All the details haven’t been released yet, but it looks like former World Champion Clifton Brown has put together a Muay Thai league (http://thempl.tv/main/) that will pit some of the biggest names in the sport against each other in a tournament format. They have released a trailer of some sort but it unfortunately, it doesn’t provide any insight regarding the details of the actual fight league.
Based on the limited information that available at the moment, I believe that the first world title fight will take place in Long Beach on September 2nd and will feature Buakaw Por Pramuk vs Dzhabar Askerov. Other than that, they (Clifton Brown and Warrior Cast Promotions) have released a list of both the rules and the fighters from each weight class that are going to be competing (there will be a total of 8 fighters per weight division once things get started).
League Rules and Format Information
1. There are 8 competitors per weight division
2. Each division is split into 2 Groups of 4 (Group A, Group B)
3. Competitors are guaranteed 3 matches per season in the round robin stage
4. Competitors receive 3 points for a win by KO, 2 points for a win by decision, 1 point for a draw, zero points for a loss. At the end of the round robin stage, in the event of a tie, the tiebreaker shall awarded based on the head to head result of the tied competitors. If those competitors have fought to a draw in their head to head match, the tiebreaker shall be the total number of points accumulated per fight from the judges scorecard.
5. At the completion of the round robin stage, the top 2 competitors in each group advance to the semi-final elimination stage with GROUP A #1 vs GROUP B #2, and GROUP B #1 vs GROUP A #2.*
6. The competitors who advance to the final playoff round, will compete for the World MuayThai Council World Title & MPL World Championship in their respective weight class.*
7. The bottom 4 competitors which accumulate the least amount of points at the end of the round robin stage (in each division) will face regulation at season’s end, and the MPL will draft 4 new competitors per weight division for the following season.
Participating Fighters by Weight Class
Super Lightweight (Female)
Miriam Nakamoto
Julie Kitchen
Chantal Ughi
Sandra Bastian
Valentina Shevchenko
Welterweight
Andrei Kulebin
Kevin Ross
Liam Harrison
Kurt Finlayson
Saenchai Sinibi Gym
Middleweight
Yodsanklai Fairtex
Jordan Watson
Marco Pique
Vladimir Moravcik
Light Heavyweight
Simon Marcus
Jiri Zak
Artem Levin
Danny Derdowski
Kaoklai Kaennorsing
Heavyweight
Nathan Corbett
Ramazan Ramazanov
Dzinius Hanchanorak
Remember I mentioned their being an obscure trailer that has been released by the Muay Thai Premier League that doesn’t provide much information about the league at all. Well, here it is..
