One day we got up at 5am to film a video with Dave Leduc (https://www.leduclethwei.com/) and Coach Nicolas St Maurice (https://www.coachnictraining.com/) at the public park next to Skydive Dubai in Dubai Marina. Dave was training for an upcoming world champion title defense in Myanmar.
At the time of writing and filming, Dave remains the current undefeated Lethwei openweight World Champion, winning the title in 2016 and defending it multiple times as the first non-Burmese person to ever win in over a thousand years of LethWei history.
LethWei, more commonly known in the West as Burmese Bare Knuckle Boxing, is actually an ancient martial art form that is considered one of (if not) the most brutal full contact combat sports in the world. Records exist of LethWei matches happening in the year 2BC in the Pyu Empire in what is known today as Myanmar. The sport allows full use of fists, elbows, knees and feet, as well as allowing head butts, which is why it is called the “Art of Nine Limbs”.
Of course some antipathy exists for each martial art discipline within the fringes and fervent loyalists / purists of other martial arts’ communities and the same is true when it comes to LethWei, many dismiss it out of hand and denigrate the sport, the arguments made are usually devoid of any knowledge/understanding of LethWei. Developing as the national sports of two neighbouring countries and different civilisations, LethWei and Muay Thai have enjoyed something of a rivalry between the two sports, it is often a lot more difficult than is thought to cross the boundaries of these differing martial arts competitively because the training and styles are inherently influenced by the respective peculiarities and differences in the point scoring system of each martial art.
For example in Muay Thai judges in arenas and stadiums like the infamous Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok strictly adhere to a sophisticated system of scoring that looks at things like effective aggression, attacking intent, ring generalship (or control) pure aggression etc. This has a huge influence on the strategy, for example you will notice that in the first and last round of fights the fighters are not aggressively pursuing their opponent, often strategically using the first round to read their opponent, and often reducing the tempo of the fight in the last round if confident of achieving a point score victory.
Traditional LethWei rules calls for 5 rounds of 3 minute bouts, headbutts, all punches, all elbow and knee strikes are permitted as is extensive clinching, sweeps & throws etc.. Gloves are prohibited with only tape, gauze and electrical tape allowed to cover the hands or feet.
In traditional LethWei rules there is no point system, the only way to win is by knockout or because of the opponents inability to physically continue fighting. Matches result in a draw if both fighters are still standing at the end of 5 rounds. This means fighters are usually intensely motivated to end a fight with a knockout and removes the ‘point scoring’ element from the equations they use to develop tactics/skills/techniques for fighting. This is why a lot of purists such as Joe Rogan, look at LethWei with respect, because it perhaps most accurately translates pure martial combat into a professional sport. I mean, if you are in a medieval battlefield fighting an enemy, you are not going to care about scoring points, your primary and only concern is to deliver enough damage to your opponent to render him physically unable to present any further risk to you.
The Modern Rules Lethwei which was introduced in 1996 removed the two minute injury timeout and saw the addition of ringside judges for the first time in the sport. Other significant changes brought about in the Modern Rules was the scoring system of the judges, who now score on the basis of “aggression, number of significant strikes per round, damage and blood drawn.” Fighters can be knockdowned a maximum of 3 times in a round and 4 times overall before a KO. Many commentators suggest these changes occured in order to reduce the chances of matches ending in a draw.
Follow Dave on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/kingleduc/
Learn more about Dave’s history on his website @ https://www.leduclethwei.com/about
