International Muay Thai

The World Muay Thai Council (WMTC), a relatively new organisation sanctioned by Thailand’s Sports Authority and headquartered at the Thai Army Officers Club in Bangkok, has begun organising international Muay Thai bouts in Bangkok stadiums and elsewhere.  The WMTC tracks training facilities as well as ranked fighters, and is the first entity to match champions, from Muay Thai camps around the world.  So far the largest number of WMTC-affiliated Muay Thai training facilities are found in the USA, followed by Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, Japan, France and the UK.

Although WMTC championships bouts have only been held since 1994, WMTC titles have the potential to carry more prestige than titles from Bangkok’s two main stadiums because all athletes, whether Lumpini champions or Ratchadamnoen champions (or from elsewhere), can compete for WMTC belts.  Prior to the establishment of the WMTC it wasn’t ordinarily possible for a Ratchadamnoen champion to engage with a Lumpini counterpart.

Dutch fighter, Ivan Hippolyte, took the middleweight WMTC championship in 1995 at Lumpini Stadium, reportedly the first foreigner ever to win a Lumpini fight.  he Netherlands is now widely considered to produce the world’s second best Thai Boxers, after Thailand. International participation portends a new era for Thai boxing; some observers think it will upgrade the martial art by re-concentrating the focus on fight technique rather than ringside betting.