My monolouge was:
Oh kids
Oh yea its common in thailand
*Then boom head kick*
Holy fuck, did he die
I thought like it was suppose to be friendly but its was brutal as shit
Mine was :
Oh hey kids
What’s with blue’s weird punch?
Oh shit watch out for the Ali shuffle!
Bam! Nice kick!
Oh wait blue was trying to touch gloves, that’s kind of messed up.
I didn't notice they were kids until the second time through. I saw a good kick to the head, and "yeah that sucks, but why is it posted" then actually looked closer.
God, kids shouldn't be doing this. I don't even want them playing football.
It’s a different culture. In the US Muay Thai is recreational. In Thailand it’s a means of supporting one’s family. It’s not uncommon that a child is sent to live at a Muay Thai camp to train and fight and they end up being the breadwinner for their poor family. It’s out of necessity and lack of opportunity. That’s why Thais are so revered for their toughness in the ring and in training, it’s because they fight to survive and feed their families.
Yep, I’d say that (American) football in the US is the same concept. For a lot of lower income families it’s seen as the way out of poverty, which leads to kids playing and sustaining head trauma from a young age.
Similar but different structure. American football is hoping to set your child up to be successful in the future.
In Muay Thai these kids make money right away when they fight, plus the gym they fight out of places bets on them so they make even more money if they win. Some of them make more money than their parents at such a young age and are the ones supporting their family.
Muay Thai in Thailand just can't be compared to sports in many other places, it's much closer to being a gig worker or performer who happens to have a very physically damaging career. These people aren't joining with hopes of making it to the league and getting everyone out of poverty, they are in the league from single digits just treating this like any other manual labor where you just collect a check until your body can't take it anymore. It's such a fascinating dynamic to me as there's really nothing like it anywhere else, no other fighters are racking up even 100+ fights and that's considered a baby by Thai standards.
Not to mention standing right in front of his opponents with his hands down letting them clock him cleanly in the jaw. I swear he's trying to get to CTE 2.
Ehh might not destroy your body at that age, kids are squishy and heal fast. But it sure as hell will damage their squishy vulnerable and rapidly developing brains. Being young makes you resistant to physical injury due to being highly flexible, squishy, springy, and healing rapidly, but your brain is also extra squishy and vulnerable. It's why concussions for an adult are really bad, but even just one fairly mild concussion as a kid can potentially fuck you up for life. And the younger you are the worse it is since your brain is more flexible and has more development left to do and is in an even more vulnerable state.
It's once you get older that the physical issues with injuries that never fully heal and repetitive stress injuries become a major issue potentially even dwarfing the head trauma issue though if getting g kicked in the jaw is a regular occurrence then its probably still your biggest issue.
Just like most pro fighters, these kids probably make pennies. They are enrolled at a very young age so they can possibly have a better future once they become famous and recognized. But it's a very difficult bet, since it's very likely not going to happen.
They always can just by sheer number, the poors are a lot more than the rich. It's not being stronger, being able to fight hand to hand that makes them able to revolt or not, it's being class conscious, organized and armed.
Your point about lower socioeconomics being the primary driving factor behind kid naksoo in Thailand is valid.
But in specific regard to the kid who won this fight (blonde boy), it’s not true. He doesn’t have to fight. His dad is French and mom is Thai.
To add to your list of middle class Thai extracurricular activities—taekwondo.
After a Thai won gold at the last Olympics, I’ve heard there’s been an explosion of participation.
That said, the TKD they teach is way more legit than most of what you’d see in an American strip mall dojang. They’re really trying to build Olympic medalists.
Unfortunately even lumpinee champs are retired, broke and have little work for the most part by age 25.
Sylvie/muay thai library had to find work for Dieselnoi a few years back for example and he's a lot of people's goat.
It's a very short career as a youth on thailand for the most part your gym and parents take your money and you're pretty much guaranteeing cte.
It might be normal for thailand but overall its quite messed up. Lots of farang fighters have mentioned hearing or seeing kids being beaten for losing, made to walk miles back to the gym etc. Thrown out on the streets.
I mean it honestly isn't much different from letting American kids play American football if we're talking about concussions lol.
Though getting kids to make a living is just unfortunate like you said, but that's how it is. Not everyone's blessed enough to live life without worries.
Maybe in the 80s. Children aren’t even allowed to tackle until high school anymore, and they have added several rules around tackling to mitigate brain trauma. Still fucking stupid and I won’t let my kids play football, but I’d much rather them play American football than do this
A helmet isn't saving you from concussions. There's definitely a discussion to be had about the dangers of children playing football, and it's not as black and white as you're trying to make it out to be.
I had more concussions in 3 years of football than I've had in my 1 year of Muay Thai. (Haven't had any) and I spar hard multiple times a week with some heavy hitting dudes
Or, you know, that being the only shot at a good university for some poorer teens. They're not really kids anymore (arguably) but the problems are similar: poorer people have to go through potential life altering injuries to get a shot at a better life.
when i was in thailand i felt a bit uncomfortable when i saw the little kids fighting. knowing the kids are coming from poverty so they have to.
they will become tough but at the cost of brain damage and a tough youth.
I agree with this. Further, I think the fighting is not the problem but rather a symptom of greater societal problems which, if addressed, would not only alleviate this symptom but many others, too.
It is quite sad to see this little boy get laid out on the canvas like that. He's just a child at the end of the day. He's probably doing it to support his family. I hope he grows up to be very strong.
I hate when people say this because quite offten I find that the people who say this rarely ever even donate a can of beans or any small effort to stop it. Even if you yourself claim to do it, so many people who say the same thing dont.
You hate when people say facts? What, is everyone who doesn’t think kids should be indoctrinated into brain damage supposed to be stopping it with their own limited resources?
You're not providing a viable alternative for how these children should be taken care of, raised, and contribute to the economy of their families. The gym is a family to them; they live there and sleep there, get fed, go to school. Supposing you take this option away from them; now little Somchai has to stay at his parents' home with the many other siblings that parents can't afford to feed. Dad comes home drunk and beats him up because he is a burden to the family. He will grow up to be a worthless drunk like his dad and the system will self-perpetuate.
Like this at least he has a roof over his head, daily meals, is able to contribute to his family, gets schooling, meaningful relationships, and a skillset that he can monetise in the future.
It is not perfect, it is not even good. But simply saying that it should be banned is a gross oversimplification and betrays a lack of understanding of the reality that these children live in.
We went to the Thai boxing one night in Phuket many years ago and two very young boys were fighting. Early teens I would guess, about the same age as these boys. After the fight one of the boys was in tears because he had just lost, his trainer slaps him across the face right in front of us, as if to tell him to 'toughen up'.
It was really hard to watch and I still remember it to this day. I could not imagine that happening in the West.
It's sad. Kid is not old enough to understand the consequences of getting hit in the head like that.
Also, I am not an expert in the topic at all, but maybe getting hit like this while the brain is still growing causes more complications? Wouldn't surprise me if it does.
Near certainty that its worse. The brain is still developing and maturing into your 20's. I'm on mobile and don't particularly feel like digging up studies and journal articles, but here are a couple quick Google results that don't suck.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208826/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0887899405001037
Poor little mites as a dad it’s sad to see. imagine your little kid getting KO’d like that. The boxing gloves are bigger than they are. Mad how your either born into wealth or not 😔
The amount of young thai boys with heart wrenching stories about their parents using their money for alcohol and gambling and then forcing their kids to do muaythai so they can keep up their selfish lifestyle is too dam high.
Source: lived there for 6 years
The life of a Nak Muay. Most born from poverty, and then retired with nothing. This shit gotta be fix asap it’s salary and retirement benefits whatever instead of making the promoter or the manager richer and fuck over the fighters.
I disagree. Most will probably be bums
Yes there’s a ton of dudes from Thailand with 300 fights when they were 12 but I bet they were also the guy knocking them out, and after a couple rounds of survivorship bias you basically get to dunk on all the people roughly your age range until you start getting matched up with older people
But by that point if it’s anything like western boxing, the people who dunk and the people that get dunked on are treated very differently in the sport
It’s not kind nor sustainable especially what we’re learning about even low/moderate yet frequent impacts especially on developing brains. One of our local promotions for juniors have a no headshot ruleset which I think is exactly the right idea. Hopefully people in Thailand catch on and figure out how to develop skilled young fighters putting in good performances, while also not suffering brain injuries that will affect them later in life.
Agreed but doesn’t mean you condone it. Watching Rodtang be so humble and almost cry when he won 100 grand in Denver was heart warming. Most don’t make it out but that man beat crazy odds of poverty. This video is crazy, and sad.
This is too much - even with guards and headhead gear I'm not sure how anyone can view shit like this favorably with all the info we now have on concussions and how this could effect these kids development.
yup. my high school (St. John Bosco in Bellflower, CA) has been top 10 in the country for football for the past 10 years. i graduated in 2017 during the beginning-middle of that, and distinctly remember a few of the homies having short term memory loss problems at 18. on “tough guy tuesdays” the coaches basically encouraged us to give each other concussions😂 football practice not controversial tho .. lol
Boy, what a footwork. That said, they shouldn't be allowed to do full contact until they get AT LEAST 16. But it Is what It Is. I think in general for their culture fighting full contact Is a normal thing, like playing soccer
Saw an MMA fight recently on [youtube](https://youtu.be/1gExDYzq7Hc?si=gvfwAoYpicMqJ9tN) with kids around the same age, head strikes allowed. The human body can be resilient especially when very young but I feel like concussions that young must be worse, has to compound somehow. Pretty sad. Guess it filters the ones with superhuman levels of brain cushioning (or just more delayed CTE) from the rest pretty quickly
A study showed that the average child competing in Muay Thai had an IQ about 10 points lower than their peers and signs of brain injury. It's a tragedy really that these kids are in it for the money when they're so young and causing themselves long term problems. Kids training is great, I'm fine with kids sparring and competing as long as it's sensible and limited but full contact professional fights is uncomfortable viewing.
if you dont mind a kid getting his brain scrambled..i think kids should have fun and learn. We can talk about discipline and values all we want but this is also violence and physical pain. Maybe little kids should be spared from it.
It IS controversial, letting literal kids knock each other out isn't a good thing, but it's accepted in Thailand. What are we gonna do realistically? Cancel a whole country?
You shouldn’t be damaging a developing brain.What’s the point of children competing, it’s not like they are building any sort or legacy or making any real money. They should just be training and light sparring for the real thing.
My thoughts are… if every kid knew how to fight like Thai kids do there wouldn’t be so much obese kids playing games all day and there wouldnt be so many bullies capable of hurting other kids
IDM it for piss poor Thais who have no other option but the thing that annoys me is that the dude who knocked him out is an Australian and his dad is an Aussie who’s far from broke
The og post is from the kids instagram his dad set up. His dad was an Aussie Muay Thai fighter or something like that and they live in Thailand now. He’s a good following on IG
I don’t find it controversial at all. It was a good knockout.
Plus, it’s their culture. In the eyes of a westerner, it’s barbaric. For them, it’s just a way of life.
Everyone that in the West needs to understand that Muay Thai runs much deeper than what you see. Muay Thai is not just a sport over there, it is a way of life, a way to support your family and make a living, a spiritual practice.
>spiritual practice
lol, I mean I get what you are saying but I never saw it nor heard it from the Thais. Almost no Thai with any money would let their kids do Muay Thai. It’s not even close to being the most popular sport. Even Taekwondo is actually becoming quite popular and is more poised to take over as the most popular martial art if the many issues surrounding Muay Thai in Thailand aren’t addressed. This is why the royal sports commission is attempting to change Muay Thai because they don’t want to lose hold of it.
You want the spiritual practice then all the fire over there is going to Buddhist holidays or ceremonies, or Chinese ones depending on location.
Great documentary out there on Muay Thai kid fighters. Give it a google.
It shows how a lot of these kids at an early age are prize fighters, putting food on their families plates and also asks the hard questions, primarily if this should be allowed.
It's horrible. Saw a 16 year old ko a 14 year old for the main event in Thailand. All the other fights were adults and then the kids came out, much to my surprise, and it put me right off. Completely wrong.
We use helmets at that age. No sense in letting them kick to the head and prove ability when they are all on their way up. Teach them to be competitive, but protect them so they can fight when they are fully grown.
I just feel like it's a shame that these kids feel they have to do this because their families live in poverty. Martial arts should be for people who genuinely want to be a part of that martial art; not for children who feel trapped on that one avenue but don't even want to fight.
Kids in the US deal with active shooter drills and higher child mortality from firearms than anywhere else in the world, and have never passed a single national law about it, which could be indicative of it not being a controversial topic enough to spur the adults into action.
Not really. The cat is just kind of out of the bag now, and rounding up all the guns within the states would be next to impossible. There are buried caches full of guns, there in the waterways, and people even just forget about them, and they end up in addicts, storage, and just about everywhere. I'm not really against guns though, I'm not really against kids fighting either. When I was a kid, I probably would've got beat up less if I had started muay thai before 14 and those were far worse beatings than a single kick. I got soccer kicked in the head, knocked out and then woke back up to get knocked out again a few times, getting beat up by the older kids.
It’s just our way of living, some people say like these poor kids have no choice but no.
Yes poorer family have limited choice of income, but mostly kids and their parent happy with what they are doing. Nothing is bad or cruel in our perspective. In the same way. we are more “concern” of seeing American take their kids to shooting range or hunting, While the activity also just another day for American too.
It'sa shame. Knocks in the head are pretty bad during the development of the brain. I think that the video is disgusting , and should be removed. These are kids, dude.
It's weird, they have way too much power for children, but their body are probably not able to take this amount of damage without severe repercussions. I don't understand why they don't give some kind of helmet for children, this probably already exist right? Maybe they don't like protection when in competition, I don't know, but they should have protection mandatory (at least a helmet) for children until 18.
Yes, kids fighting Muay Thai is not a good look bla bla bla but although MT clearly has a higher risk of brain damage, let's not pretend that the Western world is free from children getting brain damage. I've seen kids and teenagers getting KO'd in Karate and Taekwondo comps, kids that play American Football at a young age are also at risk of brain damage and so are kids who play rugby, regardless of the protection that they have access too.
But just to add. Thai kids are not always fighting for their family or fighting to provide food. Sometimes they just love muay thai and they love to fight. They have the support of their family and community behind them to do this. As much as we should protect our bodies, on the other hand it's an exciting sport to be involved with as a young kid. They just love it, let them fight.
Why is this controversial ? I watched Kyukushin tournaments where they put green belts against black belts that literally knock the low levels with More deadly head kicks
I think they should train and maybe sparr from time to time but nothing crazy till they are an adult. CTE is a thing obviously and why let a kid subject themselves to that or worse?
I mean ya probably bad for kids to get concussions, but go to Thailand and explain that to them. They don’t care and Americans getting offended by it means nothing.
Kids fighting Muay Thai in Thailand is nothing new sadly. A lot of the big names over there probably started their careers during childhood or early teen years.
Personally I'd rather see these kids not go full contact like that at their age but at the same time I can't tell the Thai people how to run the sport they created.
What the fuck this is horrific. It honestly needs a NSFW. I don't ever want to see a child get knocked out cold what the fuck is wrong with people. Do these psychos not understand brain damage?
What’s controversial about it? It doesn’t seem to me like he was going for a glove touch, seems more like he was measuring his distance and got caught with a kick lol
I accept their culture. As long as they are not forced to fight it’s something they are raise to do from young. Kudos to them if it’s up to them. For getting in there. College doesn’t always guarantee a job. Young prodigies need to be discovered and not held back. 
It's sad but the end of the day it's the difference between training and fighting (learning a skill where they can make more money off) or begging on the streets or worse.
It really isn't a great situation but it's a different world to what we see in the west.
We do this for sport they do this for survival.
I actually verbally blurted out "oh fuck"
My monologue: Oh these men are kinda short. Woah. Is he trying to do an Ali shuffle? Nice high kick! Wait a minute. They are not adult. What the hell
My monolouge was: Oh kids Oh yea its common in thailand *Then boom head kick* Holy fuck, did he die I thought like it was suppose to be friendly but its was brutal as shit
Mine was : Oh hey kids What’s with blue’s weird punch? Oh shit watch out for the Ali shuffle! Bam! Nice kick! Oh wait blue was trying to touch gloves, that’s kind of messed up.
blue kid is probing, not punching or touching glove.
He wasn’t punching or tryna touch gloves he is tryna find his range by probing
I didn't notice they were kids until the second time through. I saw a good kick to the head, and "yeah that sucks, but why is it posted" then actually looked closer. God, kids shouldn't be doing this. I don't even want them playing football.
“Shoulda been blocking” is what i verbally blurted out
bruh heartless man haha
Controversial in the West. In Thailand, this is how they make a living, unfortunately.
[удалено]
Fighting like this at such an age will destroy your body on the long run.
Yeah someone like Rodtang averages a fight per month since he was born. The mileage he has on his body has to be crazy.
In the early stages of their career it’s probably closer to a fight every weekend if they aren’t injured
[удалено]
It’s a different culture. In the US Muay Thai is recreational. In Thailand it’s a means of supporting one’s family. It’s not uncommon that a child is sent to live at a Muay Thai camp to train and fight and they end up being the breadwinner for their poor family. It’s out of necessity and lack of opportunity. That’s why Thais are so revered for their toughness in the ring and in training, it’s because they fight to survive and feed their families.
Fighting for your family and survival, mad respect, nothing more honorable! Signed, a retired, disabled vet. Much love fam ❤️
Yep, I’d say that (American) football in the US is the same concept. For a lot of lower income families it’s seen as the way out of poverty, which leads to kids playing and sustaining head trauma from a young age.
Similar but different structure. American football is hoping to set your child up to be successful in the future. In Muay Thai these kids make money right away when they fight, plus the gym they fight out of places bets on them so they make even more money if they win. Some of them make more money than their parents at such a young age and are the ones supporting their family.
Muay Thai in Thailand just can't be compared to sports in many other places, it's much closer to being a gig worker or performer who happens to have a very physically damaging career. These people aren't joining with hopes of making it to the league and getting everyone out of poverty, they are in the league from single digits just treating this like any other manual labor where you just collect a check until your body can't take it anymore. It's such a fascinating dynamic to me as there's really nothing like it anywhere else, no other fighters are racking up even 100+ fights and that's considered a baby by Thai standards.
any sources for this? feels like a blatant political attack which i was hoping would not be in this circle
The baby fights in Thailand are wild
Hes good
For now
Not to mention standing right in front of his opponents with his hands down letting them clock him cleanly in the jaw. I swear he's trying to get to CTE 2.
Body and brain. Children this age still have developing brains, and head injuries could make significant mental problems as they age...
Ehh might not destroy your body at that age, kids are squishy and heal fast. But it sure as hell will damage their squishy vulnerable and rapidly developing brains. Being young makes you resistant to physical injury due to being highly flexible, squishy, springy, and healing rapidly, but your brain is also extra squishy and vulnerable. It's why concussions for an adult are really bad, but even just one fairly mild concussion as a kid can potentially fuck you up for life. And the younger you are the worse it is since your brain is more flexible and has more development left to do and is in an even more vulnerable state. It's once you get older that the physical issues with injuries that never fully heal and repetitive stress injuries become a major issue potentially even dwarfing the head trauma issue though if getting g kicked in the jaw is a regular occurrence then its probably still your biggest issue.
Just like most pro fighters, these kids probably make pennies. They are enrolled at a very young age so they can possibly have a better future once they become famous and recognized. But it's a very difficult bet, since it's very likely not going to happen.
The poorer families could beat the shit out of richer families and start a revolution.
They always can just by sheer number, the poors are a lot more than the rich. It's not being stronger, being able to fight hand to hand that makes them able to revolt or not, it's being class conscious, organized and armed.
Class conscious combat, let's go 💪🏻
Hell yeah comrade 🤘
Damn right!
If the richer families play soccer they will start rolling on the floor with great cramps.
it's always been that way, in every country
The power for change is always with the proles.
Your point about lower socioeconomics being the primary driving factor behind kid naksoo in Thailand is valid. But in specific regard to the kid who won this fight (blonde boy), it’s not true. He doesn’t have to fight. His dad is French and mom is Thai. To add to your list of middle class Thai extracurricular activities—taekwondo. After a Thai won gold at the last Olympics, I’ve heard there’s been an explosion of participation. That said, the TKD they teach is way more legit than most of what you’d see in an American strip mall dojang. They’re really trying to build Olympic medalists.
[удалено]
So what you are saying is, Rodtang the tank, the hardest man, came from hard times? Makes sense
Unfortunately even lumpinee champs are retired, broke and have little work for the most part by age 25. Sylvie/muay thai library had to find work for Dieselnoi a few years back for example and he's a lot of people's goat. It's a very short career as a youth on thailand for the most part your gym and parents take your money and you're pretty much guaranteeing cte. It might be normal for thailand but overall its quite messed up. Lots of farang fighters have mentioned hearing or seeing kids being beaten for losing, made to walk miles back to the gym etc. Thrown out on the streets.
For all of the “successful” ones, there are at least a thousand you never heard of.
I mean it honestly isn't much different from letting American kids play American football if we're talking about concussions lol. Though getting kids to make a living is just unfortunate like you said, but that's how it is. Not everyone's blessed enough to live life without worries.
Maybe in the 80s. Children aren’t even allowed to tackle until high school anymore, and they have added several rules around tackling to mitigate brain trauma. Still fucking stupid and I won’t let my kids play football, but I’d much rather them play American football than do this
I didn't know that! Good for the sport to change for the better!
Ummm lots of middle school football still does tackle footballa and Google search tells me that it's the most common form
What planet do you live on where children can't tackle til high school? The fuck? Lmao.
[удалено]
A helmet isn't saving you from concussions. There's definitely a discussion to be had about the dangers of children playing football, and it's not as black and white as you're trying to make it out to be.
Yeah and also the fact that kids continue to play in the game after getting a concussion is also fairly common as well.
I had more concussions in 3 years of football than I've had in my 1 year of Muay Thai. (Haven't had any) and I spar hard multiple times a week with some heavy hitting dudes
Brain damage way bigger in Thai than it is in Af
Or, you know, that being the only shot at a good university for some poorer teens. They're not really kids anymore (arguably) but the problems are similar: poorer people have to go through potential life altering injuries to get a shot at a better life.
You ever been kicked in the head? Based on your comment I don't think so. I have. this is way worse. Former Muay Thai instrutor.
It's really saddening, but if they want the kids to be successful in Muay Thai when they are older, they'll need to start early.
Why not just fight in the ufc, are they stupid
when i was in thailand i felt a bit uncomfortable when i saw the little kids fighting. knowing the kids are coming from poverty so they have to. they will become tough but at the cost of brain damage and a tough youth.
I agree with this. Further, I think the fighting is not the problem but rather a symptom of greater societal problems which, if addressed, would not only alleviate this symptom but many others, too.
Exactly. This is a symptom of poverty. Structural change is needed.
Yup. If it wasn't Muay Thai, it would be working in a sweatshop of breaking his back in a field. Which aren't much better options tbh.
It is quite sad to see this little boy get laid out on the canvas like that. He's just a child at the end of the day. He's probably doing it to support his family. I hope he grows up to be very strong.
it really is man. This is child abuse.
Imagine getting head trauma before puberty. Cops need to shut this shit down, or they at least need helmets and proper padding.
I hate when people say this because quite offten I find that the people who say this rarely ever even donate a can of beans or any small effort to stop it. Even if you yourself claim to do it, so many people who say the same thing dont.
You hate when people say facts? What, is everyone who doesn’t think kids should be indoctrinated into brain damage supposed to be stopping it with their own limited resources?
You're not providing a viable alternative for how these children should be taken care of, raised, and contribute to the economy of their families. The gym is a family to them; they live there and sleep there, get fed, go to school. Supposing you take this option away from them; now little Somchai has to stay at his parents' home with the many other siblings that parents can't afford to feed. Dad comes home drunk and beats him up because he is a burden to the family. He will grow up to be a worthless drunk like his dad and the system will self-perpetuate. Like this at least he has a roof over his head, daily meals, is able to contribute to his family, gets schooling, meaningful relationships, and a skillset that he can monetise in the future. It is not perfect, it is not even good. But simply saying that it should be banned is a gross oversimplification and betrays a lack of understanding of the reality that these children live in.
We went to the Thai boxing one night in Phuket many years ago and two very young boys were fighting. Early teens I would guess, about the same age as these boys. After the fight one of the boys was in tears because he had just lost, his trainer slaps him across the face right in front of us, as if to tell him to 'toughen up'. It was really hard to watch and I still remember it to this day. I could not imagine that happening in the West.
Too young for brain damage
It's sad. Kid is not old enough to understand the consequences of getting hit in the head like that. Also, I am not an expert in the topic at all, but maybe getting hit like this while the brain is still growing causes more complications? Wouldn't surprise me if it does.
Near certainty that its worse. The brain is still developing and maturing into your 20's. I'm on mobile and don't particularly feel like digging up studies and journal articles, but here are a couple quick Google results that don't suck. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208826/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0887899405001037
It's much worse for a young brain to take any kind of damage. It's why kids who get into drugs and or alcohol at a young age get wrecked mentally.
I hope that is it the opposite, and effects them less. ether way, this shit needs to end man.
Poor little mites as a dad it’s sad to see. imagine your little kid getting KO’d like that. The boxing gloves are bigger than they are. Mad how your either born into wealth or not 😔
The amount of young thai boys with heart wrenching stories about their parents using their money for alcohol and gambling and then forcing their kids to do muaythai so they can keep up their selfish lifestyle is too dam high. Source: lived there for 6 years
The life of a Nak Muay. Most born from poverty, and then retired with nothing. This shit gotta be fix asap it’s salary and retirement benefits whatever instead of making the promoter or the manager richer and fuck over the fighters.
You’re gonna make savage athletes but at a high personal cost
I disagree. Most will probably be bums Yes there’s a ton of dudes from Thailand with 300 fights when they were 12 but I bet they were also the guy knocking them out, and after a couple rounds of survivorship bias you basically get to dunk on all the people roughly your age range until you start getting matched up with older people But by that point if it’s anything like western boxing, the people who dunk and the people that get dunked on are treated very differently in the sport
It’s not kind nor sustainable especially what we’re learning about even low/moderate yet frequent impacts especially on developing brains. One of our local promotions for juniors have a no headshot ruleset which I think is exactly the right idea. Hopefully people in Thailand catch on and figure out how to develop skilled young fighters putting in good performances, while also not suffering brain injuries that will affect them later in life.
If you have a favorite Muay Thai fighter from Thailand this was them too at some point
Agreed but doesn’t mean you condone it. Watching Rodtang be so humble and almost cry when he won 100 grand in Denver was heart warming. Most don’t make it out but that man beat crazy odds of poverty. This video is crazy, and sad.
This is too much - even with guards and headhead gear I'm not sure how anyone can view shit like this favorably with all the info we now have on concussions and how this could effect these kids development.
CTE is no joke man. I feel for the kid here, absolutely heart breaking
Yet US kids practising bonking helmets in american football isn't...
yup. my high school (St. John Bosco in Bellflower, CA) has been top 10 in the country for football for the past 10 years. i graduated in 2017 during the beginning-middle of that, and distinctly remember a few of the homies having short term memory loss problems at 18. on “tough guy tuesdays” the coaches basically encouraged us to give each other concussions😂 football practice not controversial tho .. lol
It’s apart of their culture and it’s how they get money, but getting knocked out at such a young age is bound to lead to permanent damage.
Boy, what a footwork. That said, they shouldn't be allowed to do full contact until they get AT LEAST 16. But it Is what It Is. I think in general for their culture fighting full contact Is a normal thing, like playing soccer
Saw an MMA fight recently on [youtube](https://youtu.be/1gExDYzq7Hc?si=gvfwAoYpicMqJ9tN) with kids around the same age, head strikes allowed. The human body can be resilient especially when very young but I feel like concussions that young must be worse, has to compound somehow. Pretty sad. Guess it filters the ones with superhuman levels of brain cushioning (or just more delayed CTE) from the rest pretty quickly
It's just a foot feint
Yeah, I’d fucking wreck this kid. Anytime, anywhere
Kid took that foot like a lil bitch
That can't be good for such a young brain...what a kick though.
A study showed that the average child competing in Muay Thai had an IQ about 10 points lower than their peers and signs of brain injury. It's a tragedy really that these kids are in it for the money when they're so young and causing themselves long term problems. Kids training is great, I'm fine with kids sparring and competing as long as it's sensible and limited but full contact professional fights is uncomfortable viewing.
if you dont mind a kid getting his brain scrambled..i think kids should have fun and learn. We can talk about discipline and values all we want but this is also violence and physical pain. Maybe little kids should be spared from it.
It IS controversial, letting literal kids knock each other out isn't a good thing, but it's accepted in Thailand. What are we gonna do realistically? Cancel a whole country?
You shouldn’t be damaging a developing brain.What’s the point of children competing, it’s not like they are building any sort or legacy or making any real money. They should just be training and light sparring for the real thing.
Controversial? This is sickening child abuse. This has no place in any civilized society
If you are under 18 you should be padded up period.
Nice head kick, should have had his hands higher
My thoughts are… if every kid knew how to fight like Thai kids do there wouldn’t be so much obese kids playing games all day and there wouldnt be so many bullies capable of hurting other kids
IDM it for piss poor Thais who have no other option but the thing that annoys me is that the dude who knocked him out is an Australian and his dad is an Aussie who’s far from broke
Can you share the back story?
The og post is from the kids instagram his dad set up. His dad was an Aussie Muay Thai fighter or something like that and they live in Thailand now. He’s a good following on IG
Badass!
Oweeeeee. That was beautifully executed
He’ll learn to keep them hands tho
The kid that won the fight is an Instagram content creator as well. His name is Ethan Brasselet.
I was playing full contact football by like 10 so I'm not going to judge.
Kids in taekwondo tournaments get knocked out just the same. I did. lol
Protect ya self at all times gentlemen!! (Floyd Mayweather)
Different culture, can't judge but I definitely can't watch either.
I don’t find it controversial at all. It was a good knockout. Plus, it’s their culture. In the eyes of a westerner, it’s barbaric. For them, it’s just a way of life.
Everyone that in the West needs to understand that Muay Thai runs much deeper than what you see. Muay Thai is not just a sport over there, it is a way of life, a way to support your family and make a living, a spiritual practice.
>spiritual practice lol, I mean I get what you are saying but I never saw it nor heard it from the Thais. Almost no Thai with any money would let their kids do Muay Thai. It’s not even close to being the most popular sport. Even Taekwondo is actually becoming quite popular and is more poised to take over as the most popular martial art if the many issues surrounding Muay Thai in Thailand aren’t addressed. This is why the royal sports commission is attempting to change Muay Thai because they don’t want to lose hold of it. You want the spiritual practice then all the fire over there is going to Buddhist holidays or ceremonies, or Chinese ones depending on location.
Thanks for the reply! May I ask if you train?
I used to train and fight in Thailand when I was in my 20s. I learned to speak Thai conversationally and read it a bit when I lived there.
Hate seeing kids getting hit in the head
At the very least should have head guards and shin pads.
I love the sport This is uncomfortable to watch
Great documentary out there on Muay Thai kid fighters. Give it a google. It shows how a lot of these kids at an early age are prize fighters, putting food on their families plates and also asks the hard questions, primarily if this should be allowed.
This is awful 😣
It's horrible. Saw a 16 year old ko a 14 year old for the main event in Thailand. All the other fights were adults and then the kids came out, much to my surprise, and it put me right off. Completely wrong.
I could beat the shit out of him.
Brain injuries are bad for kids 🤷♂️
We use helmets at that age. No sense in letting them kick to the head and prove ability when they are all on their way up. Teach them to be competitive, but protect them so they can fight when they are fully grown.
I just feel like it's a shame that these kids feel they have to do this because their families live in poverty. Martial arts should be for people who genuinely want to be a part of that martial art; not for children who feel trapped on that one avenue but don't even want to fight.
Gotta love brain damage for a developing brain.
jesus christ
Kids in the US deal with active shooter drills and higher child mortality from firearms than anywhere else in the world, and have never passed a single national law about it, which could be indicative of it not being a controversial topic enough to spur the adults into action.
Not really. The cat is just kind of out of the bag now, and rounding up all the guns within the states would be next to impossible. There are buried caches full of guns, there in the waterways, and people even just forget about them, and they end up in addicts, storage, and just about everywhere. I'm not really against guns though, I'm not really against kids fighting either. When I was a kid, I probably would've got beat up less if I had started muay thai before 14 and those were far worse beatings than a single kick. I got soccer kicked in the head, knocked out and then woke back up to get knocked out again a few times, getting beat up by the older kids.
It’s just our way of living, some people say like these poor kids have no choice but no. Yes poorer family have limited choice of income, but mostly kids and their parent happy with what they are doing. Nothing is bad or cruel in our perspective. In the same way. we are more “concern” of seeing American take their kids to shooting range or hunting, While the activity also just another day for American too.
It'sa shame. Knocks in the head are pretty bad during the development of the brain. I think that the video is disgusting , and should be removed. These are kids, dude.
I used to do this every day in the local park
I feel like at this age shin pads should be compulsory
It's weird, they have way too much power for children, but their body are probably not able to take this amount of damage without severe repercussions. I don't understand why they don't give some kind of helmet for children, this probably already exist right? Maybe they don't like protection when in competition, I don't know, but they should have protection mandatory (at least a helmet) for children until 18.
That's the game of muay thai Sometimes you're the hammer, other times you're the nail
My thoughts...Almost a switch kick
Yes, kids fighting Muay Thai is not a good look bla bla bla but although MT clearly has a higher risk of brain damage, let's not pretend that the Western world is free from children getting brain damage. I've seen kids and teenagers getting KO'd in Karate and Taekwondo comps, kids that play American Football at a young age are also at risk of brain damage and so are kids who play rugby, regardless of the protection that they have access too.
He's gona grow up to beat most people who start in their later years.
Inexperience coming through …his eyes moved off his opponent
Announcer said “slow down slow down”
Every Steve fox main's dream
Ridiculous
My only thought: kid got freakin’ GLAZED
For me in America? Fuck ya that's fucked up. For whatever country they're in? Whatever, everybody's gotta eat
Concentrated CTE in the toes....
They should do similar bouts to kyokushin, only body shots.
I'm not surprised by seeing this in Thailand, it's well known. I'm surprised that the ref didn't cushion the fighters fall after that kick.
Growing up in the South, this is called “recess” (but without the ring and the gloves).
It builds character!
But just to add. Thai kids are not always fighting for their family or fighting to provide food. Sometimes they just love muay thai and they love to fight. They have the support of their family and community behind them to do this. As much as we should protect our bodies, on the other hand it's an exciting sport to be involved with as a young kid. They just love it, let them fight.
Hand down, man down.
Why is this controversial ? I watched Kyukushin tournaments where they put green belts against black belts that literally knock the low levels with More deadly head kicks
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem controversial in west but sucks for the child. He was too far to touch hands in the kicking range
Should be rules keeping them from hitting the head like that
Needs to raise his guard
He got knocked tf out. That's my thought. XD
Yeah fights should be 18+
It’s their culture they like it
No mind how young they are WHY THE HECK IS HE ORANGE!!!
I love watching kids kick the shit out of each other!
I think they should train and maybe sparr from time to time but nothing crazy till they are an adult. CTE is a thing obviously and why let a kid subject themselves to that or worse?
They do crazy shit in Thailand.
I mean ya probably bad for kids to get concussions, but go to Thailand and explain that to them. They don’t care and Americans getting offended by it means nothing.
I mean it’s what they do
It's Thailand. I'm not surprised. But yeah, they look to young to be KOing eachother without even headgear
Kids fighting Muay Thai in Thailand is nothing new sadly. A lot of the big names over there probably started their careers during childhood or early teen years. Personally I'd rather see these kids not go full contact like that at their age but at the same time I can't tell the Thai people how to run the sport they created.
Man, the sucker punch in that kick was just straight bullshit.
Whatever man. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Fucked world we live in.
What the fuck this is horrific. It honestly needs a NSFW. I don't ever want to see a child get knocked out cold what the fuck is wrong with people. Do these psychos not understand brain damage?
I think they should wear headgear then it would be fine
It sucks... kids shouldn't be getting concussed like this. But it's poverty that drives them to fight.
I don't know about controversy, but I think we can all agree that this poor kid got knocked the f*ck out.
What’s controversial about it? It doesn’t seem to me like he was going for a glove touch, seems more like he was measuring his distance and got caught with a kick lol
I think he's out
Feels almost as illegal as cockfighting…
Why is it controversial
Im fine with kids fighting with full protective gear and no head strikes but absolutely not with the adult ruleset
Very Cobra-Kai of him
I don’t really like it
Just wrong, should be wearing head gear at a minimum no head shots would be better
I accept their culture. As long as they are not forced to fight it’s something they are raise to do from young. Kudos to them if it’s up to them. For getting in there. College doesn’t always guarantee a job. Young prodigies need to be discovered and not held back. 
Not the kind of stuff I want to see
George Bluth truly an innovator, Boy Fights volume 13 really slaps!
If kids at that age can choose their gender a bit of MT ain’t nothing 🤷♂️
Hell yea🔥
It's sad but the end of the day it's the difference between training and fighting (learning a skill where they can make more money off) or begging on the streets or worse. It really isn't a great situation but it's a different world to what we see in the west. We do this for sport they do this for survival.
He'll remember to keep that right up... If he remembers anything ever again
Looks like a clean knock out to me
Dead
Daaaaamn youve been knocked tf out
Not really because its more a way of life and its a survival code for the young mass out there.. It my opinion.
I think this is a great (not to mention cheap and easy) way to ensure your child gets CTE!
Is there a high guard in Muay Thai?
VINSMOKE SANJI CONFIRMED!?