Muay Thai Kickboxing

While grabbing a bite to eat after arriving in Ko Phangan, I noticed some flyers on the wall promoting some muay thai kickboxing matches that evening. Sounded like a really fun thing to go watch and a bit cheaper than the matches back in Bangkok. Back in Bangkok it is only really possible for foreigners to obtain pricey VIP and ringside tickets to matches at one of the venues. It would be awesome to watch some high quality fights from the ringside but I also got to watch my budget and conserve my money for other stuff.

The arena location was just on the edge of town so it was easily within walking distance for me and Eelco to walk to. The ring was outdoors, not too far from the beach, and was pumping loud techno music from some huge speakers. We got there at around 9:15pm as the matches were advertised to start around 9:30. It was a small kind of backyard venue with bleachers on either side of the ring along with seats and standing room space on all sides. There were mostly foreigners at the beginning however the place filled up with alot of Thais as the fights began and the evening progressed. Advertised on the promotion flyers were three fights with foreigners going against Thai fighters.

The first several fights were rather lastluster were both fighters appearing to be around the age of 12 or so. Most interesting during the first fight was listening to one of the mothers hollering and urging her son on. I couldn't tell exactly which fighter she was her son as she was speaking in thai. She was standing quite close to me and in speaking with her later she told me it was her son who won of course. Also interesting was watching all the gambling going on amongst the Thais. Gambling is a large part of the experience for Thais attending their kickboxing matches. The music played during the fights was cool to listen to as well. I'm not sure how to describe it but I would reckon it was some kind of thai music related to thai kickboxing culture. It had a very exotic and eastern kind of sound. However, once a fight was over and it was between fights it was right back to the techno and rave music.

The most interesting and exciting fight of the evening turned out to be two 7 yr olds going at it against each other. It was about 5 or 6 fights into the evening and it was hard to believe that such young and innocent looking kids were going to be kicking each others asses. It was nearing midnight when these kids got to the ring. While watching one of the kids in his corner oiled up and waiting for the other fighter to make it too the ring, he just appeared very calm and almost disinterested. Soon thereafter the other fighter made his way to the ring and they both started doing their pre-fight ceremonial dance in the middle of the ring. During the dance the fighters face each direction in the ring typically with one knee down and do some strange ritual movements and what I would imagine are prayers. They were also wearing ceremonial head and arm pieces. I'm not sure what the true purpose behind the head and arm pieces and the ceremonial dance but I believe they are something spiritual, probably Buddhist, in nature.
The previous fighters had also performed the ritual dancing but at a substantially lesser level. These kids were really impressive to watch and looked as though they had done it 100's of times before. The crowd was really cheering and alive while watching these youngsters prepare themselves for battle.

The fight itself turned out to be quite exciting to watch as these kids were obviously very trained and skilled. Their punches and kicks were solid and crisp and they could take getting hit with some solid shots. One of the kids executed a perfect round house kick although he missed his opponent. None of these kids or any of the other guys in the other fights were wearing headgear either. I would reckon the gloves everyone were wearing were around 12 or 16 ounces, pretty standard sizes. I don't remember who won the fight but it was definitely the most exciting and compelling of the evening up to that point.

Soon after this fight one of the first foreigers finally made his way to the ring, probably some time after 1am. They had advertised 3 foreigners to be fighting but it was hard to believe that it would go on so late. The first foreigner was from England, about 22-25 yrs old, and I overheard some of his friends and supporters talking him up on the sidelines and saying he was very good. I was expecting an exciting match with lots of engagement from the crowd as he seemed to have many supporters and of course the Thais would be rooting on their guy. Before the fight, both fighters did their ritual dance and the English guy was very good and looked as though he had practiced his routine to impress and fulfill the tradition.

The fight was going well for the first round when all of a suddent the power went out in the entire arena. Lots of yelling and hollering but everything kept in order considering all the drinking everyone was doing. I waiting for about 5-10 mins for the power to come back on and when it didn't it was time to split. It was getting late and I didn't feel like waiting forever for the power to come back on. It would have been tough for the fighters as well as they were all warmed up and in the middle of the fight, then made to sit and wait in their corners. Since I left I'm not sure if the power ever came back on or not and if the fight restarted.

It was awesome action and since i'm on the island for at least a month or more i'm sure I will make it back again.