Million Baht Babes- I Hope You Have a Strong Stomach

By Mike LNg

Million Baht Babes and Stephan Fox

There are times I almost wished I didn’t read email.  But I do as often as I can and sometimes I regret it. This is one of those times. Exploitation and entertainment go hand in hand.  I can remember before the days of ethical reprisals and the era of something resembling integrity, film makers would exercise their craft in search of profit by any means necessary. If it meant occasional titillation and sellling the chance to witness soft-core  humiliation but profits were returned in kind: it was the means that was necessary.

Fast forward to the 21st century and here we are again. Entrepreneurial spirits are again plowing the same fields of lowest common denominator with Million Baht Babes. The title being an obvious play on words of the Hollywood boxing fictional film starring Clint Eastwood and Hilary Swank. This is the same film that made international boxing look like modern vaudeville with cruelty, treachery, and euthanasia to hit all 3 high points en route to a very bankable movie.

From the Million Baht Babes press description:

‘Million Baht Babes’ is a brand new television reality series taking three western girls to their first ever fight in a Thai boxing ring. Whoever is judged the best fighter on the night will win the One Million Baht Prize Money (£20,000/25,000 Euros/$30,000 US.)

The show is being filmed in Koh Samui, Thailand at the Lamai Muay Thai Camp and Lamai Fitness Gym, and is backed by the people who brought you The Contender and The Challenger, the World Muay Thai Council. This television series, produced by Lenscap Asia, will do for the female version of the sport what Challenger and Contender did for traditional Muay Thai.

None of the women are experienced fighters or really know Muay Thai even in the most peripheral understanding.  One has to assume their selections were made on the basis of something resembling international cross sectional appeal, looks and not being proficient at any combat sport of any kind.

From the same press release:

The girls’ trainers, who include Muay Thai Champion and The Challenger Champion Tum “Mardsua” Head Coach “Nong” and fitness coach from The Biggest Loser and The Challenger “Billy” , have just six weeks to ensure the girls are fit enough, and good enough, to win in the ring , all under the watchful eye of mentor Ralph Beale.

Yes Contender fans, the same entity World Muaythai Council (WMC) brings you another round of reality TV fodder where world champions can meet untested fighters and with a straight face call itself The Contender. Except for there is no premise of an actual fight tournament or any girl on the show being a Contender of any kind. No, instead they are selected for the opposite reason: they don’t have any experience of any kind.

In the clip below watch as Stephan Fox hits girls, makes one cry and calls out “that’s my girl”.  I used to think I understood what motivated WMC beyond obvious charging for sanction and inventing titles in order to assess some sort of value to their presence on so many Thaiboxing cards internationally. Or leading people to believe they have ever had any real discussion with the IOC of any kind. This is a different animal altogether. This is Stephan Fox serving again as impresario of reality TV delivering two fistfuls of sadism followed by ample footage devoted to the girls running around on the beach in bikinis. Two hits in one and probably some decent pay if Fox can pitch it to anyone stupid enough to syndicate this dreck.

When I learned WBC Muay Thai was forming a new sanction for Muay Thai I was sold.  Guilty as charged, I bought in about as fully as one can. I liked their rhetoric and I liked that they had actual sort of almost up to date rankings.  Here was a sanction that promised order and looked to deliver.  Then of course the cry went out for individual country rankings which became well, a joke.  There were fighters on the ranking that had not fought in years or even retired.  There were fighters in wrong weight classes with wrong names.  And then when an American staffer was appointed it became apparent there was no concern to order or rank just a list, that rarely got updated. And this list was heavily derived from blog sites that do their own rankings (in my opinion largely a popularity contest). Most of those rankings were on the short favorite list of one American promoter. Worse, there were new rankings that appeared that could not be explained especially given level of fights and suddenly the fighter would be ranked number 2 or even 1.

Things have changed and I am happy to say for the most part better, there’s new players in town most notably Lion Fight who has actually made meaningful fights happen and on American soil to boot. In fact with Lion Fight now being basically the de facto biggest Muay Thai promotion in America one could argue what exactly WBC Muay Thai actually brings of value to them. With new sanction efforts by WBC Muay Thai going on now in the east coast, it’s a slow positive step towards becoming an actual independent sanction. Even further progress has been made with an ABC presentation on unified scoring of Muay Thai, a part WBC staff was in fact a part of. The monopoly appears to be effectively ended. But there are more steps to take. As often as I take WMC to task, WBC has in my estimate done little better, just not much worse.

WBC Muay Thai has a new device.  Unlike the favorite of WMC: the infamous Muay Thai Against Drugs belt the WBC has the interim champion. Used in exactly, the same fashion: A belt you can dole out often, charge a sanction fee and the winner of a title bout gets to go home with…something. Sadly, often times the belt fought for isn’t even there night of the fight. Fees are nonetheless paid. But care should be made in what’s paid for.  Any title given as authentic from either party given WMC’s history and given WBC’s history, predating even Muay Thai seldom coalesces into anything with substance. And that’s despite fighters’ best efforts to be fighting champions and fight the names they should and want to fight. For me it’s a no longer even a WBC versus WMC discussion that’s relevant any longer.

Here’s, genuinely the issue and the point of pointing out WMC’s obvious lowest common denominator marketing: both independent sanctions are trying hard to be relevant and mean something. But they are forgetting the main crux of an independent sanction: it’s about the fighters.  It’s not about girls in bikinis running on beaches, it’s not about slapping around unknown, untrained women around the ring. It’s about fighters, the very people who assign value to a belt by fighting for it. At this juncture the interim light heavyweight title has been defended more often in one year than the permanent title has been defended in 2 years.  Something is wrong here. And it will get fixed either on it’s own and through the due course of time.  Or independent sanctions will prove themselves utterly pointless to international Muay Thai and promoters will again offer promotional non-sanction titles as they did so often in the past. And really why not?  At this point they hold as much or more value than either the WBC or WMC.

~ by fatsoking on November 1, 2012.

18 Responses to “Million Baht Babes- I Hope You Have a Strong Stomach”

  1. This is such a joke. Nothing negative towards the girls participating, but towards its organizers. What about putting that million baht towards paying the women (Thai included) who are in Thailand sacrificing every day, dealing with bullshit in gyms for the very reason of being female (inadequate training, exploitation, etc) and allow them the chance to be paid what they deserve. Nope, let’s just get some cute girls make muay thai look fun (and grueling! But you can do it!) and bank on age old stereotypes.

  2. (Sigh) And let me guess they’ll all win their fights by KO because of the beatings they received in the gym. Fair play to the girls though – they genuinely looked to be suffering at some points.

    • Well for sure the girls are getting paid no matter the outcome. What bothers me most is what does this do for Muay Thai at all? Specifically, women who have fought hard and long to bonafide competitive excellence? It disrespects them. I cannot see it any other way.

  3. This is a post from all of us three girls involved in the television project, Million Baht Babes: Rachel from England, Mickey from Germany and Sammy from Australia.

     

    We were offended and embarrassed to read this post. This television show is not about us being portrayed as superstars in Muaythai, but about us coming to Thailand with only fitness Muay Thai skills and being inspired enough by the sport to want to take it to a fighting level – like so many others before us.   

    We know that Muaythai is as much a cultural art form as it is a sport. 

    We were offered the chance to participate in a docu-reality television show when we were already training at the gym in Lamai, Koh Samui. We have travelled to Thailand of our own accord without any knowledge of a television programme. Muay Thai was already our passion and we were chosen for this programme for no other reason than that. 

    The fact we are all from different countries was a mark of the huge numbers of foreigners who flock to Thailand to learn the national art of Muay Thai. 

    The camera crew requested our permission to follow us through all the trials and tribulations which every Muay Thai fighter undergoes in the lead up to their first fight. 

     

    It is hard for us, raw for them, but it makes it clear to anyone who has ever thought of having their first Muay Thai fight exactly what will be involved to get there. 

    We are doing everything which every other fighter does, with the huge advantage of massively-talented dedicated trainers over a four month period. 

    Our previous Muay Thai skills have been added to enormously in just a few weeks. We have certainly seen the difference between fitness Muay Thai and fighting Muay Thai. There is no comparison. 

    The TV company Lenscap Asia is making a doco-drama. We are not out in the jungle eating spiders or lying in vats of snakes. But what we are doing, because we wanted to learn to fight, is just as challenging. And our fights on December 5th in Koh Samui will certainly not be rigged. We wouldn’t allow it. If we lose, we lose. And then we will retrain for another fight. 

    Whatever the result we will have achieved our dream of actually competing in Muaythai. This is nothing different than what hundreds of thousands of other women in gyms around the world are doing: training in Muaythai for fitness and self-defence and in the end, possibly having a competitive fight. For some women, the road keeps going, and they continue fighting and eventually become champions in the sport. Who knows, one of us may decide to try to follow that route. But none of us can know if we have what it takes until we step into that ring for the first time. 

     

    We are not champions, but we have the same love and respect for the sport as anyone else. During these 4 months (two months lead up where we were training on our own and two months with the television cameras trailing our training sessions), it hasn’t been just about the training. It’s about the sacrifices we’ve made to overcome hurdles in our lives, to stay in the race and each manage our own battles. 

    How is this different from what any other athletes in any other sports do? 

    We train hard every day for 5 hours doing Muaythai, fitness, weights etc. Thanks to our training, we have already successfully completed the Bangkok Airways half marathon on Koh Samui, which was a great achievement for us.  

     

    We’ve had the opportunity to train with some great male and female champions, which has inspired us, and they have given us invaluable advice. These are athletes we look up to and admire for their achievements and they have taken the time to train US. It has been such an honour. 

    We’ve learned that Muaythai is built on respect. We have to say, reading your post, as someone who has probably been doing Muaythai for many years, we fail to see any respect for us in this article? You didn’t even ask us what our own motivations were before writing your article; how much Muay Thai we had already done; what we wanted to get out of the challenge. Instead you chose to vent your own opinions without any of the facts to hand. We find that strange for a journalist. 

     

    You’re openly critical of Challenger Muaythai and Contender Asia, but those weren’t just shows: those were real people and athletes, people like us who aspired to do something with their lives, improve it.  We’ve met some of these people, and they are fantastic fighters. Why would you want to criticise them. 

    You criticize Stephan Fox for ‘bashing’ us up.  Have you ever actually trained with him in the ring?  He can control every move, showing us exactly how far we have to go ourselves, but at the same time telling us how to get there. It was an eye-opener for all of us when he came to train us. It was hard. he pushed us to our limits and beyond. His moves are so fast you feel them before you see them. But we needed that. We needed to know how hard it would be in the ring, and be prepared for whatever our opponent might throw at us. 

    The respect he still gets from other fighters is heartwarming.

     

    This show is not just about us fighting; that is probably only about the last 20 minutes of the entire series. 

    It is about what Muay Thai teaches you about yourself. The determination to continue in the face of all odds; the determination to push your body further than you thought possible; for girls, the ability to control yours tears in stressful situations (all the girls out there will know what we mean). Everyday we learn a little bit more about ourselves. That is the real challenge. 

    As everyone keeps telling us, the fight will be easy. The blood, sweat and tears is played out in the gym. And we understand what they mean now. But thanks to the TV crew who are following our journey so will hundreds of thousands of TV viewers worldwide. In a year when the WMC is pushing hard  to make Muay Thai an Olympic sport, showing the viewing public how accessible and enjoyable it is can surely only be good for the sport. 

    It is about showing that everyone can do Muaythai, and about not giving up regardless of the challenge.  It’s about women training just as hard, or harder than men. 

    We’re very proud to be part of this and if it brings more women to the gyms afterwards then this would be the ultimate success! 

     

    Before you make statements like this, which we can only assume come from your own personal agenda, please first think about all the people you are verbally “bashing” and then remember what was probably your first lesson in Muaythai: respect first.  This is what we’ve learned is the essence of Muaythai. The million baht babes.. Rachel, Mickey, Sammy –

    • I’ve seen and read your comment in the box enough. I’ve also heard this type of garbage over and over since I’ve been doing Muay Thai for 13+ years and no I am not on the international level. But I am a passionate fighter, trainer, and practioneer. I am not going to respond to every paragraph of yours. I will sum it up into a couple or few of them into something that will help you to understand why Mike wrote this because it’s how we all feel about the show and how you are portraying us.

      First of all, you cannot make claims and stake on them and put yourselves in the same group as the REAL FEMALE MT fighters went through to become world class champions and contenders. You just started doing it for what? Fitness and financial purposes! You aren’t being portrayed as fighters….just female objects of the tv show that is downgrading the sport that we know and love. It’s a HUGE offense to us!

      Secondly, the show will not bring more women to the gym. It makes us to look ridiculous and affects potential chances of having more female members who might be serious about doing it because there are good trainers in the world who want to help them to achieve their goals. You don’t deserve to be called as female representatives of MT. You guys are getting paid like low-grade amateur pornstars!

      Lastly, it’s not your fault(s) that you want to do this because it’s the producers that pursued this idea and it’s making the sport and you girls to look bad and disrespected. If you want to pursue MT, then go for it, but do it without being on the TV and earn your rights and keeps before you can make legitimate claims as female MT representatives (which it won’t happen in a long run).

      Good luck with the show.

  4. Imagine my offense as I watch yet another shovel of this garbage being crammed down the viewing world’s public. from WMC. And I do have an agenda. I have an agenda to make sure sanction as corrupt as the WMC and WBC get attention drawn to them. For example how sanction fees are paid and Fox promptly takes the money and departs the Untied States. A practice he has repeated internationally.

    Here’s some facts for you to digest: the WMC despite carrying around this Olympic rhetoric around for literally years now has yet to have a single meaningful talk with the IOC ever. If you have even passing familiarity with IOC rules you’ll know the including of Muay Thai as even an exhibit Olympic sport is a virtual impossibility because of the word “thai” alone denotes national origin of Muay Thai. As it should.

    I do thank your ghost writers for writing a lengthy response but it really doesn’t address anything I’ve said.

    1. How does hitting green women training until they cry while yelling “That’s my girl” make any improvement in your abilities whatsoever? When you hit women for pleasure and exhort some strange statement like “that’s my girl” it’s merely a display of sadism. Believe it or not normal people don’t get pleasure from hurting people that aren’t trained to defend themselves properly. Especially as a “training” exercise.

    2. As a group of people who have so much respect and love for Muay Thai and can now tell me what Muay Thai is about, feel as thousands of hard training and hard fighting women strive to get even fractional attention that’s paid to 3 women selected for their looks and lack of athleticism?

    3.Now the independent sanction. How do you explain WMC selling the same titles over and over again? Often with out the incumbent champion even having the opportunity to fight to defend the title? Or the same title being held at the same time? Again explain to me how Fox is demonstrating his sense of respect or even fairness in this? It’s called brokering money pure and simple.

    Here’s a question for you: At the present time how many MAD WMC titles are in current possession right now? Factor in the number of Z-1, I-1, and Hayabusa titles as well. Those are 3 examples. there are many many more promotoional WMC sponsored titles out there. So why pay WMC a sanction fee at all? Why not just have a promotional only title? There is zero value in taking a WMC emblem on a trinket that’s given out. Now where is the overall standing of the many WMC promotional belts given in the WMC rankings that are never published and also never seen?

    In the spirit of WMC’s eagerness to corporate brand when was the last time you’ve seen a WBC sponsored reality TV show in boxing or Muay Thai?

    4. As far as the girls go they got paid. They took money and decided to be a part of and defend this farce. I barely even mentioned them other than being pawns in Fox’s latest scam. I don’t know them nor even have anything against any of the 3. The fact is they are there because they aren’t trained fighters and have a barely peripheral understanding of the sport as represented here by their lengthy wandering monologue of a response. The women responding here are fighters and even some with passing knowledge should know Melissa Ray, a multiple time world champion. She’s fought and trained in Thailand for years. Think she’s wrong? How about Laura Dal Farra who’s lived and trained in the toughest camps in Thailand. Is she wrong too?

    There’s some things here that need correcting. first this: “We are doing everything which every other fighter does, with the huge advantage of massively-talented dedicated trainers over a four month period. ”

    Except the majority of talented, hard working female fighters don’t get paid any where close to anything the lucky million baht babe gets. And their training comes from their own funds not a WMC sponsored reality TV show target marketing the lowest common denominator.

    “The camera crew requested our permission to follow us through all the trials and tribulations which every Muay Thai fighter undergoes in the lead up to their first fight. ”
    And you were financially compensated for it.

    To address your final and ignorant statement. Respect first. I never disrespected a single girl of the show ever. And really you object to the buyer beware statement of this post? You can take the show, Fox, and the WMC seriously but with this fodder of lowest common denominator and crass reality TV show programming I don’t and I will explain why. Good luck ladies.

  5. Hi there, I’d like to join in here, also as a woman.
    You can say a lot of things against these girls, but seriously, doesn’t everyone start somewhere? So what if there’s a camera involved?
    Isn’t it encouraging for women who haven’t done Muaythai, but have heard of it, to watch a show like this and see that Muaythai is accessible? Or is that the problem, you don’t want Muaythai to be accessible? Or are you saying it’s a shame more famous women fighters aren’t in a TV show? Or if there was one with famous women fighters, would you look down on them too and call the fighters sell outs or faking it for the cameras?
    I’m starting out this way because you don’t seem like a very objective person.
    You can read a lot of info on the web, and there are people who don’t like Fox, but there are also lot of people who do. For one, I read and saw pictures of him getting a private audience with the royal family and being invited to parliament – In your opinion, is that all made up? Fighters seem to respect him, people who’ve had him as a trainer, and it’s not just Muaythai. In the other martial arts, a lot of the people at the top like him.
    So I really am curious, what are you achievements in Muaythai, and how many people’s Muaythai dreams have you made come true? You can criticise as much as you want, but you have to expect some criticism in return, so please, can you point to what you’ve been doing in the non-Internet world so that other people can judge you too?
    You talk about the IOC and you say there was never any meaningful talk with the WMC. How do you know this? Are you a member of the IOC? If you were a member of the IOC, you would know that there are a lot of photos all over the internet with a massive Muaythai event in Thailand in April where IOC members were present, and the official application was physically handed to the IOC representative. The president of the WMC is right there on the stage (It’s even on youtube!).
    You can even download a special muaythai song from the event and the souvenir book for the IOC . There was an actual King’s trophy with royal guards, and a cup from the Prime Minister of Thailand. Are you saying that was all fake? When I google: “april 3 muaythai ioc ” – all the results are fake?
    About having the name of a country in a sport…If you have even passing familiarity with Muaythai as a world recognised sport, you should know that the official name of the sport is Muaythai as one word, not two. When Muaythai was accepted into SportAccord in 2006, it was under the name Muaythai. They actually made the official name of the sport one word on purpose, to avoid the problem you mentioned, following the recommendation of the IOC and SportAccord. Wow, six years ago, they actually planed ahead! It’s almost as though they have a serious long term plan to become IOC recognised.
    About hitting women – Each of these girls was being pushed by their trainers. They themselves say that they weren’t hurt and that it was helpful (above). Anyone training in the ring probably expects a few knocks. I hardly think any of them were beaten into submission for entertainment. Being pushed by a trainer is normal in any sport, the girl’s post above says it all. Not sure if you’ve ever seen Fox on Biggest Loser Asia or other shows like Contender, cause in comparison, the clip that has upset you was a walk in the park. The funny thing is, all the people he trains seem to speak highly of him afterwards – is that all fake?
    To your second point – I am not sure if it is a point.
    Point three – No idea about this, but I’m sure there are rules about this sort of thing. Looking at other sports organisations I’d be surprised if Fox is a member of any ranking committee given that he’s a VP. Just my opinion, I would think it would be easy to check with the WMC. The rankings are published every month in Thai papers in Thailand. You just have to be able to read Thai. You may never have seen the WMC rankings as you obviously don’t bother to do much in the way of research.
    I think that MAD (and other charity titles) is a very important title. It has thousands of children involved and it’s got less to do with the champion and more to do with the awareness that goes with the belt. The belt is a symbol of the campaign. I’m not sure it’s good to be bashing these people for fighting for a charity title that promotes helping kids and getting them off the streets.
    I-1 etc are shows that, at the end of the night, have a champion. Events like that are done by a promoter putting on a show and the winner is the champion of the event. It’s obviously sanctioned by the WMC as a pro fight, but why is that unusual? Many other sports do the same.
    Getting back to the show that this is apparently all about – is this really about the girls or is this about Stephan Fox, whom you clearly dislike? It looks like he’s a guest on the show, is that enough to make you dislike three girls you’re making assumptions about?
    In my opinion a reality show is great for getting the sport out there. Millions of people get to know about the sport and it obviously does good things for muaythai, especially in Asia, where most countries have gotten government recognition (and funding) and the sport is growing fast. It’s hard to develop sports without government funding, just look at how upset people in the UK were when the government was planning to cut sports budgets even though they just had an amazing Olympics.
    This show is obviously geared towards family entertainment, showing people who don’t watch sports channels something they might not have seen before. This can only raise awareness of muaythai, whether you like the particular show or not.
    Is having the sport shown in a variety of media bad for the sport? Is it better that people think Muaythai is a brutal fighting sport about beating up your opponent? Or is it better that they realize Muaytha is tough, but beautiful too? That it’s not just tough guys and girls who can do it, but that it can be a lifestyle?
    Muaythai being up for an Emmy award? Is this bad for the sport? Getting muaythai recognised at the highest level, having top level anti-doping accreditation, getting female muaythai recognised and included in multisport games, getting Islamic countries to send national female teams…that’s all bad?
    This is obviously bad in your books, since Fox is involved, but it must be good in the public eye as it is part of a recognition process for the whole world. Six years ago, a lot fewer people know about Muaythai than they do know.
    This is a really long post, but before you go online and make random accusations, check your backstory more, check websites like the Olympic Council of Asia, SportAccord, WADA, Generations for Peace, Peace and Sport, and see what’s going on with muaythai and how muaythai is involved in many projects and is growing. Fox shows up a lot in that world, which may not be your world, but it’s important to many people.
    Before you answer with something like Fox stole money from the UN or eats kids, do the research and familiarise yourself with proper international sporting structure.
    Instead of using these girls as an excuse to complain about Fox, why don’t you just write him an email and work out whatever your personal drama with him is, instead of slagging these girls off.

    • Hi Jenny, thanks for coming. I like the hostility and long response truly. But it doesn’t address much that I’ve said. So I’ll keep it brief. And while hostility is welcome always, stupidity isn’t so I am going to keep my retorts brief and respectful assuming they come from well intentioned ignorance and not malicious stupidity. So, as a favor I’m not going to respond to whatever weak personal attack you care to launch.

      Boy Jenny, you got a lot wrong. Rolf is an ambassador of Germany (ironically Fox claims it as his birth place when on his own site he is simultaneously called Austrian and Australian) not a member of the IOC. Here is the list of IOC members: http://www.olympic.org/content/the-ioc/the-ioc-institution1/ioc-members-list/. Where is Rolf? Bach is no where in any youtube videos officially or otherwise. Bach is the German IOC member. Rolf, he actually has no current position on the IOC. Because you are a poor reader I never attacked those girls. They got paid. They are paid for performers. Because I don’t approve people splashing around in stupidity doesn’t mean I hate the people making a payday from it. It doesn’t mean the likes of their protests to me not buying in doesn’t get an audience either. I never censor comments and never will.

      Fighters respect Fox? Really? You should talk to Liam Harrison, and some more fighters http://www.mymuaythai.com/archives/world-muaythai-scandlers/ Take a good look.

      Muay Thai should be called Muay Thai. The sport is named that to clearly denote where the sport comes from. It should include Thai. Should the name be changed so we can watch professionals fight amateurs in padded suits and helmets for Olympic dissemination? Do you truly believe that is the version of Muay Thai that is going to help the sport grow? Reality TV for example is widely consumed. Doesn’t make that good programming either. See the WMCs powers to alter reality don’t extend to changing what the sport is and where it came from.

      If MAD is a charity belt than why charge a fee for it at all? And as a charity where is there 501c paper work when they’ve given that belt away often enough a charity paperwork trail should be declared to promoters who pay the fee. In what instance has this ever happened?

      I-1 etc are shows that, at the end of the night, have a champion. Of what? They couldn’t have a champion of their own promotional choice anyway? Why bother paying the WMC for a sanction at all? They have no regulatory power anyway. They are just a jewelery provider. Which is good but as I’ve said fighters make WMC matter. Bureaucratic hobnobbing with minor politicians doesn’t.

      If WMC is interested in publishing rankings that are meant for international consumption why not do what the WBC does? Why Thailand only. And I can only assume you mean Muay Siam. And that in and of itself is literally something that has only happened in the last couple of years. See those aren’t published rankings if one small nation out of the world of sanctions WMC sells sees it. Even stadium ranking are made known to the world on Muay Siam. Where’s WMC’s rankings? Not there. Put it out publicly on the site or the point stands. There are no published rankings of WMC. And the rankings don’t at all account for the MAD, Z-1, I-1, hayabusa and a multitude of other belts that are given to whoever is willing to pay for their sanction. They’re a joke. Please link me to any Thai or otherwise current ranking of WMC.

      The sport is growing? Better check this side of the hemisphere first because that statement is obviously wrong its bordering on stupid. Whaty fills the current WMC coffers in sanction fees doesn’t reflect reality.

      Final points:
      1. The UK’s sport budget wasn’t saved by reality TV.
      2. Family entertainment doesn’t include beating women until they cry and calling them “my girls”. That’s patently demented to suggest that’s fit family viewing.
      3. Sports shown as prurient garbage with pandering is bad for the sport.
      4. Muay Thai in Thailand is never drug tested. So WADA as an agency thus far has done no work in that regard.
      5. In regards to Olympic Council of Asia, SportAccord, WADA, Generations for Peace, Peace and Sport. I’ve covered those topics on my very site and you’ll see exactly what i think they have to do with Muay Thai and who profits from it.
      6. You better do your research on which promoters paid out money to WMC and never got a sanction. Fox took the money and ran.

      Thanks for coming Jenny with your nonsenscial rant.

    • Jenny, do you even practice or know Muay Thai very well? If so, then explain and list your credentials in this sport.

  6. Girls, you are always going to have haters… The world is full of them… I disagree with the article too. It’s a TV show, if you don’t like it don’t watch it…. simple… You girls are doing what you love and showing the world what it takes to become a Muay Thai fighter.. I respect anyone that gets in the ring, don’t let anyone take away the respect you deserve……
    Enjoy yourself, life is short, as long as your happy you are winning 🙂

    Regards
    Owen Rennie
    “Warriors of The Mongkon”

    • You should learn to read little better Rennie nobody hates the girls for being paid. Especially not me. In fact I hope they got paid handsomely for it. Take the money and make good use of it. Which part of the article do you disagree with? The part where WMC is pandering to the lowest common denominator? They are. They are the ones out there trying to sell this as real Muay Thai in a very public broadcasted way actually. And now they’re upset because they’re selling and I’m not buying and I make it publicly known? It’s my opinion and yup I’m sticking to it. Hats off to their ghost writer but that wandering diatribe covered no relevant points in the article whatsoever. It’s an old distraction tactic. In fact the article has very little to do with them except for them being pawns knowing or unknowing in the latest WMC cash grab.

      And let’s be real here. Every day Yaabaa addicts and drunk cab drivers crawl into the ring to get a beating for a payday too, ironically mostly in Phuket and Koh Samui too. Do they get the same respect one might give a pro fighter fighting for a modicum of the cash flow and public attention these 3 get at about 100 times the level?

      • I don’t have time to argue and don’t want to get into this topic. I just disagree. Their lives, their show, their sanctioning body they can do what they like!
        Don’t like it don’t watch it… Simple

        Everyone’s welcome to their own opinion and I respect yours!

      • Yet you say here you disagree with the article? I guess facts and reason don’t have much to do with your disagreement with the article. You made the time here to white knight paid for participants but don’t have time really say why? OK. Thanks for coming by Owen.

  7. After reading Fatso’s responses to Owen’s comments I am speechless! Except to say that perhaps Fatso needs to read what others have said here and actually hear them as opposed to transposing what he wants them to have said!
    Well said Owen!
    A differing opinion does not necessarily an incorrect opinion!

  8. That should have read “necessarily constitute”

    • It’s alright I know what you meant to say. I kind of filled in the blanks and got the message.

      1st welcome to the site.
      2nd Those are direct point by point refutations. There is no transposing of any kind.
      3rd Again I brought facts to the table he brought his white knighting about topics it’s obvious he doesn’t fully get.
      3rd.

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