Muay Thai Kickboxing
Martial Arts Event Rises to New Level
By Megan Kung
Kru Sam Phimsoutham has outdone himself this year. Rather than settle for the already popular amateur bouts featured at past Asian Heritage Street Celebrations, the World Team USA owner has invested more than $100,000 in a truly pan-ethnic and professional martial arts showcase.
Shaolin monks flown in from China will be kicking off the martial arts event this year. Adding a theatrical air will be a lion dance team introducing amateur and professional fighters, along with cameras recording the event to be streamed online at martialvillage.org.
After the Shaolin martial arts demonstration, Filipino fighters from the International Eskrima/Serrada Association will show off their weapon skills in dizzying blurs of sticks and blades. A simple yet effective martial art, Eskrima views short weapons like sticks and knives as extensions of the body. Eskrima’s practicality arose from the need to quickly teach large groups of ordinary villagers how to fight.
In the main ring, amateur and professional Muay Thai and mixed martial arts fighters will provide non-stop action. The World Boxing Council, the organization under which champion boxer Manny Pacquiao achieved the super welterweight title, will sanction the professional fights.
Muay Thai, also known as the “Art of Eight Limbs,” uses the hands, elbows, knees and feet to deliver damage. Mixed martial arts often combines the punching and kicking techniques of Muay Thai with the grappling and wrestling of other forms of fighting, like judo or jiu-jitsu, resulting in a unique style to each fighter.
At street level beside the main ring will be mats where fights and demonstrations of various sports and traditional martial arts will take place. As this event historically draws the largest crowd all day at the street fair, try to show up before the monks begin the festivities at 2 p.m.
