Female Muay Thai... The past and present!

The past of Female Muay Thai

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Originally, there was no organized female Muay Thai in Thailand. For a long time women were even barred from entering a boxing ring. This due to a long-held superstition that the presence of a female might affect the skill of a Muay Thai fighter, which could lead to injuries for the fighter. This superstition finds its roots in the country’s main religion, Buddhism, in which women are not allowed to touch men and as Buddhist monks bless the ring prior to a fight. An incident in the 1970’s fuelled this superstition, the incident involved a popular female TV presenter climbing into the ring at Lumpinee Stadium. It was rumored afterwards that incident with the TV presenter angered the spirits guarding de ring. Coincidentally or not, half a dozen fighters who entered the ring after the incident got injured by cuts and bruises. This incident even led to a temporary ban on female Muay Thai fights.

The current president of the MTI and a former Muay Thai fighter himself, tried to popularize female Muay Thai during the end of the 1960’s by organizing female Muay Thai fights at Bangkok’s famous Lumpinee stadium. He had to discard this idea after 3 years due to the fact that the predominantly male Thai fans refused to watch or more important to bet on any female fight. During the ensuring 4 decades, female Muay Thai fights were only allowed at village and temple fairs.

Interestingly enough, the reason that female Muay Thai got more support in Thailand was due to the success of western female fighters. Due to the absence of any female fighters coming out the cradle of Thailand, most Muay Thai camps would allow female fighters on their premises. Western female fighters dominated the sport for decades. So it became a matter of national pride for the Thai government as it stated that as being the birthplace of the sport, Thailand should dominated Muay Thai regardless of sex.

The present of Female Muay Thai

Until the present day, most Muay Thai stadiums like the famous Lumpinee Stadium and Rajadamnern Stadium still bare females from fighting in their ring. Rangsit Muay Thai Stadium was the first stadium in Thailand where female Muay Thai fights were sanctioned and is still the main stadium in the country for top female Muay Thai fights. And if female fights are sanctioned in a stadium or local temple fair, the female fight is always the last fight of the night so that no male fighter has to enter the ring after a female fighter. This due to the superstition mentioned earlier.

On our Muay Thai documentary page, you’ll find the “Muay Thai a Fighting Change” documentary, which follows three fighters as they are preparing for an important fight in their careers. One of them is Boontern Kijtmuti, a 28-year-old female who always wanted to become a Muay Thai champion. After completing her basic schooling, she helped her mother selling noodle soup from a street stall in Bangkok before starting her own noodle vending business. By the age of 17, she got married and soon had two sons (now 10 and 8) to care for. After her marriage ended in divorce, Boontern decided it is time to pursue her dream. Leaving her sons with their grandparents, she took a part-time job in a restaurant and began training. (To help defray costs, she also washes the gym's laundry twice daily).

Women Muay Thai Shorts

Since the last decade, more and more women have been practicing and competing in Muay Thai. To tailor to the need for comfortable fitting and stylishly looking Muay Thai shorts for women, slowly more and more manufactures of Muay Thai shorts have been designing shorts that fit better to the female form and offer more stylish designs and patterns more suitable to the modern female Muay Thai practitioner. Muay Thai Design is now in negations with its supplier to offer a wider assortment of specially designed Muay Thai shorts for women.