One fine afternoon in Bangkok, there is a man who sits behind the table drawing his next masterpiece. He is transfixed on his work. The man is the knockout king of lethwei, the Burmese martial art that is competed with no gloves and with headbutts allowed. He is Antonio Faria of Portugal, Light Welterweight World Lethwei Champion.
Antonio Faria is a man who has pivoted in his life multiple times. He graduated from Madeira University, Portugal, before he chose to pursue a career in martial arts.
After impressing in kickboxing, he moved to Thailand, and his combat sports career has led to a pinnacle where he became the world champion in lethwei in 2019.
In between fights, Antonio Faria has been taking clients as a tattoo artist. Crafting beautiful ink on others making him relaxed and whenever he feels tired, he just picks up the tattoo machine or drawing paper and it makes him feel refreshed.
In the ring, he needs to study the opponent’s techniques. But in the studio, he always tries to study outlines, colors, lightings, shades, and brainstorming for new creativity.
As Faria gets more popular in the ring, it has helped his burgeoning tattoo artist career, with many people wanting to get inked by the only lethwei world champion tattoo artist. Among his clients include fellow lethwei athletes Elamghari Ayoub and the first female world lethwei champion, Souris Manfredi.
The next step in his tattoo career is to understand the traditional tattoo of Myanmar. Having immersed himself in the culture the three times he fought in the country, he now wants to get a traditional tattoo from the country.
