My first impression of the sport of Muay Thai was of a violent one where fighters battled each other almost to a pulp. No thanks to my childhood memory of watching the film ‘Kickboxer’. In the movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s character had to go through a blood-spattered match against the villain Tong Po—to avenge his brother who was left paralyzed after an earlier fight with Po. Besides, if boxing could kill fighters in the ring, how much more in a martial arts sport that used fists, elbows, knees, and legs as main weapons.
Watching a Live Muay Thai Match in Pattaya | Thailand
It turned out, Muay Thai is more than a violent sport. It was both a martial art discipline and a major part of Thailand’s cultural sphere. Known as the "art of eight limbs" because it utilized the combined attacking power of the fists, elbows, knees, and shins, Muay Thai, or otherwise known as kickboxing, had become one of the most popular forms of mixed martial arts.
Even in the UFC, one would come up with a long list of names who were highly decorated Muay Thai fighters: Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Edson Barboza, Jose Aldo, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Cris "Cyborg" Justino, Jon Jones, and fellow Filipino Brandon "The Truth" Vera, just to name a few.
Watching Muay Thai in Thailand
Those were the words I captioned on a photograph I posted on social media, showing me standing in front of Max Muay Thai Stadium in Pattaya. Watching that sport in that country was akin to watching cricket in India, football in any European or South American country, rugby in New Zealand, sumo wrestling in Japan, and so on.
The crowd inside the stadium was not filled to the rafters, but the decibel level brought on by the mouthing of “oohs” and “aahs” by the spectators each time the fighters connected at each other gave the impression of a raucous environment one might expect in such a sport of pure action.
Every match followed an animated introduction of the fighters whose profiles were displayed on a giant screen to the cheer of the crowds. That was followed by the traditional ring walk over a platform leading to the ring. Wearing Muay Thai shorts, boxing gloves, and the Muay Thai signature aesthetics—the mongkhon (headband) and pra jiad (armbands)—they acknowledged the crowd with a gesture of pressing both hands together, palms touching, fingers pointing upwards, and a bow to the audience.
We sat down for at least a couple of matches—with each one going the distance after five rounds (three minutes per round). In those two matches, I was astounded at the realization of finally witnessing in person a competitive Muay Thai match I had only seen on UFC and in movies like the popular Thailand series Ong-Bak before.
Some of the striking moves the Muay Thai fighters showcased were an assortment of jabs, crosses, hooks, spinning back fists, uppercuts, and superman punches for the punching attack. Maximizing the use of their elbows, I saw the fighters unleash a few moves like the elbow slash, the uppercut elbow, spinning elbow, double elbow chop, and more. For kicking, there was the straight kick, roundhouse kick, diagonal kick, half-shin, half-knee kick, jump kick, and more. Even the knees were used as a main weapon to inflict damage via the knee bomb, flying knee, curving knee strike, to several moves involving the foot-thrust action.
Compared to boxing and other martial arts, Muay Thai generated more body movements and used all the limbs—except the head—in attacking the opponent.
Bloodied and unbowed, one by one the fighters exited the ring, appearing every bit a proud warrior. Cheers followed until their shadows disappeared through a thick black curtain. As I came out of the stadium, I came to an understanding that Muay Thai—as a martial art discipline—was more than just a contact sport that dished a lot of hurt.
