Read our most recent interview with Souris Manfredi below! There’s even a podcast within!
Souris Manfredi: Champion
Souris Manfredi has captured the WLC Women’s Bantamweight champion, the first in it’s lineal history. We talk the fight, what’s next and more!
Souris Manfredi: The Belt Chaser
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When we interviewed Samuel Toscano, we dove into the mindset of a lethwei fighter. Today we are diving deep into Souris Manfredi. Manfredi is a battle-tested veteran with a 30-6-1 record and 18 knockouts. She is also a Thai boxer turned Lethwei and fought on WLC 11. How did she start fighting? What are her goals? We discussed all that and more.
Souris Manfredi: Jack of All Trades
Souris Manfredi is a student of martial arts. She’s now got experience in MMA, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, Judo and Lethwei. Instead of spreading herself too thin, she decided to focus on one sport.
“As a child I did Judo few years and then nothing until seven years ago when I started MMA. Then I did more Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. I was competing in both, I also did few MMA fights. But I had to choose for being able to reach the best level on one sport. I prefer the ring, so I decided to focus on Muay Thai.”
Manfredi hails from Besançon, France. But she decided to be the best, she will have to completely commit to her Muay Thai career. She says, “Two years and a half ago I moved to Thailand to live my fighter’s journey.” There is no better place to learn the sport than the place that invented it? The the biggest concentration of the best Thai fighters and the biggest, most legendary stadiums, Rajadamnern and Lumpinee most notably, Manfredi is in the right place.
Leaping to Lethwei
With Lethwei being such a crazy sport, it’s always interesting to see how someone gets involved. Souris Manfredi was sought out by WLC and she jumped at the opportunity.
“When WLC asked me if I would be interested in Lethwei I jumped on this opportunity. I always wanted to try it.”
Going into her fight, Manfredi didn’t know much about her opponent, Tran Thi Lua. That didn’t worry Manfredi, however. She is more of a fighter that makes adjustments on the fly.
“I didn’t know much about my opponent. I didn’t find anything about her previous fights but anyway I adapt myself most of the time during the fight. I saw that my clinch was better, so I first started to make her tired with the throw down and clinch part. Then her guard was more open and I knew that I could knock her down. She made a mistake during the second round she steps on my right with open guard in the corner and it was the perfect moment to land a powerful right cross into the jab. That’s how I knocked her down.”
It was complete domination from Manfredi. After the knockdown in the second round, it was her fight to lose, which she did not.
As for her overall experience with Lethwei and WLC, Manfredi has huge ambitions. The sport of Lethwei is so much more of a thrill and a natural style of fighting for Manfredi. She plans to pursue the sport in a very big way.
“I loved fighting in Lethwei, more than Muay Thai because I feel more free with no gloves, the head butt and my back ground of Judo and BJJ.”
Striving for Excellence
As for her goals, they’re only the highest. “My goals in Lethwei are fighting as much as I can and being the first women world champion for the WLC.”
Don’t expect Manfredi to abandon Muay Thai, however. She has a fight lined up for the 23rd of this month. She’s chasing multiple belts in multiple promotions including the legendary K-1 promotion.
“I will fight the 23th of this month for a Muay Thai tournament with the best women actually in 57 kilograms in Bangkok for the Super Champ promotion. Then maybe I’ll do a MMA fight in March in Bangkok as well. I just signed a contract for a K-1 fight in France in June. It will be for the belt of the organization against a french champ. I will have other fights but I’m still waiting the confirmation and I may do a another Lethwei fight soon. I’ll try to fight at least once a month.”
Souris Manfredi is battle tested already. But as she faces more and more challenges, she’s sure to grow not only as a fighter but a person as well.
Follow Souris Manfredi on Instagram and Facebook to follow her journey and all her belt chasing!
