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Burmese Lethwei – The Art of 9 Limbs

While Muay Thai is famous all over the world, Lethwei from Thailand’s neighbor Myanmar has remained a sport known only to a few outside of the once reclusive state. As the country has increasingly opened up to the world, Burmese Lethwei, an older fighting art than that practiced by the Thais has begun to take its place in the combat sports arena. With the world-class One Championship, Asia’s premier MMA promotion, taking an interest in the sport and starting to promote shows, it is only a matter of time before Lethwei gains a more mainstream following.

Differences

Burmese Lethwei differs from the boxing systems of its neighboring countries, in several ways. Muay Thai, Pradal Serey/Kun Khmer and Muay Lai Lao are all very similar to each other, employing knees, elbows, kicks and punches. Lethwei adds a couple more elements to the equation, namely headbutts, almost any kind of takedown and bare knuckles. The fights can only be won by KO or TKO, if they go the distance, they are declared a draw and if the fighters do not show enough aggression, the fight is stopped. There are no weight classes, no scoring system and no judges. This has led some outsiders to see it as overly brutal and even barbaric, but Burmese Lethwei is a complete standup fighting system that deserves respect.

History and Culture

Burmese Lethwei developed from battlefield arts, much like Muay Thai developed from Muay Boran. Lethwei, however, is around a thousand years old, making it older than the Thai system. During times of peace, Lethwei was used as entertainment and was a major part of village and pagoda festivals. Local boys and men still compete in sandy pits in front of the village in order to show their manliness and win money. Lethwei is loved by all the people of Myanmar, not just the majority Bamar people. The Shan, Karen and Kachin ethnic groups have produced several famous fighters over the years. They feel it represents Myanmar’s culture. It is something that has been passed down by generations of ancestors. From the village pit, to the boxing ring, Burmese Lethwei holds the standards of fighting spirit and sportsmanship in the highest esteem. The traditions remain with the sport and before each fight, the boxers perform a dance called the Lethwei Yay and then salute the other fighter with the Lekkha Moun. Symbolic of the Lethwei spirit, the Lekkha Moun involves bending one arm up to the chest and the slapping it near the elbow three times, to tell the other fighter to come and fight. For more detailed history, Phil Dunlap of Advanced Fighting Systems has written in depth on the subject.

Rules

People think that there are no rules in Lethwei, but that is not the case. A fight is normally 5 3-minute rounds. Fighters must wear groin guards and moth guards and are allowed to bandage the hands. There can be two cornermen in the ring and one outside. The referee will stop a fight if one fighter is significantly outclassing the other, if cuts and injuries mean a fighter should not continue, or if there is an infraction of the rules. A KO is called after a 10-count that lasts 20 seconds. If a fighter receives 3 8-counts in a single round, a KO is declared. If there are 4 counts in total over the course of the fight, a KO is declared. If there is no KO by the end of the fight, it is a draw. If a fighter is knocked out cold, his corner have an opportunity to call a one-off time out to try and revive him and let the fight continue. The following are prohibited: biting, eye-gouging, spitting, cursing, strangling, intentional groin shots, scratching and attacking an opponent on the ground.

Fighters

Lethwei has traditionally been practiced only by Myanmar people, with Thais occasionally fighting on the border under Lethwei rules in Myanmar-Thailand grudge matches. In recent years though, foreigners have started to infiltrate the highest levels of the sport. Legendary fighters like Lone Chaw and Tway Ma Shaung now influence the current crop of Burmese fighters like Too Too, Soe Lin Oo, Shan Ko, Tun Tun Min and Tha Pyay Nyo. These top-level fighters go up against foreigners for titles and the Alan Lu Pwe, or champion’s flag. The most famous foreign fighter at the moment is Dave “The Nomad” Leduc from Canada. Leduc, The current world champion, is winning titles by beating the best from Myanmar and the rest of the world. Increasingly, foreign fighters based in Thailand are going across the border to compete in Lethwei tournaments in Yangon and Mandalay.

The Future

Outside of Myanmar, Burmese Lethwei tournaments are not very common, but Japan has become a beacon of competitive Lethwei outside of its homeland. This has led to there being several great Japanese boxers like Hikaru Hasumi and Daiki Kaneko taking on fighters from Myanmar and foreigners based in Thailand.

With combat sports gaining popularity all over the world, Burmese Lethwei is destined to grow from strength to strength. It is one of the most exciting boxing spectacles around and the time is right for Lethwei to explode onto the world scene.

Black and white photos by talented Burmese photographer Zarni Phyo, color by William

A Typical Day of Muay Thai in Thailand

The rise of combat sports in popular culture has led to more people taking up sports like MMA, boxing and Muay Thai. While most people train in their hometowns, the number of people making the journey to practice Muay Thai in Thailand has been steadily increasing over the years. The most significant number of foreign fighters and fight tourists have come from the United Kingdom, with other European countries and Australia making up most of the rest. Over recent years, fighters from the USA and Canada have begun to make the pilgrimage to Thailand in greater numbers. Let’s take a look at a typical day of Muay Thai in Thailand.

Camps

There are hundreds of places to train Muay Thai in Thailand. Camps can be found in rural areas, where young farmers’ kids can try to forge an early career in the sport, to the bright lights of Bangkok, where the elite train and fight in the big stadia for the top titles. While there are so many different gyms all over the country, the general routine rarely changes from camp to camp. Tried and tested methods are universally applied throughout Thailand. There are normally two sessions each day; one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Gyms normally operate 6 or 7 days a week.

Morning

The day usually starts around 7am. Fighters go for a 10 kilometer run, then return to the gym. People who are not seriously training for fights can opt to skip the run (literally) and jump rope instead. The trainers, who have in the meantime hosed down the floors and cleaned up, often will wrap everyone’s hands, give them some gloves and send them to different heavy bags that surround the ring. You can wrap your own hands and bring your own wraps, some gyms have wraps, some don’t. You can also bring your own gloves if you are averse to using stinky gym gloves.

The trainers then pad up and await fighters/students in the ring. They will point out people to come and do pad-work with them. In the meantime, everyone who is not with a trainer does bag-work. Training is made up of 4-minute rounds, one minute longer than a standard bout of Muay Thai in Thailand. A trainer will call out each minute for everyone in the gym, so everyone knows how much time is left of a round. The last 30 seconds is heralded with the words “laio laio!” meaning “fast fast!”, encouraging everyone to pick up the tempo. In between rounds, there is a general crush around the water cooler, with everyone drinking cold water and pouring it over their heads.

Once everyone has done pad-work, different gyms will work different things. It might be clinch and sparring, or just setups and conditioning. For many gyms, the morning session finishes after pad-work with some stretching – no sparring or clinching. The session will normally go on until 10 am.

Afternoon

If you are staying at the gym, you will likely have a shower, eat breakfast with your fellow students and trainers, then pass out for a couple of hours. The day is then yours until around 4pm, when the afternoon session starts. The afternoon is a lot like the morning and lasts for about three hours. The main difference is that it is normally a lot busier, with more people training, and the run is often shorter. The afternoon session is more likely to have some sparring or clinching going on after pad-work too.

Exceptions

There are some differences in this schedule in different gyms, but many follow this pattern. FA Group do it a little differently, with the first 30 minutes to an hour of each session dedicated to clinching. Sitsongpeenong normally alternate morning sessions, making one day a sparring day and another a pad-work day. These are exceptions though and most gyms will stick to the traditional way of doing it, with a bit of strength work with weights thrown in occasionally.

Training Muay Thai in Thailand is an experience that every fighter or enthusiast should have in their lifetime. It helps you understand the sport better, as well as the culture it comes from.

Photo credits: 13 Coins by Brian Edwards, Jittigym by antjeverena, Pad-work by Charlie Steele

Muay Thai Technical Light Sparring

A necessary part of training in Muay Thai is sparring. After pad-work and drills, it is common practice in most gyms to get the sparring gear on and get on with it. This is the best way to put all of those drills and pad-work sessions to practice against a live target. This can sometimes translate into people smashing each other as hard as they do on the pads. The reality is that this is not a good practice, as more often than not, someone gets hurt, nothing is learned and everyone leaves having improved little. While heavy sparring has its place, light sparring is much more beneficial in the long run.

Thailand

Visit any Muay Thai camp in Thailand and watch two Thai fighters spar. They often do this with no shinguards, no mouthguard and no groin guard. Sometimes they don’t wear gloves either. They engage in Technical light sparring in order to sharpen up their senses. If they went at it full-pelt, they would get injured, not be able to fight as regularly and lose out on their payday. They do sometimes pad up and have a stronger session, but the sparring is still relatively light – just enough sting to let their partner know where their guard is down. Now, just because they do something in Thailand is not always a reason to adopt it yourself, but this is a practice that has worked well for decades of the modern sport. Let’s break down the benefits of technical light sparring.

Injury prevention

With light sparring, injury is far less likely. The reality is that if you are in a combat sport, then you are going to pick up injuries – it’s inevitable. But the aim of the game is to avoid injury. Why increase your chances by smashing each other in sparring? If you compete, then you want to stay injury free so you can fight. If you are not a professional fighter, then you likely have a job that you will want to be healthy enough to do. No one wants to be out of pocket.

Confidence and learning

Especially important at the beginning of a Muay Thai journey, light sparring gives people confidence. When you are starting out, there is nothing more likely to put most people off than being beaten up. Light sparring allows everyone to put their skills into practice, while picking up timing, rhythm and ring-craft. It means instead of running away from someone trying to knock your head off, you lear to stand your ground and find your blocks, counters and evasive manoeuvres. Light sparring teaches control as well. Control is a vital component of Muay Thai. If you lose control, you lose – one of the things you notice about Thai fighters is that they never get angry, it comes down to maintaining control.

What is technical light sparring?

So the benefits are clear, but what is light sparring? There is no definitive answer to the question really. Light sparring should be at full pace, but not full power. Keep the speed, not the force. You need to pull the power from a blow at the last second, so you land it, but don’t really stick it in. Also, if it is too light, then you will never learn to keep your guard strong. The idea of a little pain teaching you a lesson is very clear here. If you get punched in the face enough times, you will eventually start to keep those hands up. No pain = no lesson learned. So you need to figure out what the right level is and feel out your partner. Sparring is not a competition, it’s a learning experience.