Muay Thai fighter suspended after KOing opponent with titanium shin implant

A Muay Thai fighter in Thailand has reportedly been suspended after it was revealed that he’d competed with a titanium implant in his leg

File this one under the “unusual stories” department. Muay Thai fighter Bandasak Chaiyasan was reportedly suspended by the World Muay Thai Council following a KO win over Noppadon Chalor in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. Chaiyasan’s suspension was due to a failure to disclose a titanium shin implant that was inserted in his leg following a training injury. More on the story from Fight State:

An unnamed contact at Bandasak Chaiyasan’s training camp told Fightstate that the fighter snapped his leg when his sparring partner checked a kick during training, and the titanium implant was part of his recovery. However, our research shows that keeping the implant in place after the leg is healed was in violation of the Int’l Muay Thai Federation’s Rules and Guidelines.

Also, there is doubt as to whether or not he was even injured in the first place, since an injury like this typically takes upwards of a year to fully heal and Chaiyasan has fought as recently as two months ago.

A Chalor representative also disputes Chaiyasan’s injury, claiming that he’d used the implant to gain an unfair advantage. Chalor reportedly said of the knockout: “I have never felt anything like that. I have been fighting for 7 years and I have never felt anything like that kick.”

Now, there is a point of contention regarding the legitimacy of this story. The suspension supposedly was prompted by this X-Ray image showing the titanium inside his leg. However, it’s since been pointed out that this same image appears to be one from a 2011 Daily Mail story on a teen boy battling bone cancer. The only difference in the two pictures is the copyright is swapped out with Thai writing. This tale has since made its rounds on the mainstream media circuit, including on BBC Sport, but there’s enough reason to still be skeptical about the full truth behind this bizarre bit of news from the world of Muay Thai.