‘The Most Exciting Form of Combat Sports’

Naked-knuckle boxing has began to achieve plenty of traction in recent times. One of many oldest types of fight sports activities, it’s within the roots of humanity to duke it out with no gloves on. In Southeast Asia, there’s a lesser-known variation on bare-knuckle boxing known as lethwei, which dates again 1000’s of years. The trendy model first appeared practically 60 years in the past, and, in the present day, the World Lethwei Championship group, which is only some years outdated, seems to be to show the game into a worldwide phenomenon.

“Lethwei is a historic martial artwork that dates again a millennium in Myanmar,” WLC CEO Gerald Ng informed Fight Press. “It’s popularly known as ‘The Artwork of 9 Limbs,’ due to the strategies obtainable. You’ll be able to make the most of punches, knees, elbows and kicks from each palms, in addition to the usage of the head-butt.

“Lethwei produces essentially the most thrilling type of fight sports activities, however, traditionally, it has not been available to audiences outdoors of Myanmar, outdoors of grainy footage on YouTube.”

The WLC was created in 2015 and held its first occasion in March 2017. WLC 1 was headlined by Tun Tun Min, who first appeared professionally in Muay Thai and lethwei in 2013. Within the inaugural occasion, he scored a first-round knockout over Britain’s Nicholas Carter. It was a good way to kick off the brand new promotion.

“World Lethwei Championship was created to showcase lethwei to the world,” Ng stated. “It was launched by a consortium of distinguished Burmese businessmen with a few of the greatest buyers within the sport-technology house.

“We retain the core values of lethwei that make it such an unbelievable sport, however bundle it in a contemporary, entertainment-driven expertise to supply the viewers, wherever you’re watching, with a night to recollect.”

Previous lethwei occasions have largely been held in Myanmar, with some publicity in different Asian international locations. Nonetheless, with the current rise of bare-knuckle boxing in america and Europe, the WLC needs to capitalize on the chance and convey the game to the plenty.

“We need to develop the game of lethwei on each stage,” Ng defined. “We need to see elevated participation within the sport, each recreationally and professionally. We need to develop a fanbase of lethwei followers to observe the game, and I genuinely consider there’s a house within the mainstream sport panorama that lethwei can match into.

“By way of the elevated consciousness of lethwei, we need to showcase how tradition and sport can come collectively seamlessly. I see our exhibits as sports activities cultural experiences, and we incorporate parts of tradition into the present, with conventional music and musical devices, conventional blessing ceremonies, historic and cultural points of interest throughout the host metropolis, and extra that can entice viewers to need to come to town [and] expertise all of that, in addition to watch lethwei stay in individual. Proper now, as our previous occasions have been in Myanmar, we now have showcased varied cities in Myanmar, however we’ll incorporate the traditions and tradition of every metropolis we go to even after we are outdoors of Myanmar.”

The league has held 10 occasions so far, and the eleventh present is about to happen on Friday in Myanmar. The occasion is headlined by a middleweight title struggle between champion Too Too and Uzbekistan’s Naimjon Tuhtaboyev. WLC: Battlebones will likely be obtainable to stream stay at 7 a.m. ET.

“2020 will likely be our greatest yr up to now,” stated Ng. “We have now a powerful world broadcast footprint in over 60 international locations by means of our valued broadcast companions, like Canal+ and UFC Combat Go. 2020 would be the first yr that we’ll develop our stay occasions past Myanmar. We have now six [events] scheduled this yr, with three exhibits in Myanmar and one every in Cambodia, america, and Japan. Will probably be a historic second for world-class lethwei to be made obtainable abroad.”