Women in Muay Thai: Breaking Barriers

Women have made significant strides in combat sports, breaking barriers and gaining recognition in various disciplines like boxing, MMA, and wrestling. Their contributions have helped challenge stereotypes and promote gender equality in these competitive arenas. This article highlights female athletes in Muay Thai.

Female Muay Thai fighters have gained prominence in the sport, showcasing exceptional skills, strength, and determination.

In this article we highlight several notable female Muay Thai athletes who have contributed to the growing popularity and recognition of women in the sport.

Stamp Fairtex

Stamp Fairtex (Nong Stamp) is one of the best female kickboxers of the modern era. A product of the famed Fairtex gym, Stamp has a 64-17-5 professional Muay Thai record. She also competes in mixed martial arts where she’s built up a 9-2 record.

Stamp started learning Muay Thai as a five-year-old and began competing a year later. She won regional and local titles as a child and eventually moved to their Fairtex gym at 18 to sharpen her skills. She signed a contract with ONE Championship in 2018 and she’s been on a roll ever since. She won the Atomweight Kickboxing World Title during her debut and picked up the Muay Thai equivalent in her next outing.

Anissa Meksen

Anissa Meksen is widely considered to be the pound-for-pound best female kickboxer on the planet. She sports a 103-5 Muay Thai record, with 33 of her victories coming via knockout. She also has a 2-0 record as a professional boxer.

At 34 years old, Meksen has won virtually every title a female Muay Thai fighter could win and she’s currently signed with ONE Championship combat sport organization.

Wondergirl Fairtex

Wondergirl Fairtex (Nat Jaroonsak) is one of the most exciting stars in women’s Muay Thai today. In a fairly short time, following her ONE Championship debut, she has captured attention for her aggressive style.

Wondergirl is originally from Bangkok and began training Muay Thai when she was six years old under the watchful eye of her father at their family gym, Jaroonsak Muay Thai. She then moved to Pattaya to train at Fairtex where she developed further skills in Thai Boxing, becoming a better fighter in the process. She has fought more than 50 times and won multiple national titles. Her career at ONE Championship has been a huge success. Wondergirl is a highly skilled and explosive female fighter with an incredible career ahead of her.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

One of the pioneers in women’s MMA fighting, Joanna Jedrzejczyk is known as one of the best Muay Thai fighters ever in the UFC. She was a world champion in Muay Thai before venturing into MMA, and still uses her spectacular skills in the Octagon. Her skillset includes wild elbows, knees, and a high-tempo pressure attack, very characteristic of Muay Thai.

Although this Polish superstar’s career might have reached its low point after losses to Rose Namajunas, Valentina Shevchenko, and Weili Zhang, she is still one of Muay Thai’s best fighters in the UFC.

Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko grew up under the influence of her mother, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s national Muay Thai association and a former champion herself. Valentina’s entry into martial arts began with Taekwondo at age 5. By age 12, Valentina transitioned to Muay Thai and freestyle Vale Tudo.

Her breakout moment arrived in 2000 when, despite her young age, she secured a knockout victory against a much older opponent. This impressive feat earned her the nickname “Bullet”, (because of her speed and accuracy) by her coach at that time, Pavel Fedotov.

Over the next decade and a half, Shevchenko’s reputation in the combat sports realm grew exponentially. Between 2003 and 2015, she achieved over 90 wins in disciplines like K-1, Muay Thai, and kickboxing, with a stunning ten wins by technical knockout or knockout. Her success was highlighted with 8 gold medals at the IFMA world championships across various years and a crowning achievement at the IMFA Royal World Cup in 2015.

Among her numerous notable encounters, she beat UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk three times and secured a win against future UFC contender Lina Länsberg.

Stephanie Moon

Stephanie Moon started training Jiu-Jitsu in 1996 and is a Gracie Fighter black belt. She has competed in international competitions, coached a Muay Thai Kickboxing team, and provided training for many women’s Jiu Jitsu courses.

As a dedicated women’s teacher, she is adept at helping single women, married women without kids, moms, and even grandmothers get the most out of Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai Kickboxing classes.

Stephanie retired from fighting with a combined record of 20-4. This includes boxing, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and MMA. She continues to compete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and placed third in the 2018 IBJJF Masters World Championship black belt division. She’s the head instructor at Lamorinda Jiu-Jitsu & Kickboxing in Lafayette, CA.

Stephanie Moon is particularly relevant to this article because she has connections to the Global Martial Arts University (GMAU). She was the first Muay Thai coach of the GMAU’s head Muay Thai instructor, Nick Vasallo.

I recently did an in-depth interview with Nick Vasallo, which is available on the GMAU YouTube channel. If you’d like to hear more about Stephanie directly from Nick himself, check out the 05:33 – 08:04 timestamped section of the video: