The late 1980′s and early 1990′s were known as the Golden Era of Muay Thai in Thailand. This time saw fast pace fights from the opening bell and fighters giving their all. The current generation of fighters in Bangkok are under a lot of criticism for their lazy style (just doing to the bare minimum to win). However, even during the golden era TKOs and KOs were not as common as you see in Muay Thai for tourists, this was because of the impeccable match making and millions of baht being gambled within the stadiums in a single night.

Therefore while there is a certain truth to your statement,

“They knew and respected that the other fighter may have to fight again soon, so although they were there to win, they weren’t there to devastate. Tourists got their muay thai, the Thais got paid and everyone left happy.”

Muay Thai is currently not in its prime, and this is a widely accepted idea that I know ldf is very familiar with*. Furthermore, Thai fighters train to withstand such punishment. So again, while I still see Muay Thai in Thailand with more sportsmanship and decentcy than that in North America, it is good to apply these ideas to a historical stand point

Even now, gamblers help (to a certain extent*) keep fights even in Thailand. Usually fights for tourists are not seriously gambled on nor are Muay Farang fighters. When I would fight in Bangkok my gym would gamble just a few thousand baht on me, as we would never knew who I was fighting. When I moved to Isarn, and was matched up with fighters a head of time my team would put up 30,000 to 50,000 gambling pot for the fight. (No pressure).

*Gambling does create it’s fair amount of corruption too, but that is a whole other topic.
*ldf I would love for you to interview some fighters from this golden era and get their take on the current situation. I have a few friends and brothers who were champions during this time and it is fascinating to hear their point of view as they are still closely involved in the sport.

“They knew and respected that the other fighter may have to fight again soon, so although they were there to win, they weren’t there to devastate. Tourists got their muay thai, the Thais got paid and everyone left happy.”

I think there’s a tacit understanding that as career journeymen, there’s no point in inflicting nasty injuries that can really screw up someone’s livelihood for a few weeks/months, especially since these guys fight so frequently. And if you get a rep for being nasty like that, it’s only a matter of time before someone else decides to that to you.

I’ve seen fights – even major headlines at Omnoi , where if one of the fighters clearly outclasses the other in the early rounds, they won’t go for a KO but just use technique and skill to control the fight to the end without hurting the other too badly. Personally I think it’s a good, honourable old school mind set that really differs from the MMA culture of today where fighters are paid for “knockout of the night” and motivated to be brutal assassins. I think old school Thai’s get it, like you said – but I think this is rapidly changing, sadly.

Around this time, I heard many trainers say they preferred working with girls – they trained harder, had more self discipline and a ‘good ‘heart’. If there was a bad attitude towards female Nak Muay, gyms wouldn’t have been betting on them. I think the role of women in Thailand is greatly misunderstood – 49% of CEOs are female, which is the highest proportion in the world

Anne had a difficult task, as the world of MT is not easily penetrated, especially when your studying/mixing wih ppl at Chulalongkorn. It would be interesting to hear Anne’s perspectives on Gender and Power within that institution, where women are required to wear long skirts. Every now and then they threaten to cuts the grades of those whose skirts are too short and some academics have said skirt length could increase sexual assault.

Phetjee Jaa long ran out of female opponents, now she is fighting boys and beating them. Large amounts are gambled, a sign that the fights are evenly matched.

And yet the concluding sentence is:

Anne: “That I think underpins a lot of the feeling about women in Muay Thai in Thailand. We can only be so good, so there’s no point in aiming too high.”

Being familiar with Phetjee Jaa how on earth did she reach this conclusion?

Having never finished high school, let alone receiving research grants, I’ll quote someone else to express my feelings, ““No common man could believe such a thing, you’d have to be an intellectual to fall for something as stupid as that”.