Into The Wild: Shadow’s Secret Sanctuary Away From The Spotlight
Most fighters unwind after battle by celebrating victories or analyzing defeats, but #3-ranked featherweight Muay Thai contender Shadow Singha Mawynn packs a tent and disappears into the wilderness.
For the former Rajadamnern Stadium Muay Thai World Champion, the forest is a sanctuary where the noise of competition fades, and the mind finds clarity. It allows him to reconnect with nature the same way he did when he was a child.
The Thai striking dynamo will return to action at ONE Fight Night 38: Andrade vs. Baatarkhuu on Prime Video, which will broadcast live in U.S. primetime on Friday, December 5, from the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Before he steps back into the spotlight, the 25-year-old talks about his home away from home.
Finding His Range In The Wild
Shadow’s connection to the greenwood runs deeper than casual recreation. It’s a lifelong relationship rooted in childhood memories and strengthened through years of returning to the same mountains, streams, and trails that shaped him.
As a kid, he spent significant time there accompanying his mother as she foraged for fresh produce. These days, camping is his way to decompress after the intensity of competition and reconnect with what matters beyond winning and losing.
The Singha Mawynn representative shared:
“After a fight, if it’s during the rainy or cold seasons, I like to go to the forest and sometimes set up camp with my friends. I love camping. If it’s during the cold season when mushrooms are abundant, I sometimes go with just my mother. We don’t really camp, we actually sleep in the forest and forage for mushrooms, just like when I was a child.”
The appeal isn’t complicated, after all.
In a sport that requires the striker to pack constant aggression, relentless training, and the mental fortitude to face the world’s most dangerous strikers inside the ring, his time away in the woods provides him with something the gym never can — genuine stillness.
Shadow explained:
“The charm of life in the forest is that it’s not hectic like the city. There aren’t many people. Everyone is just minding their own business, foraging for food and things like that. Plus, you get to hear the sounds of birds and see nature. It’s very peaceful.”
Beyond the tranquility and scenic beauty, Shadow’s time in nature serves as a mental restoration that directly impacts his performance as a fighter.
The demanding nature of elite Muay Thai creates tension. Training camps grind fighters down physically and mentally, while competition adds another layer of pressure. It all accumulates.
For the striking specialist, his time in the wild acts as a reset button:
“In terms of sports, I don’t know if it directly helps, but mentally, it’s like relaxation. It helps clear all the tiredness and stress from my mind. Being close to nature and getting mental rest allows me to come back and train fully when I return to Muay Thai.”
Survival School With Mom
Above all, the Tak native, who endured a difficult childhood, knows the importance of simplicity — sleeping on the ground, cooking over open fires, and relying on skills he learned growing up.
Those survival skills came from experience, passed down through countless trips into the wilderness with his mother. Shadow watched her navigate the woods with confidence, and that taught him the fundamentals of living off the land.
Fire-starting remains one of the most crucial skills he’s mastered, particularly during Thailand’s rainy season.
He told onefc.com:
“My survival skills mostly came from going with my mother. I learned from her. I’ve been going since I was a kid. And my mother taught me since I was young. I even learned how to cook rice using bamboo in the forest.
“But starting a fire in the forest during the rainy season is the one [top survival skill]. We were in the forest looking for mushrooms, but then it rained. Everything was damp. We had to rub sticks together. We had to find dry leaves or tree bark that hadn’t been exposed to the rain, try to warm them up, and then warm the wood over the fire.”
That knowledge runs deep enough that the Thai could survive extended periods in the wilderness if necessary, with just three essential items.
Shadow continued:
“A knife is number one. We can defend ourselves with it, and we can use it to cut wood or meat. Second, it would probably be a lighter. If we light a fire at night, mosquitoes and insects won’t bother us. If we light a fire for warmth, the smoke also keeps the mosquitoes away.
“Third, I’d choose rice. If we have rice, we can cook it in the forest. We just need to find a water source, and water sources are usually not far from bamboo trees, so we can cut bamboo to cook the rice in. With those three items, I can survive in the forest.”
When Nature Bites Back
The forest demands respect. Shadow learned that lesson on a trip that began like any other but quickly became one of his most memorable encounters with the wild.
He and his mother had ventured deep into the mountains to search for Pak Wan, an edible plant prized in Thai cuisine.
They pressed forward despite earlier reports from local villagers about sightings of a tiger. But it didn’t take the Muay Thai fighter long to notice something in the stream bed that made him pause:
“One time, I went to pick Pak Wan with my mother deep in the forest. But we couldn’t find any, so we had to go to a different spot. As soon as we reached the bottom, there were footprints in the stream bed.
“I saw them, and my mother pointed them out. She asked me, ‘Son, do you know what kind of print this is?’ Usually, you don’t call them out, but I asked her, ‘Mom, is this a tiger’s footprint?’ I put my hand next to it, and it was huge.”
This served as a reminder that danger was lurking. Still, equipped with the same grit he showcases in the world’s largest martial arts organization, he continued his search for the leaves while his mother remained below.
Halfway up the slope, Shadow heard something that stopped him cold — footsteps, directly above him.
The 25-year-old recalled:
“I thought that was my mother, but then I realized my mother was below me. How could she be walking ahead of me? So, I sat quietly for a long time. Then my mother walked up, and I asked her, ‘Mom, were you walking behind me just now?’ She said she had just walked up from below.”
Whatever made those tracks had been nearby — close enough to hear, near enough to be dangerous.
It appeared the tiger had observed them from above, assessed the situation, and quietly retreated up the mountain, leaving Shadow and his mother unharmed but acutely aware of how quickly circumstances can shift in the wild.
Despite the encounter, fear isn’t part of his vocabulary, though respect for nature’s power certainly is.
In fact, after his next fight, the Thai slugger has already planned his next adventure in the wilderness with his close friends. He’s ready to trade the roar of the Lumpinee crowd for the quiet rustle of mountain leaves.
He concluded:
“At the end of the year, I plan to go to Nan Province. I’ll be going touring and camping there. I plan to go to Doi Samer Dao with my friends.”
