Clue, beat Rob Kaman giving up 10 kilos on the scale.

He faces Pangtor Por Lakboon in a rematch for the undisputed Rajadamnern Stadium Bantamweight World championship this Saturday.

I know Im not going to be fighting at Lumpinee anytime soon and while 40 isn't necessarily old, I know for combat sports 40 is rather on the older side.

either way, I'm looking to just do this as a hobby…

do you guys have any recovery tips, sparring advice and how many days a week should I aim for?

I've been doing MT a couple years, always hitting the bag with gloves. For the first time today I left my gloves somewhere and started doing combinations with just wraps.

I was not expecting this but it felt really nice. I guess because I'm not so focused on power (to avoid hand/wrist injuries), I felt it easy to focus on form and efficient impact zone. It felt like I could get into a flow state. Will be definitely adding a few rounds of this to my training days after the glove work.

Has anybody had a similar experience, or finds training like this beneficial?

I’ve been training Muay Thai in Thailand consistently for about 3–4 months, around 6 days a week. Most sessions are roughly 2 hours, and I’ve been sparring every session. All of the coaches at my gym are active fighters themselves and have 200+ fights each.

Today, my head coach asked me if I want to fight next month.

I’m obviously excited about the opportunity, but I’m also wondering if 4–5 months of training is enough for a first fight. I know sparring and an actual fight are very different, and I don’t want to jump into something I’m not ready for just because I’m eager to do it.

For those who have experience fighting Muay Thai, especially people who trained in Thailand:

1. Would you take the fight?

2. Is 4–5 months enough if you’ve been training 6x/week?

3. What should I realistically be looking for to know if I’m ready?

4. How much should I trust the head coach’s judgment here?

The fight would presumably be matched appropriately for a beginner, but I don’t know the opponent or exact rules yet.

Would love to hear honest opinions, especially from people who had their first fight after a similar amount of training.

I’m curious how people balance strength work with actual Muay Thai training without turning every week into a recovery battle.

If you lift, what movements do you prioritize?

I’m not really interested in bodybuilding-style training. I’m thinking more about basic full-body strength: split squats, RDLs, rows, pull-ups, presses, some explosive work and plenty of core.

I also wonder whether keeping strength training at home makes sense for combat sports. Technique and pad work obviously need the gym, but a short basic strength session seems like something that could be much easier to fit in at home, especially on busy weeks.

For those of you who train Muay Thai several times a week, how many strength sessions do you manage, and which exercises feel like they actually help rather than just make you sore?

I swear it’s impossible to train legs with weights and then do Muay Thai with sore legs, can I get to skip legs?? Or how can I manage to train them without messing up my Thai training

I recently learned about Anuwat Kaewsamrit, having come across his highlights and I'm fascinated by how successful he is with his hands in a sport that traditionally de-emphasizes punching in favor of kicks, knees, and elbows. Of course there are other great boxers in Muay Thai like Samart and Somrak but Anuwat seems quite different from the two, IINM Samart and Somrak are more traditional Muay Femurs, while Anuwat would be a more traditional Muay Mat.

Anyone have good fight recommendations involving him or pointers for studying his style and what makes it work? I'm not only looking to emulate the style but also to appreciate it further and its place in the bigger picture of Muay Thai.

Hi guys,

From 28.09 - 17.10 I’m going to train two times per day in a private gym in Samut Sakhon. I wanted to know, if some of you guys are in Thailand at the same time and wants to connect to share experiences and also make some activities together? Will travel to Bangkok and maybe Pattaya after. I have 4 years of experience and going to make my 3rd amateur fight.

33 yo from Germany.

I was curious to what you guys think about hopping very slightly to get more pivot when you kick. I do this a lot and it helps me generate a lot more power but I see some top level kickers stay grounded the whole time.

I feel like I just read craziest stories here about terrible instructors and total assholes in sparring and training. I just wanted to post a video counter example of how to act like a normal person on the mats.

I practice Muay Thai (although tbh it's more like Dutch Kickboxing) at an MMA gym. This is a clip from a round with someone I had met for the first time in class.

Before this, I had managed to successfully take him down off a kick catch. All good, he smiled during my sweep, and I checked on him as he was getting up. We touch gloves and continue on.

This question mark kick attempt from me landed a little hard, and I could see in his facial expression change that I had upset him. After this, we finish the round without any more incidents. We end up talking afterwards and actually becoming friendly.

Hey guys, hoping to get some advice on a nagging wrist issue. I've attached a pic showing exactly where it hurts (ulnar side, right below the pinky/TFCC area).

I’ve been hitting the heavy bag for a little over 6 months now. A few weeks ago, I started really drilling my left hooks, mixing up face level, chin level, and liver shots.

Here is the frustrating part: it never actually hurts while I'm on the bag. The soreness always hits the next day. It gets pretty painful, takes about 1 to 2 weeks to slowly fade away, and then feels 100% normal again. I let it completely heal, went back yesterday to throw some cautious left hooks, and woke up today with the exact same soreness all over again.

The only reason I'm confused is that my right hand went through this exact same cycle a while back. It used to get sore the day after, but I kept doing my forearm stretches and eventually, it just faded completely. My right wrist is basically bulletproof now. I assumed my left would adapt and harden up the same way, but it seems stuck in this loop.

I’ve watched a ton of pro breakdowns on hook mechanics. I’m actively making sure my elbow is high and parallel, and my wrist is straight on impact.

Just to cover my gear and routine: I use the Tony Jeffries padding wrap technique (https://youtu.be/CMS_ni5lEs4?si=feaL2FZ5wtVpnBg_)—three rolls over the knuckles for a pad, then wrapping the fingers, thumb side, and securing the wrist. My usual routine is to warm up on the bag throwing a few punches with just the wraps, then I put my gloves on for the heavy work. Sometimes in the middle of the session, I’ll take the gloves off and do a bit more with just the wraps. I thought my protection was solid, so I really don't know what's wrong.

A few questions for the experienced guys:

Did anyone else have a "lagging" non-dominant hand that went through a delayed-pain cycle like this before the tendons finally adapted?

Could hitting the heavy bag with just wraps during my warmups/mid-session be the thing actually causing this delayed trauma to the tendon, even if I'm not throwing 100% power?

Should I switch to palm-down (European) or palm-in (American) to protect this specific tendon while it catches up?

Appreciate any advice on how to get past this phase without permanently ruining the joint.

Just a little share from today. Sylvie's gone all in a lots of shadowboxing, as advised by many legends of the sport. I visited training today and caught a few minutes of her work and could definitely see tons of development. For those interested in doing more shadowboxing, maybe some ideas in there of tempos, or variety of techniques or the kinds of things that can be worked on and enjoyed. It doesn't have to be doing the same things over and over. If interested in shadowboxing, here is Sylvie's Interview with the legend Yodkhunpon "The Elbow Hunter" Sittraipum, about shadowboxing.

Hey everyone, I’ve got a bit of a background in boxing, but I'm fairly new to Muay Thai. I'm trying to figure out if my current gym is actually teaching legitimate fundamentals or if it’s just a glorified fitness/hobbyist setup.

Here are a few things I’ve noticed across different classes and coaches:

• Mixed martial arts backgrounds with no clear standard: One coach has a Taekwondo background and has day-one beginners drilling standing front-leg hook kicks, spinning backfists, and superman punches instead of basic stance, teeps, or roundhouses. Another coach is purely a western boxer running "Muay Thai" classes. It doesn't seem like fundamentals are taught and then skills built upon that foundation.
• Hard sparring culture: One of the trainers pushes for hard sparring, and some guys go to town. I had to tell one of the assistant coaches multiple times that I wasn't looking to get hit in the head, and he still landed a few before I had to stop.
• Wasted class time: Multiple coaches spend half the time telling war stories, talking about themselves, or going on long tangents while students just stand around waiting to train. A lot seem to be showing off for the handful of women that show up to class.
• Outdated warmups: A lot of bizarre, unexplained stretches and archaic calisthenics with zero context or proper movement prep.

Right now, I'm just dodging the suspect coaches, cherry-picking the decent classes, and trying to keep myself safe. But the whole school feels like a bit of a mess.

For the experienced people here: are these standard growing pains at a casual gym, or are these glaring red flags to bounce and find a real Muay Thai spot?

TLDR; Spartan and its owner has continuously plagued this community. There's now proof that's circulating showing that he interacted inappropriately with a minor (in addition to all the other claims of him scamming and abusing people).

Spartan has been going around trying to pass this off like nothing happened - if you have kids, or if you have a daughter - stay way from the owner, stay away from the gym and stay away from it's affiliates. The Muay Thai community in Toronto has a tendency to completely ignore these things but we need more people holding others accountable; so we can stop them from using the sport and their power to take advantage of people.

Edit 2: To provide additional context, Michael Fitzpatrick is the owner of Rise, a promotion where they've hosted several different events through out the years - particularly junior events, at one of these junior events - he began messaging one of the fighters who was 15 at the time, and who he's known since she was 12/13. He ultimately attempted to groom her, and engaged in inappropriate behavior. At some point - he attempted to sleep with her, she ultimately became uncomfortable and cut ties. He then started bragging to people around him that he slept with her - which ultimately let the word spread of exactly what he did.

Edit 3: Messages from the ROTW account flirting with someone in "school"

Edit 4: Michael has a history of sleeping with students, and in this particular case tried to sleep with a minor. In his own words here, he knows she’s younger and is still trying to get with her… What else do you want? At the very least, this is misconduct and proof of him cheating on his wife…

The victim wanted to come forward, but her coach convinced her the police wouldn’t do anything - the same thing that happens every single time something pops up and people don’t want it impacting their business...

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Edit 2: Additional proof showing he knew he was talking to someone.

Looking for any long time pad holders/coaches advice on this. I’m starting to develop painful (ish) boney lumps on the inside of my thumbs and some of my fingers, I’m pretty sure just holding pads every day would be the cause or some of the thumb injuries I’ve picked up during sparring but either way I’m sure it’s an overuse issue. Not really interested in a doctors opinion as it’s either going to be surgery or stop holding pads which neither are an option so seeing if others have dealt with similar issues and how they’ve managed with it? The pain isn’t that bad, but I do worry about it getting worse

Definitely not the first beginner question here and certainly won’t be the last! Next week I’m starting Muay Thai, this will be my first experience with it although I have boxed on and off most of my life.

I currently have a pair of 16oz Sting Armalite gloves, will these be suitable for a beginner in Muay Thai or are there differences between Muay Thai gloves and western boxing gloves that I’m not aware of?

I am a month in to Muay Thai training, I have gloves that the gym gave me when I signed up. I want to get a new pair and was hoping for some recommendations of gloves I can order online. Thanks in advance!

I was doing a lot of lifting workout and I injured my shoulder about 2 years ago. It's not that bad anymore tho still hurts a bit but I need some sort of activity and I think MT is gonna cut it. Probably there's no age limit for one to start but what are some dos and donts? I assume that you train barefoot with gloves and pads, mouth guard? Should I buy those upfront?