There are lots of Muay Thai documentaries and TV shows out there, but discovering them and finding links to watch them online can be difficult. Here, I’ve built a directory where you can find all of them in one place. Videos are separated by type (documentary or TV series, and those based on child fighters have their own category). Click on the film titles for direct links to watch them.

If you know of any Muay Thai documentaries, films or TV shows that need to be added, contact me by commenting below or via the Under the Ropes Facebook page

Muay Thai Documentaries

A Day in the Life of a Muay Thai Fighter

This is a mini documentary about Malaysian fighter, Bernard ‘Headhunter’ Radin, who was a fighter for Contender Asia 2.

A Lanna Trilogy

This is a three-part documentary on Lanna gym in Chiang Mai, filmed by ‘Brave Dave‘ over three trips there in 2001, 2003 and 2005. Watch it on YouTube and read Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu’s review.

A Muay Thai Pilgrimage

An 18-minute film about Angela Chang, a fighter from New York living in Bangkok for several years. It follows her in the lead-up to her bout on a Top King World Series show in Ayutthaya.

Beautiful Boxer

This one is based on a true story and a drama rather than a documentary, but is worth including here. This famous film is based on Parinya Charoenpol, who we know as Nong Toom, now a world-renowned transgender Muay Thai fighter. Watch the trailer on YouTube.

Blessed with Venom

A feature-length documentary on the life and career of John Wayne Parr, which is available in full on Youtube. You can watch the trailer and buy the DVD on the official website.

Born for the Fight

Filmed in 1992 and broadcast on National Geographic, Born for the Fight gives an in-depth look into the history and culture of Muay Thai while following the lives of three fighters; Namkabuan, Saenliam at Sidyodtong in Pattaya and Oran, a young fighter from Buriram.

Buakaw: Boxer, Legend, Legacy

A Muay Ties documentary about Buakaw. There are three different trailers (which you can watch here, here and here) and the film is due for release in Europe and the US in a few weeks.

Child Thai Boxers: A Fighting Chance

This 12-minute documentary follows the story of Bpaet, a young fighter at Wor. Wattana Gym.

Dreamchasers: I Want to be a Muay Thai Fighter

Dreamchasers is a reality TV series on A&E network, but it’s featured here in the ‘documentaries’ section because this Muay Thai-related episode was just a one-off. It followed Nat McIntyre, a 31-year old amateur fighter from Minnesota, as he travels to Thailand to train at Lanna Muay Thai and has his first fight in Thailand. I’m not entirely sure when this was shot, but since then, Nat has won IKF and WKA professional titles, and is now a trainer at The Academy in Minnesota. Nat gives talks the viewer through the entire process from leaving his home gym to coming out of his fight against JR from Lanna Muay Thai. I think this is definitely worth watching. You can watch it by clicking the above link, which leads to Nat’s bio page, and scrolling down to the bottom, where you’ll find the video embedded.

Fighting Chance

This is the story of Rawai Muay Thai, in Khao Lak. The gym’s founders, Diana and Tuk, talk about how they met and set up the gym together, and how they care for their fighters.

Fight – League of Legends

This 27-minute documentary follows Tanet ‘Jacky’ Puangngoen, a Thai fighter living in Hong Kong. He’s also a gamer, and when he’s not training, he’s playing League of Legends. He talks about the parallels between his two passions as he competes in the Hong Kong Muay Thai championship.

Fighter: The Legend of a Thai Boxer

In this 8-minute short film, trainer and ex-fighter Wisarut Wat Suksriwararak talks about how the true art of Muay Thai is being lost as the sport becomes more commercialized. “Now, Muay Thai is more about business than tradition”, he says.

Fighting the Dream

An excellent, 5-minute documentary about Sylvie Von Duuglas-Ittu and her journey to have 100 fights in Thailand.

Fight Club Asia

A National Geographic documentary that follows Sam-A Gaiyanghaadao, Bpragaiphet Eminent Air and Fa Tong Lanna Muay Thai.

Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight is described as a ‘multi-award-winning film set in Thailand. Based on an Irishman’s journey into the fighting circuit in Muay Thai boxing. The award-winning film explores Buddhism & Thai culture and a westerners initiation into the sport – with spectacular cinematography showing Thailand’s beauty and spectacular scenery’. You can watch the trailer, but you will have to buy the full movie.

Gambpan กำปั้น (Fist)

This short Thai film follows a young Thai girl named Yui as she finds Muay Thai and has her first fight. It’s in Thai with English subtitles. You can watch it on Facebook.

Gina Carano – Fight in Thailand

A 20-minute documentary covering Gina Carano as she trains with Master Toddy for a professional fight in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Girl Power – Thai Style



A short feature on Nong Benz Sit. Dobwad by PRI’s The World on how her fight career helps her to pay for her education and to support her family. Read the full feature to find out more.

Inside the Fight – Battle of the Belts

A Can’t Stop Crazy production on Joe Schilling and his fight against Karapet Karapetyan for the WBC Light-heavyweight world title.

Into the Fire

A behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some of the world’s best Muay Thai fighters, including Kevin Ross and Baxter Humby, as they strive to become Muay Thai Premier League and WMC World Champions. The above link gives the trailer. Unfortunately, the full documentary doesn’t seem to be available online.

Jerome Adamoli: Portrait of a Muay Thai Fighter

This is a mini documentary about French fighter Jerome Adamoli, who trains under Krongsak in Paris.

John Wayne Parr: Foxsport Special

A 2-hour feature by Foxsport in which Mark ‘The Hammer’ Castagnini interviews John Wayne Parr. It includes clips from some of his best fights throughout his career.

Kiatmoo9: Building a Legacy

This documentary is mainly an interview with Kiatmoo9’s manager, Sudja Pumprakorn, and Jerdja Kiatmoo9, the gym’s head trainer.

Kick Fighters

A National Geographic documentary following John Wayne Parr, Masato and Buakaw Por. Pramuk as they prepare for the K1-World Max Championship.

KO a Bangkok

Life in the Cock Fighting Pit

A 20-minute documentary about Phet Jee Jaa, the 12-year-old ‘girl who fights boys’. The film starts from the point at which she was banned from fighting boys (as all girls were) and goes on to show the subsequent effect on her and her family.

Life of Buakaw

A short anime about Buakaw, starting with his fight against Dutch champion, Andy Souwer in the K1 world Max Tournament in 2005, which he unexpectedly lost. It then gives the story of Buakaw’s childhood discovery of Muay Thai before depicting his rematch with Souwer in 2006.

Lumpini

Lumpini delves into the world of gambling at the famous stadium and how it affects Muay Thai. It follows Saenchai, arguably the most famous fighter in the sport; and Kwankao, a young fighter chasing the 130-lb Lumpini stadium title. The doc begs the question, “can the stadium and the sport survive the existential crisis wrought by corruption?” The film costs $3.99 to rent on Vimeo.

MTV’s True Life – ‘I’m a Muay Thai Fighter’

An episode of MTV’s ‘True Life’ series which followed Kit Cope and Ben Garcia as they trained with Master Toddy in Las Vegas and travelled to Thailand to compete in the annual bare-knuckle, Thailand vs. Burma event in Mae Sot in 2004. Unfortunately, the True Life episode doesn’t seem to be available online, but you can watch a feature on the entire bare-knuckle event (which is much longer and has a lot more fight footage) on YouTube in separate parts (Ben Garcia’s fight is in part 3 and Kit Cope’s fight is in part 7): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

Muay Thai Children Fighting for Cash

A 23-minute documentary by Unreported World, which follows child fighters in Isaan and explores the topic of exploitation in Muay Thai.

Muay Thai Documentary 8 Limbs: Life of a Nak Muay

A Liverkick documentary about two fighters from Phuket Top Team — Kru Lucky and Yoduman. Watch part 1 and part 2.

Muay Thai Boxing in Bangkok

A 5-minute film featuring 17- year old Ong-ard Padnamu and 20-year old Ekkachai Dangsuntad, who train at 96 Peenang Gym in Bangkok.

Muay Thai Every Corner

A 48-minute film in English and Spanish. The DVD no longer seems to be available for purchase, but you can watch the trailer on YouTube.

Muay Thai Superstars – Antione Pinto

A Siangboxing documentary on Antione Pinto and his rise to stardom in Thai Fight. This film is in Thai language.

One Arm Strong

This is only 2 minutes long, but I think it’s worth sharing. It shows the inspiring story of Baxter Humby, a Canadian fighter known as the ‘One-Armed Bandit’. Baxter’s right hand was amputated at birth. Despite this, he’s won a number of belts including world titles.

One-Handed Fighter

A 5-minute piece on Prakaipetch Eminent Air, who was born with only one hand.

PTT Petchrungruang

An 8-minute documentary on PTT Petchrungruang. He talks about how lots of teenage boys get tired of fighting and give up, but he refuses to do so himself, despite having a year-long losing streak. He also says that his dream is to fight on Thai Fight. Three years later, he’s now been signed to the promotion. Read Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu’s post on him to find out more about his story.

Ramon Dekkers – The Man Behind the Knockouts

Interviews with the legendary Dutch pioneer of Muay Thai.

Ramon Dekkers – A Living Legend

A shorter, 10-minute documentary on Ramon Dekkers and his career.

Ring Girls

Master Toddy mentors Gina Carano, Christina Toledo, Lisa King, LaTasha Marzolla and Ardra Hernandez and takes them to Thailand to fight against Thai fighters. You can watch it in Youtube videos separated into ten parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.

Road to Greatness – The Art of Muay Thai Boxing

A short, 5-minute piece featuring Stephan Fox and Clifton Brown. Stephan talks about the WMC’s Muay Thai Against Drugs campaign, which encourages children to learn Muay Thai and promotes awareness of the dangers of drugs. Clifton goes to a Thai school to promote the campaign to the students.

Saiyok Pumpanmuang by Elite Boxing

A 20-minute feature on Saiyok Windy Sport (Pumpanmuang) and his life inside and outside of the ring.

Serious Crush – Gina Carano

OK, this one is actually MMA-related, but it’s just a little one. It’s a short feature by ESPN that covers Gina Carano’s transition to MMA from Muay Thai and the controversy that was involved.

Stand Your Ground

Stand Your Ground is the story of Brendan Mcdonnell and how Muay Thai helped him deal with his father’s suicide. At the moment, only the trailer is available.

The Noble Art of Muay Thai

This film breaks down different techniques and principles of Muay Thai in both traditional and modern aspects.

Thai Boxing- A Fighting Chance

A documentary filmed in 2002 and narrated by Jason Statham that follows three fighters — Sam Sheridan, a Harvard graduate who is training in Thailand with Apidet; Boonterm Kitmuti, a female Thai fighter and 29-year old mother of two who was previously forbidden to fight due to sexist tradition; and Gongprai Sor. Jintana, a young fighter from Ayutthaya.

Thai Prison Fights by Vice’s Fightland

A 10-minute documentary on the Prison Fight event at Khlong Prem prison in 2013, where prisoners fought in Muay Thai bouts against foreigners for the opportunity for reduced sentences (read my post on my visit to Prison Fight).

Top of Thailand: The Best of the Best in Muay Thai

A 20-minute documentary on Anuwat, Yodsanklai and Saenchai, narrated by Rob Cox. Watch part 1 and part 2.

Under the Lights in Thailand

This documentary follows the USA Muay Thai Team as they take part in the 2014 WMF Pro-Am World Championship tournament. In order to watch it, you can contact the Under the Lights in Thailand Facebook page to receive access to the video.

Under the Rope

Under the Rope is an eight-minute documentary about Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu. Its creator, Simon Mulvaney, describes it as “the story of how a feminist from the U.S.A. fell in love with a foreign community that has gender inequality at the core of its values”.

Where Cultures Collide: Muay Thai

This is a 5-minute video from KCET about Jackie Buntan. She talks about how she got into Muay Thai and why she loves the sport.

Muay Thai Documentaries on Child Fighters

Buddha’s Lost Children

This is a fantastic documentary about the Golden Horse Monastery in Northern Thailand, where travelling monk Kru Bah teaches the local children the art of Muay Thai. You can watch it on Youtube and read Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu’s review of the movie.

Buffalo Girls

Todd Kellstein’s wonderful documentary about Stamp and Pet, two eight-year-old girls in rural Thailand who fight Muay Thai to support their families. I absolutely loved this documentary, it’s a must-watch. Read Sylvie von Duuglas -Ittu’s review.

Children of the Ring by E:60

A 15-minute film by ESPN on children fighting Muay Thai in Thailand.

Raised in the Ring

A documentary following five young fighters in Northern Thailand. The full film doesn’t seem to be available online, but you can watch the trailer on YouTube.

Strictly Baby Fight Club

A Channel 4 documentary on children’s Thai boxing in the UK, which follows five young fighters including Iman Barlow’s younger brother, Thai. Unfortunately, the above link is not available to watch in the UK, which could possibly be due to the controversy it caused among the UK Muay Thai community after it’s release, as a result of its rather negative and unfair representation of the sport.

Taboo – Child Boxers of Thailand

A documentary from National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ series. The above link is from Damien Trainor’s website and includes a short review from him.

Torn Cloth

A documentary filmed at a gym in Northern Thailand, about young boys who take up Muay Thai and compete in bare-knuckle matches. The full film is not yet available, but you can watch the trailer on YouTube.

Win. Lose. Forgive

A 27-minute short film, filmed in 2012 featuring Monlit Sitpohdaeng and Jongsanan along with Ben Brown, who is a student of theirs at PHAS3 Martial Arts in California. See the film’s website and watch the trailer. You can watch the film in full on YouTube and on Vimeo.

TV Shows

The Contender Asia

A 2008 reality TV series, filmed in Singapore and hosted by WMC Vice President, Stephan Fox. 16 aspiring middleweight fighters from around the world were put together in a house and divided into two opposing teams. They took part in challenges and fought against each other for the Contender title and a cash prize of $150,000.

Episode 1: Naruepol vs. Trevor Smandych

Episode 2: Sean Wright vs. Jams Martinez

Episode 3: John Wayne Parr vs. Rafik Bakkouri

Episode 4: Yodsaenklai vs. Bruce Macfie

Episode 5: Soren Monkongtong vs. Alain Slyvestre

Episode 6: Dzhabar Askerov vs. David Pacquette

Episode 7: Zidov “Akuma” Dominik vs. Kim Khan Zaki “Zig Zach”

Episode 8: Jose “Pitu” Sans vs. Joakim “Yukay” Karlsson

Episode 9: Yodsaenklai vs. Naruepol

Episode 10: Sean Wright vs. Joakim “Yukay” Karlsson

Episode 11: John Wayne Parr vs. Zidov “Akuma” Dominik

Episode 12: Soren Monkongtong vs. Dzhabar Askerov

Episode 13: Yodsaenklai vs. Sean Wright

Episode 14: Yodsaenklai vs. John Wayne Parr

The Challenger Muay Thai

Stephan Fox’s 2011 follow up to Contender Asia. Fighters included Antione Pinto, Cyrus Washington and Jordan Watson. As of yet, I haven’t found a way to watch this online. If anyone knows of a link, please let me know. Watch a teaser here.

Fight Girls

A reality TV show in which seven American female fighters, including Miriam Nakamoto and Felice Herrig, live and train together. They’re trained by Master Toddy, with Gina Carano and Lisa King as mentors. They compete against each other before going to Thailand to fight against experienced Thai fighters.

Episode 1 – Hit me with your Best Shot

Episode 2 – Hungry like the Wolf

Episode 3 – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Episode 4 – Breaking Us in Two

Episode 5 – Another One Bites the Dust

Episode 6 – Revenge

Episode 7 – Hurts So Good

Inside the Fight – USA vs. Thailand

A four-part series following some of the best Muay Thai fighters in America as they fight against Thai champions.

Episode 1

Episode 2 – Romie Adanza vs. Lansuanlek Sasiprapa

Episode 3 – Kevin Ross vs. Sagetdao Petchpayathai

Episode 4 – Joe Schilling vs Kaoklai Kaenorasing

Muay Thai Girl

Muay Thai girl is a fictional drama series from Singapore, based around a Muay Thai fighting main character named Samantha.

Episode 1 – Samantha

Episode 2 – Confession

Episode 3 – Happy Birthday

Episode 4 – Her Past

Episode 5 – Smashed

Episode 6 – Bubble Wrapped

Episode 7 – Sisters

Episode 8 – Homecoming

Episode 9 – Reunion

Episode 10 – Stand Up

Muay Thai Journal

Episode 1 – Pornsanae Sitmonchai

Episode 2 – Sam A Gaiyanghaadao

Episode 3 – The Next Generation

Episode 4 – Petchatsawin Seatransferry

Episode 5 – Rungubon Eminent Air

Episode 6 – Rob Cox

Episode 7 – Social Mobility ft. Abigail McCullough

Episode 8 – Petchisaan Seatransdiscovery

Episode 9 – Justin Greskiewicz

Episode 10 – Thanit ‘Boom’ Watthanaya

Episode 11 – Giatbundit Gym

Tuff Girls

Master Toddy’s follow-up from Ring Girls and Fight Girls. This reality series features nine female fighters from around the world who train with him in Bangkok for six weeks. First, they fight each other. Then, they fight Thai opponents. This series was aired on Canada’s Fight Network and Australia’s Fuel TV, but is currently unavailable online. You can watch the trailer and the pilot episode online.

Shin on Shin by Liverkick

A series by Liverkick which focuses on Muay Thai and kickboxing in Europe. It’s broken down into 20-minute Episodes, listed below.

Shin on Shin Episode 1: The Fall, Hated Dominance, Unappreciated Brilliance

Shin on Shin Episode 2: Alexey Ignashov The First Next Big Thing, Badr Hari The People’s Champ

Shin on Shin Episode 3: The Wages of the Wars, In Honor of those we lost…

Shin on Shin Episode 4: They Call it a War

Shin on Shin Episode 5: The Tour

Shin on Shin Episode 6: The Never Ending Story (Women’s Fighting)

Shin on Shin Episode 7: From the Gym to the Corner (Coaches)

Shin on Shin Episode 8: Where They Hate the Heroes (Holland)

Shin on Shin Episode 9: The Ambassador Remy Bonjasky, Stars of the Future

Shin on Shin Episode 10: The Pretty Killer, The King of the Ring

Warriors of the Mongkol

An Australian series showcasing some of the best Muay Thai fighters in the country. Watch episode 1 here and visit the official website to purchase the rest of the series.

Help the directory to grow. If you know of any Muay Thai documentary or TV show that isn’t listed here, please submit it in a comment below.