Battle Collossal IX - Muay Thai for the uninitiated

So on saturday night I went to watch one of my good friends in her first Muay Thai fight. I was scared, I will admit it. Not for s second did I doubt Sophies abilities, but its still not a pleasant idea- paying to watch a friend get beaten up...
I'd never been to a fight of any description, and avoid watching things like UFC. They make me cringe.
So I wasnt too sure how I'd deal with this!

We got there at 5:45. Doors were emant to open at 6 and Sophie was first on, a warm up match for a massive tournament with a prize fund of 2,000,000 Baht ($70,000 ish) and a spot representing Australia in some HUGE Thai tournament. It was close to 7 by the time they actually opened the doors. Some mess up with the food and drink delivery. But I would have rather been inside and thirsty than outside and freezing! Winter is definately on the way to Perth. Then a nervous wait for the fighting to get underway.

Once it did, I was hooked. Muay Thai may be fighting, and it is violent by nature, but it definately isnt as viscious as I was expecting.

In the first round Sophie seemed slightly dazed, and her opponent had the upper hand. But once Soph was over the shock of being in the ring for the first time, she came into her own. The other girls kicks just didnt seem to make contact, Sophies did. At one point I'm sure I saw the other girl with tears in her eyes, and her face was puffy and swollen, whereas Sophie looked normal, if tired.

In my understanding, Muay Thai is won by scoring the most points. You get points for a clean contact, more if its above the waist, more for your opponent falling over etc etc. And its scored by a number of judges (3?) at different points around the ring. If the majority of the judges think you scored the most points, you win.

Just like Sophie did!

Proud of you Sophie :)

We stayed on after Sophies fight to watch some of teh main Tournament, to get a better idea of what is involved in Muay Thai. Mainly, we stayed to support one of Sophies friend defending his Welterweight title in the break from the main tournamant (it was a draw! after 5 rounds and lots of blood...) and to wtach the heavyweights...

All the guys in the main tournament weighed 67kilos. Thats the same as me, which is very strange to imagine. The heavyweights weighed 100-110kg. No upper limit and no need to have equal weight fighters. So the guy challenging the Perth heavyweight was a good 5 inches shorter and 10kg lighter. It was never going to end well, but good on him for trying! KO in the first round. And the first time I felt uncomfortable watching the fighting, mainly because it was so unevenly matched.

It was a good thing it was over so soon, because while I wanted to see how the big boys fought, it was 11 o'clock already and I needed my sleep before the 10km race the next morning!

All in all a fun night, though I can't say I'll be going again apart from to support Sophie. But its always good to try new things, especially when they seem out of your comfort zone!