International Lethwei Federation Japan, also known as ILFJ, is a Japanese

Lethwei Lethwei ( my, လက်ဝှေ့; IPA: ) or Burmese boxing, is a full contact combat sport from Myanmar that uses stand-up striking including headbutts. Lethwei is considered to be one of the most brutal martial arts in the world, * * * a ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

company with headquarters in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

History

In 2016, the ILFJ acquired a ‘’Grade-A’’ promoter licence from the

Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation The Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation (MTLF) ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့အဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is one of two major organizations which sanctions professional Lethwei bouts wo ...

, allowing them to organize traditional

events in Japan. ILFJ then entered into a partnership with Myanmar businessman Mr. Wunna CEO of Myanmar Media Group (MMG), the organizer of the ''Myanmar Lethwei World Championship'', to share fighters and co-organize the Lethwei events in Japan. The first ILFJ event titled Lethwei Grand Prix in Japan 2016, was held on 27 October 2016 at

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. On April 18, 2017, the Ambassador of Myanmar to Japan attended the first ever Lethwei world title fight headlining two non-Burmese in the sport's history at Lethwei in Japan 3. The event organized by ILFJ featured reigning champion

Dave Leduc Dave Leduc (born 13 December 1991) is a Canadian Lethwei fighter who competes in the World Lethwei Championship, where he is the former WLC Cruiserweight World Champion. He is also the undefeated Openweight Lethwei World Champion under traditi ...

vs Adem Yilmaz inside the

in Tokyo. * * On July 10, 2022, hosted a 10 fights Lethwei tournament named ''Lethwei Unbeatable'' in Oyabe, Japan.

Media coverage

After having an inaugural first event in the Japan in Tokyo ( Lethwei Grand Prix 2016),

FITE TV Fite (stylized as FITE by Triller) is an American digital video streaming service launched on May 20, 2012, that is dedicated to combat sports-related programming (including boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling). The network dist ...

signed a multi-year agreement to broadcast the promotion's Lethwei events. In 2017, the ILFJ signed a broadcasting deal with MNTV to be aired in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and

livestreaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

available in

AbemaTV Abema (, stylized as ABEMA) is a Japanese live TV streaming website owned by the entertainment company, AbemaTV, Inc. that provides over-the-top media services to customers in Japan. The website primarily acts as an online television network, ...

Events

List of champions

World championship history

Openweight Championship

:''No Weight limit: and up''

Rules

ILFJ uses traditional Lethwei rules, with no point system. The only way to win is by knockout or because of an injury or the inability to fight any more. At the end of the match if the two fighters are still standing, the fight is declared a draw.

Rounds

Each bout can be booked as 4 or 5 rounds fight with 3 minutes per round and a 2-minute break in between rounds. Championship bouts are 5 round with 3 minutes per round.

Weight classes

ILFJ utilizes the following weight classes:

Notable fighters

Tun Lwin Moe Tun Lwin Moe ( my, ထွန်းလွင်မိုး; born 8 March 1999) is a retired Burmese Lethwei fighter. He was signed to the International Lethwei Federation Japan and is the Lethwei World Champion under traditional rules. Lethw ...

Tun Tun Min Tun Tun Min ( my, ထွန်းထွန်းမင်း; born 4 October 1992) is a Burmese Lethwei fighter and former Openweight Lethwei World Champion of Mon descent. He is the youngest fighter to ever win the Lethwei Golden Belt, obtain ...

Too Too Too Too ( my, တူးတူး) is a Burmese Lethwei fighter and who competes in the World Lethwei Championship. He is former the WLC Middleweight World champion and is undefeated under traditional Lethwei rules, holding the 75 kg Le ...

Saw Nga Man Saw Nga Man ( ksw, စီၤငၢၤမါ, my, စောငမန်း), also known as Saw Shark, is a retired Burmese Lethwei fighter and former Openweight Lethwei World Champion. Personal life Saw Nga Man is an ethnic Karen. Lethwei c ...

Soe Lin Oo Soe Lin Oo ( my, စိုးလင်းဦး) (born December 4, 1991) is a Burmese Lethwei fighter currently competing in the Welterweight division of the World Lethwei Championship. He is the former Lethwei Golden Belt 60 kg Champio ...

Shunichi Shimizu is a Japanese mixed martial arts and Lethwei fighter who currently competes in the bantamweight division. Career Shimizu is a veteran of the Japanese mixed martial arts scene and primarily fought in Pancrase and ZST, the latter where he earn ...

Julija Stoliarenko Julija Stoliarenko (born 8 April 1993) is a Lithuanian mixed martial arts and Lethwei fighter. She currently competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the Bantamweight division. A professional since 2012, she is the former Invicta FC Ba ...

* Vero V.Rujirawong

References

External links

* {{Kickboxing organizations, state=autocollapse International Lethwei Federation Japan Lethwei organizations Sports organizations established in 2016 2016 establishments in Japan Entertainment companies of Japan Sports organizations of Japan