Muay Thai, Muy Interesante!

Back home, we have a tradition of spending time with family, laughing, fighting, and resolving it all by opening presents. To say this Christmas Eve would be different was a huge understatement! No family, no presents, and for the most part, no ENGLISH! And to top it off, the four of us closed out the day with something totally unique and unexpected, Thai Kickboxing (Muay Thai).

For 400 Bhat, we got ringside seats, and for another 120, a large Singha! What more do you need? While it was hard to snap action shots in the dark atmosphere, I did manage a few good shots of the ring. I had never seen any live boxing, so I was excited for the kickboxing to start.
There were 7 matches, varying from 100 to 185 pounds. And in the first fight, it was hard to tell if the fighters (probably around 13 year old boys) even topped the 100 mark. The first few fights were a little slow, it could have been because I was running on a couple hours of sleep, or just the armature feel to the fights. But as the night went on, the fighters quality increased.
One of the last “scheduled” fights (the 185 pound one) got up to the pretty entertaining level. While the scheduled fights were alright, and worth seeing, I don’t think it is what people come to see. After all of these bouts came the real fun, as the pickup fights were starting! Basically some guys in the area just wait till after the main fights, and then scrap for tips.

But the star of the first fight (Abi’s new crush!!) probably should not have been able to walk. He was definitely on some combo of alcohol and drugs, probably helping him feel no pain. He took a few good shots to the face, fell down, tried to get up and continued. At one point, he fell out of the ring, down four or five feet to concrete, got up limping and continued. Another time, he fell down (this time in the ring) and tried to stand up and grab the ropes, but missed, and as he was falling back, stuck out his foot to keep his balance. We were cracking up, wondering what would come next. And as it happens, he fount his balance, and his rhythm and knocked out the other guy w/ a flurry of punches! It was one of those things you had to see, and I’m not sure if this will do it justice!

The second fight was equally entertaining, with a short stalky guy going up against someone w/ a good 6 inches on him. Pre fight, it was hard to imagine the short guy having much chance w/ that disadvantage, but he quickly changed our minds. He just let the tall guy kick and punch, while blocking them and letting the other guy get tired. Then, every so often he would catch the tall guys kick, grab his foot, and flip him to the ground. He also had some sweet flying punches and kicks, but those were hardly the highlight of this fight. The short stalky guy truly ended the fight in style, by doing a cartwheel kick to the other guys head, knocking him out cold!

I’ll wrap this post up, and not go into detail on the Shemale dancers at the bar, as just the mention of this will bring Abi and Jenny to instant laughter! While today was far from the typical Christmas Eve, it will definitely rank up there as one of the more memorable!

~Randall