My First Live Ring Side Muay Thai Experience

by Daniel Chiam 

All the Nuffnangers were all hyped up and excited about the Thailand vs Asia's Muay Thai matches after we attended the Muay Thai Saved My Life Workshop last month. The anticipation was fairly high for me because it was going to be my first time attending a Muay Thai fights and to know that Fay Hokulani is going to be there too, I got extra excited even.

Thanks to Cik Lily Putih for taking care of the tickets for all the bloggers. Oh yes, all of us attended the event with media pass and thus gave us the privilege to stand on the ring side, take pictures and enjoy the fights from up close.

There were 6 matches in total and whereby 3 of the matches is the highlights of the night, the fights between Thailand and Malaysia. The 3 Malaysian representative are Kudin, Ali Yaakub and Faizal Ramli, while the rest of the challengers are Liu Xiang Ming (China), Leo Monteiro (Brazil) and Mosafa Abdollahi (Iran).

The sport has long been dominated by the Thai and to defend their honor on that night were 6 prominent and  skillful Muay Thai fighters namely Yaya, Changpuek, Jom Kitti, Petchumpol, Madsua and Armin. The pressure were high because every fighters were desired to prove themselves to be the best in the sport.

Watching the match live from the ring side definitely gave a different experience. The punches and kicks that were throw by these trained athletes were as hard and as powerful as their desire to win. The sounds of the body clashing brings shiver down the spine. One can only imagine how painful it is to be hit by any of them.

Ali Yaakub (right) was dominating his opponent that night.

Each round lasted for 3 minutes and each fight will only last for 5 round (unless if there were a knockout in early round). The Thais prove themselves to be worthy of the throne when they won 5 out of the 6 matches that night. Being the only challenger to win that night, Ali Yaakub has made Malaysia very proud.

Fay Hokulani and Diana Danielle, the emcees of the night.

It was really an unforgettable experience to be able to see a glimpse of what this fighters had to go through in the ring. One can only imagine the amount of training and beat up they had to suffer before they were able to be prominent in the ring and proven to be a worthy opponent to their challenger.

Muay Thai is definitely one of the most full on body contact sport that I have seen so far and it is also one of the sport which hold highly of it cultural background. I really wish to see more Muay Thai event being highlighted in Malaysia. Not just announcing that there is a Muay Thai event per se, but hopefully more activities or workshop is being done to promote and expose to the rest of the Malaysian.

Ali Yaakub and me :D

All photos courtesy of Cindy Tong.

"Seize the day, Caper Diem"

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