USA vs China, Team WuLinFeng vs Team WCK
Top local performers on latest WCK Las Vegas Muay Thai fightcard include cruiserweight champion Mike LeMaire (l) posing for a photo with his coach Melchor Menor at the Pechanga Resort & Casino. (r) WBC Featherweight Champion Adam Rothweiler of San Bernardino, CA unloads one of his flashy, flying kicks on his opponent Adrian Morilla. Photos: Jim Wyatt
On Saturday night, November 2, 2013, Las Vegas and Muay Thai fans watching at home on Fox Sports Prime Ticket will be in for quite a treat as two of the major Muay Thai powerhouses go head to head. Just take a gander at the people on the poster below.
As a celebrated Mixed Martial Artist, Tang Jin of China defeated one of our local world champions Tiffany Van Soest of the Blue Ocean Muay Thai team of San Diego. While getting pummeled in the face by Van Soest, she maintained position long enough to get the win by Armbar submission. She also had a battle royal with Muay Thai World Champion Claire Haigh of Luxembourg which ended in a draw.
One of the most celebrated female Mixed Martial Artist is Tang Jin of China.
Her opponent is the very tough Justine Kish who in her first year of competing (2011) was a finalist of Master Toddy’s “Tuff Girls” series and she was later selected “Rookie of the Year” from the US Combat Sports Magazine.
Shortly after a tough but successful year of rehab from knee reconstruction, she had a long term stay in Phuket, Thailand at the famed Sinbi Muay Thai Training Camp. After several months of rigorous training and a dozen bouts under the Sinbi banner, she was able to return to the USA as the undefeated Bangla Stadium Champion as well as the 2012 WMC 58.8kg World Champion (November, 2012).
Since that time she’s been fighting wherever and whenever she can, whether it’s MMA or Muay Thai it doesn’t seem to matter. Formerly from North Carolina, as of late Kish has been training in Los Angeles for this Las Vegas skirmish.
Whether it’s a Muay Thai bout or an MMA bout, Justine Kish is ready.
Like the men, these blood and guts gals will be fighting full rules Muay Thai which means the fans will get to see the flying elbows and knees which make the contest truly the science of eight limbs.
Typical rules for amateur Muay Thai fighters are a combination of boxing with leg kicks to an opponent’s legs, body and head. You can also sweep or throw your opponent as long as you are using proper and legal techniques. In a full rules bout you can box, kick, knee and elbow. You can throw knees to the head by forcing your opponent’s head down towards the knee, and you can also throw elbows to the head — or anywhere really. That’s what makes full rules Muay Thai such a risk factor.
Once again look over this poster and tell me if you see any fighter that you could say is soft. These are some of the toughest competitors in the sport facing what appears to be the best from China, a country with how many inhabitants? Roughly 1,360,350,000 people. With that many people in your country, you can be sure your Muay Thai fighters are always going to be tough.
