BEGINNER'S FAQ

Lethwei is the traditional bareknuckle fighting art of Myanmar (formerly Burma), often called the "Art of Nine Limbs" because it adds headbutts to the eight striking weapons used in Muay Thai — fists, elbows, knees, and kicks. Bagan-era temple carvings appear to show pairs of men locked in combat, suggesting the sport is potentially over a thousand years old.

Unlike most modern combat sports, traditional Lethwei is fought without gloves. Under the rules, fighters may wear only tape, gauze and electrical tape on their hands and feet. The sources describe ancient matches as taking place on sand pits rather than in rings, and the traditional ruleset recognises only knockout as a path to victory — there are no judges' scorecards.

Lethwei is described as Myanmar's national martial art, and traditional matches are still fought throughout Myanmar, especially during festivals and celebrations such as Thingyan. To learn more about where Lethwei came from, visit the history page.

The most obvious difference is headbutts — Lethwei permits them as a legal weapon, while headbutts are banned from most other combat sports, including Muay Thai.

The second major difference is the absence of gloves. Lethwei's rules prohibit gloves: fighters may wear only tape, gauze and electrical tape on their hands and feet, applied in front of the fight officials, who endorse the wraps.

Finally, the traditional scoring system is different. Under traditional rules there are no judges and no scoring system — a fight is either won by knockout or, if both fighters are still standing at the end, declared a draw. The World Lethwei Championship used the tournament ruleset created in 1996, which added ringside judges. For a detailed side-by-side breakdown, see the comparisons page.

Lethwei is often described as one of the bloodiest and most violent martial arts, a reputation the sources link to its bareknuckle nature combined with the traditional two-minute timeout.

Whether it is the most brutal sport in the world cannot be answered from the sources: we have not found published injury or concussion data for Lethwei, so this site makes no claim about how often injuries occur or how its risks compare with other combat sports.

The sources document that the ring doctor is consulted on a technical knockout and that the referee can refer a heavily wounded fighter to the doctor; we have not found a documented rule on ringside physicians, pre-fight medical examinations, post-fight medical suspensions or ambulance cover. Read what the sources say about the risks on the safety page.

The sources we rely on do not document headbutt knockouts or how often headbutts end fights, so this site makes no claim about it, and they do not specify which part of the head makes contact. What they do document is that the headbutt is a permitted weapon in Lethwei, in seven kinds: thrusting (forward), upward, side, clinching, flying (diving), rushing and downward.

Headbutts are banned from most other combat sports, including mixed martial arts, kickboxing and Muay Thai. In Lethwei, the sources say cuts occur and need medical attention.

For the full list of permitted techniques, visit the rules page.

Lethwei is fought without gloves: its rules prohibit them. Fighters may wear only tape, gauze and electrical tape on their hands and feet, and they must apply the wrapping in front of the fight officials, who endorse the wraps.

The sources describe ancient matches as fought without protective equipment, the fighters only wrapping their hands in hemp or gauze.

Hand wraps help stabilise the fist against injuries such as the “boxer's fracture” of the fifth metacarpal; in Lethwei there is no glove over the wrap. The sources we rely on give no further reason for the absence of gloves. Learn more about the rules of Lethwei.

Under traditional Lethwei rules, if neither fighter achieves a knockout by the end of the scheduled rounds the bout is declared a draw. There is no judges' decision, no points system, and no split or unanimous verdicts: if there has been no knockout or stoppage and the two fighters are still standing, the match is declared a draw, even if one fighter dominated the fight.

The World Lethwei Championship (WLC) used the tournament ruleset that the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation created in 1996, which added ringside judges to name a winner when there is no knockout. Under WLC rules, if no knockout occurred the fight went to a judges' decision. See the full breakdown on the rules page.

The 2-minute timeout applies only under traditional rules. If a knockout or injury occurs, a fighter can take a special two-minute timeout to recover, and after it the fighter chooses whether to continue the bout. Each fighter may use it only once in a fight, it cannot be used in the fifth round, and using it counts as one count. In the traditional rules each corner is allowed one two-minute timeout per fight to revive a knocked-out fighter; combined with the sport's bareknuckle nature, it gave Lethwei a reputation as one of the bloodiest and most violent martial arts.

The tournament ruleset that the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation created in 1996 for the Golden Belt Championship — and that the World Lethwei Championship later adopted for its own events — removed the timeout entirely and added ringside judges instead. For more details, check the rules page.

Dave Leduc is a Canadian-born Lethwei fighter who became the first non-Burmese athlete to win the Lethwei Golden Belt, taking the Openweight belt on 11 December 2016 when Tun Tun Min forfeited in the third round with a knee injury.

His Lethwei debut, on 21 August 2016 in Myanmar, was a draw against Too Too. He is credited with nine successful title defenses and vacated the title on 29 January 2023.

Learn about other competitors on the fighters page.

The traditional Lethwei Golden Belt is regarded as the highest and most prestigious award for Lethwei fighters. It is not to be confused with the annual Golden Belt Championship, which is composed mostly of younger rising talent and uses the tournament rules point system.

There is only one Golden Belt champion for each weight category. The openweight champion is considered the strongest fighter in Myanmar, and the openweight Golden Belt champion is the equivalent of being pound-for-pound champion in the world of Lethwei.

The World Lethwei Championship (WLC) awarded its own championship titles, such as the WLC Middleweight and Cruiserweight Championships. The WLC stopped holding events in 2020. For more on Lethwei promotions, see the promotions page.

The sources we rely on do not evaluate Lethwei as a self-defence system, so this site makes no claim about it. What they document is the sport itself: the rules permit headbutts, all punches, all elbow strikes, all knee strikes, all kicks, extensive clinching, and sweeps, throws and take-downs, and fighters wear only tape, gauze and electrical tape on their hands and feet rather than gloves.

Explore how Lethwei compares to other arts on the comparisons page.

The sources we rely on do not describe entry requirements or beginner pathways for Lethwei, so this site makes no claim about whether prior martial arts experience is needed.

We have not found a published source naming a dedicated Lethwei gym outside Myanmar. See the gyms page for what the sources do and do not document.

The sources we rely on do not rank other martial arts as a base for Lethwei, so this answer names no single best one. What they document is overlap in weapons: Muay Thai, the "Art of Eight Limbs", uses the fists, elbows, knees and feet, and Lethwei adds the head as a ninth weapon. Lethwei is also fought without gloves.

The gyms page sets out a general step-by-step approach for training without a dedicated Lethwei gym: start with a Muay Thai gym, supplement with boxing, then add wrestling or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for clinch control.

For a side-by-side look, visit the comparisons page.

The sources we rely on give no timeline for how long it takes to become a competent Lethwei fighter, so this site states none. Any figure would be an estimate rather than a documented fact.

For general information on training, visit the training page.

The sources we rely on contain no published injury or concussion data for Lethwei, so this site makes no claim about how safe bareknuckle training is, or how it compares with training in other combat sports.

What they document is that fighters wrap their hands in tape and gauze, that hand wraps help stabilise the fist against injuries such as the “boxer's fracture” of the fifth metacarpal (in Lethwei there is no glove over the wrap), and that cuts occur in Lethwei and need medical attention.

Read what the sources say about the risks on the safety page.

The sources we rely on do not describe how gyms introduce bare-fist training. The equipment page advises against training bareknuckle from day one: it suggests starting with hand wraps and bag gloves, introducing bareknuckle bag work gradually, and treating any sharp or persistent pain in the hands as a signal to stop training.

For competition, the rules prohibit gloves: fighters may wear only tape, gauze and electrical tape on their hands and feet, applied in front of the fight officials, who endorse the wraps. See the rules page.

The World Lethwei Championship (WLC) stopped holding events in 2020, so there are no new WLC cards to watch live. WLC 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were carried on UFC Fight Pass, and the WLC's official YouTube channel is @worldlethwei.

For more on Lethwei promotions, see the promotions page.

We have not found a published source naming a dedicated Lethwei gym outside Myanmar.

The sources we rely on do not describe Muay Thai gyms that teach Lethwei, so this site makes no claim about them. See the gyms page for what the sources do and do not document.

The sources we rely on do not set out a list of training equipment for beginners, or its cost. The equipment page does set out a seven-item starter kit, with what each item is for and what to skip; it lists no prices or brands.

What the sources document is the competition attire: only shorts, without a shirt or shoes; a groin protector; a gum shield; and hands and feet wrapped only in tape, gauze and electrical tape, applied in front of the fight officials, who endorse the wraps. See the rules page.

As of 2022, Wikipedia lists Lethwei as legal only in Myanmar, Japan, Singapore, Slovakia, Austria, Thailand, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States (only the state of Wyoming), New Zealand and Poland, and states that it is illegal in most countries outside Myanmar.

That is a 2022 list and may have changed. The legality page adds one entry from outside it, Quebec, where Wikipedia's article on Dave Leduc says Lethwei was illegal in 2013; this site has no sourced information on the rest of Canada or on any other country. Check with your own national, state or provincial combat-sports regulator before planning a bout.

See the legality page for the country-by-country list.

The lethwei yay could be described as a fight dance. It is performed before the fight as a way to showcase the fighter's skills, and as a victory dance after the fight.

Before modernisation, especially in colonial times, the pre-fight dance was more commonly referred to as han yay. Performed in accordance with the tempo of the traditional orchestra, it incorporated a much more elaborate dance and show of skills. Boastful poetry was sometimes recited along with the dance.

A documented example: at the Thein Pyu Stadium in Yangon on 10 December 2017, Dave Leduc executed his ceremonial fight dance, the lethwei yay, announcing the start of his match against Corentin Jallon. To learn more about these traditions, visit the culture page.

The phrase "Art of Nine Limbs" is a name for Lethwei. It refers to the nine striking weapons that the sport permits: two fists, two elbows, two knees, two feet (kicks), and the head (headbutts). This is one more than Muay Thai's "Art of Eight Limbs," which uses the same weapons minus the headbutt.

Headbutts, which most other combat sports disallow, are important weapons in a Lethwei fighter's arsenal alongside the hands, elbows, knees and feet. For a full catalogue of techniques, see the techniques page.

The sources we rely on do not document how Lethwei skills transfer to MMA, so this answer makes no claim about that. The fighters page documents one case of a Lethwei fighter in MMA: Ukraine's Sasha Moisa, a former WLC Light Middleweight champion, whose MMA record it gives as 5-2 after KSW 116 on 14 March 2026.

The reverse direction appears once on the fighters page: an American former UFC fighter made his Lethwei debut at WLC 9 on 2 August 2019, stopped by Dave Leduc in round 2 in a bout for the inaugural Cruiserweight World Lethwei Championship.

Modern professional Lethwei, as organised by the World Lethwei Championship, used a weight-class system of 12 divisions: Light Flyweight, Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweight, Lightweight, Light Welterweight, Welterweight, Light Middleweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Cruiserweight, and Heavyweight. Five of those (Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweight, Lightweight, and Light Welterweight) were open to both men and women, six were men-only, and Light Flyweight was women-only. Openweight, with no upper limit, is the traditional no-limit category rather than a WLC weight class.

The general Lethwei reference tabulates a slightly different set — for example, Cruiserweight at 83 kg and no Heavyweight — so these are the WLC's figures rather than a universal standard. The WLC held no events after 25 September 2020. For the weight table, and for the Golden Belt, which has one champion for each weight category, visit the rules page.

Yes. The World Lethwei Championship featured women's bouts before it stopped promoting events in 2020: Cambodia's Nou Srey Pov became the first female winner in the WLC in 2018, the WLC committed in 2019 to a dedicated female match at every event, and France's Souris Manfredi became the WLC's first Women's Bantamweight champion in 2020.

See the fighters page to learn about prominent women in Lethwei.

The World Lethwei Championship (WLC) was Myanmar's first international Lethwei promotion, founded as a subsidiary of businessman Zay Thiha's Lekkha Moun Co. It stopped promoting events in 2020. Before then its events were available in over 100 countries through deals with Fight Network, Arena Sport, Fox Sports, Star Sports, Bayon Television, Titan Channel, Sport Extra and StarTimes, and its WLC 7 card was the first Lethwei event broadcast internationally on UFC Fight Pass.

Within Myanmar, traditional rules are used by most Lethwei promotions, including the Air KBZ Aung Lan Championship and the annual Myanmar Lethwei World Championship, and traditional matches are still fought throughout Myanmar, especially during festivals and celebrations like Thingyan.

For a complete guide to promotions, visit the promotions page.