Antoine Pinto of France delivers a kick to American Dorian Price during the 70kg bout at "Thai Fight Extreme" held in Pattani on Sunday (September 29th). The nine-bout event drew 40,000 fans – twice as many as organisers anticipated. [Somchai Huasaikul/Khabar]

A night of high-energy, nationally televised Muay Thai thrilled tens of thousands of fans at Pattani's Rainbow football stadium Sunday (September 29th). The turnout is thought to be the largest ever for a sporting event in Thailand's Deep South.

The scheduled nine bouts were billed as "Thai Fight Extreme". In addition to standard Muay Thai fights with boxing gloves, one matchup featured Muay Kard Chuak, in which the fighters wear rope around their fists in traditional style. Two Iranian fighters were among the foreigners taking on top Thai competition.

The fights, televised nationally on Thai TV Channel 3, pitted top-ranked local Muay Thai fighters against international opponents.

Muay Thai training has become an important part of the Thai tourism industry, attracting millions of people seeking to hone their skills to compete in mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions, or simply to get fit.

Pattani Governor Pramook Lamun and Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre Director Tawee Sodsong played a key role in bringing the event to the province.

"Today is a special day for the people of Pattani and nearby provinces as it gives us a great chance to boost confidence in the region. We estimate that about 40,000 people turned out for the event even though we only expected about 20,000," Tawee said.

"This is a great way to show how the people of the region are peace-loving. If people in the rest of the country and throughout the ASEAN region see this for themselves, it will help Pattani attract investment and return to its former glory as a major centre for commerce and education."

Organisers needed to expand crowd control barriers inside the stadium grounds to accommodate the capacity crowd. They did not go home disappointed, as all nine bouts were fiercely contested, with several ending in knockouts.

The , in the 70kg weight class, featured crowd favourite Antoine Pinto of France using ferocious kicks to the midsection of American Dorian Price before the referee called a stop to the action after a knockdown in the third round.

"This is my first time ever for me and my team to travel to Pattani, and I am really pleased by the level of interest and crowd turnout," Pinto, who is half-Thai, told Khabar Southeast Asia after the fight. "Before coming here I felt afraid, after hearing so many news reports about violence in this region, but now that I am here I can see for myself just how lovely the people here are."

The Thai Fight series, founded in 2009 to help showcase Muay Thai to the world and preserve Thai culture, has held events in Thailand and abroad in places such as Cannes, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The Pattani event, the first ever in the Deep South, is being hailed as a huge success both for Thai boxing and the Deep South region.

"I am absolutely delighted that the boxers, their teams and fight fans made the trip all the way from Bangkok to Pattani. I can sense that this is helping them understand that the reality of the situation on the ground here is quite different to what they may have perceived," Muay Thai enthusiast Makata Moo-ee of Pattani told Khabar.

"Even if there are still some incidents of violence, the fact remains that Pattani province has excellent tourist attractions and restaurants," he said. "I don't want people to think of us Pattani people as strangers, and it does not matter what religious beliefs one may hold, because at the end of the day we are all brothers."