Mai, it was Daeng who invested the most in diagnosing and fixing weaknesses in my fighting. He wasn’t my main trainer, but he’s a very good teacher and has a keen eye for finding how to improve on existing strengths and correct errors. I’d initially gotten a bit stuck with a technically brilliant but lazy and unmotivated trainer – that guy was a...

It seems a little silly to recommend a gym or a school or a living situation based on a run. To runners that wouldn’t seem so odd, but even for fighters if you’re training properly then running will be a significant part of your experience. It makes a big difference whether you’re plodding out your daily roadwork on a paved road choked with traffic (my current situation), or whether those miles are eaten up with greenery, scenery, and twists in the road. You may not actually like running in either scenario,...

https://8limbsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/episode-4-2ITK_e04_-_Overtraining.mp3 You can download or listen to our 4th episode above, watch it on Youtube below, or subscribe to the Two Ladies in the Kingdom podcast on iTunes. – if in email, click through to the post. See All My Podcast posts: Two Ladies in the Kingdom Emma is a 51 kg female fighter from the UK, living in Thailand for 5+ years. She also teaches English full time. She authors the undertheropes.com blog. I’m a 46 kg fighter out of the United States, living in Thailand for 4+...

April 14, 2016 – Nakhon Naiyok – full fight video above, full video with commentary below I’m looking at the program and listening to the announcer as he runs through the list of fights scheduled for the night over the loud speakers. My name is announced and every single time he announces my opponent’s name it’s slightly cumbersome in his pronunciation. Like, maybe its written wrong or something. But I do recognize it as being close enough to the name of the opponent Japanese World Champion, Saya Ito, just...

A Husband’s Point of View – Guest Post One of the most difficult things when talking about trying to preserve Muay Thai, especially the Muay Thai of Thailand, is defining just what that is. A lot is at stake when you’re trying point out that something is not “Muay Thai”, and there are struggles, even political struggles, over the inclusion of something as authentic, or properly belonging to the art. With the mobilizing forces of globalized capital, and the expansive (and even necessary) commodification of the art as sport,...

Sawsing Sor. Sopit is one of the biggest names in female Muay Thai in Thailand, fighting since she was 9 and holding multiple world titles. I knew she was training at Dejrat Gym in Bangkok in order to prepare for the 2016 IFMA World Championships in Sweden and I was a little nervous to occupy the same space with her. Not really “star struck,” but kind of like being paired with the cool kid as a lab partner or something. She’s very, very cool. That said, she’s also really...

April 13, 2016 – Songkran Day, Bangkok – full fight video above, full video with commentary below This was one of those morning weigh in, fight at night kinds of events. The park where it was hosted was completely different from the early morning weigh in and the late evening fight; in the morning it was empty and pale, at night it was packed and balmy and full of lights and neon boats floating by on the water. Getting back to the venue after resting through the day was...

Nak Muay Nation is putting on organized two and four week Muay Thai camps at Khongsitta Gym in Bangkok, the  camp is always hosted by a well-known western fighter. In fact the last camp was hosted Sean Muay Thai Guy, and from all I heard was a tremendous success. Not only did seriously high profile Muay Thai talent show up to the camp to give instruction, names like Petchboonchu F.A. Group and Saenchai P.K. Saenchaimuaythaigym, what really struck me was how much people who attended seemed to get out...