Pinca

Universality is the foundation of Olympism, the IOC just recognised muaythai and this was one of the factors, the sport may have its roots in the old Siam today known as the modern Thailand but when a French champion beat a Thai superstar for one of the most prestigious championship belts then it truly proves Muaythai belongs to the world.
Fabio Pinca silenced the kingdom and the Thai fans when he beat Manoawan for the prestigious Rajadamnern title at 147lbs in front of a capacity crowd in an epic battle between two amazing athletes.

20 years ago, the big stadiums would have people queued outside to get tickets to see the battles between Ramon Decker and the best Thai boxers with him beating the unbeatable and opening the doors for amazing contests. Today the medals are evenly spread between athletes such as Igor Liebchenko from Ukraine who has never been beaten by a Thai and won the last 3 IFMA World Championships and every time beating the Thai champion, Artem Levin from Russia beating the Thai superstar Yodsaenklai and the list goes on.

The_World_Games_2009_Wroclaw

This is why the world is looking forward to two amazing upcoming events, the IFMA World Championships in Belarus which will be the last qualifier for the 2017 World Games and then the main event on the IFMA calendar the World Games, where there will be no free seats in the arena as the elite of the muaythai world will travel to Poland for the debut of Muaythai in the games.