Philly Muay Thai fighter and artist Gianna Vadino has a new medium: Kicking butt

Nearly 9,000 miles from home, Gianna Vadino’s Philly presence could still be spotted in the middle of the ring.

Last month, Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok, one of Thailand’s oldest and most famous Muay Thai arenas with a capacity of 8,000, was full of mostly Thai fans rooting for their nation’s fighter, Petchmai Sor. Pracha.

But from the crowd, a few Americans cheered for the underdog Vadino, a 35-year-old Philly resident making her professional debut.

“It was very comforting because I was waiting to walk out, and I was getting super nervous,” said Vadino, who was born in Washington Township but has lived in Philly since 2009. “I’m not from here. I’m from America. Everybody’s betting against me. And then random Americans would walk by and tap me on the shoulder like, ‘You got this.’ And as silly as it is, I was way more comfortable knowing that there were actually people who were rooting for me.”

Vadino ended the night with a win, improving to a 26-2 overall record — and, more importantly, 1-0 as a professional — after defeating Petchmai by decision. Following her win, some of the American fans who were cheering for Vadino made their way over to congratulate the Philly underdog.

“I was standing outside of the stadium after I fought, and this family was like, ‘Are you from Philly?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, why?’” said Vadino, who now lives in Roxborough after 15 years in South Philly. “They were like, ‘We’re from South Philly.’ I was like, ‘That is so weird. Like, why are you guys here?’”

Apparently, it’s not hard for Philly to spot its own — especially when it comes to fighting.

“The way that I fight is very — I’m kind of like a bully,” Vadino said. “I put a lot of pressure on people. I brute-force my way through things if technique isn’t working. … It’s not always the best idea. But that’s what I do. So I do feel like there’s some South Philly in that for sure.

“I’m not going to deal with people’s s—. I’m just going to get the job done no matter what I need to do.”

That mindset has stayed with Vadino since her days playing soccer, basketball, and lacrosse as a child. But once she enrolled in the University of Arts, her active side took a bit of a backseat.

“I was like, ‘I guess I’ll start running,’” Vadino said. “And then I just subconsciously craved that team aspect, and I didn’t really know it. And then once I started doing Muay Thai, I kind of got that fix.”

Vadino started practicing Muay Thai in 2017 at 27 years old. Four years later, she began to compete, fighting out of Germantown’s North Star Academy. From the gym run out of the former St. Michael’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, she has gone on to become a five-time international champion and a 13-time national champion as an amateur.

“The one thing that makes her exceptional is that she just normalizes things that are pretty extreme,” said Jackson Galka, her Muay Thai coach and the owner of North Star Academy. “And I think that’s the secret to her success. It’s just a solid routine and unbreakable consistency.”

Despite her success, a defining moment in another discipline shaped Vadino into the fighter she is today. Before devoting herself full-time to Muay Thai, Vadino made her MMA debut in 2024. After suffering a knockout loss, she reevaluated her career.

“I think that was the biggest [setback],” Vadino said. “A lot of people were hopeful that MMA was the path for me. It was just a s— experience. I felt depressed. And I decided MMA wasn’t for me. It wasn’t just because of the knockout. It was the environment and the air around it and the culture. It’s very cutthroat. It’s more mean and showy. And Muay Thai is just a very respectful sport. You look at your opponent as if you’re thankful for them. There’s just an incredible level of respect.”

But competing strictly in Muay Thai came with its own issues. For one, Vadino had a hard time finding pro fights in the U.S.

“I’ve been trying to get a professional fight for a couple years in the U.S.,” Vadino said. “And it’s really tough because there’s not a lot of women doing it in general. And there’s not a lot of women doing it at a professional level. So it tends to be that you have to just go abroad in order to fight professionally.”

As Vadino continued to search for a pro fight in the United States, Galka recommended that she return to Thailand. She briefly competed there nearly two years ago, following her MMA debut, in an International Sports Kickboxing Association tournament.

“There’s not a huge pool of women at her weight and experience in the United States,” Galka said. “So she kind of like mounted the heads of everyone on her wall. She’s hunted the competition to extinction in the United States. So it’s like, ‘All right, well, what are we going to do?’”

To help with the booking, Derek Kenney, the owner and head coach of Burning Spirits, a gym in Fishtown, put her in contact with a coach from Sityodtong Muay Thai Camp in Thailand. Eventually, they booked her first pro fight.

She trained in Thailand for two weeks, taking a break from her job as a creative studio manager at Ollie.

“Thailand is like a whole other level,” Vadino said. “The main difference is the structure of classes and conditioning. In Thailand, they do much more conditioning, and everything is outdoors. It’s like 100 degrees, you’re running miles, and you’re drenched in sweat.

“But Thailand has the best fighting culture. They just have a different outlook on fighting. In America, people worry about their records, they say no to fights, or hear, ‘We need eight weeks to prepare’ for something. But, in Thailand, they’re like, ‘Whatever. I just fought; I’ll fight again in two weeks.’ The attitude is different.”

After two sessions a day, training nearly six hours for six days a week, Vadino was ready for her fight at the Rajadamnern Stadium.

“It’s the biggest stadium in Thailand, and I feel like it’s just a dream for anybody to be able to fight there,” Vadino said. “So the fact they got me on a card that was in that stadium was just like nuts in itself. So I think I was more excited and nervous over that aspect vs. the pro aspect of it.”

Ahead of her win in Thailand, Vadino decided to add some new ink to her collection: a bamboo tattoo of two tigers on her back.

“I find myself always wanting or getting something new after I’ve had a fight,” Vadino said. “I feel like there’s something there, some sort of transformation that I go through both mentally and physically. And getting a tattoo is a bit of an outlet. It signals the end of that fight journey. It’s just like a collection of art on my body.”

Vadino has 20-30 tattoos, including a snake, designed by her husband Dan Kelso, a tattoo artist, on her upper arm. As an alumna of the University of Arts, which abruptly closed in 2024, and former photography intern at The Inquirer (2011), Vadino has always stayed in touch with her artistic side.

Muay Thai is just another art form.

“Before I started doing martial arts on the side, I would do photoshoots for myself or I was into bookbinding stuff,” Vadino said. “And once I started fighting, I didn’t feel the need to do it. And I feel like that’s because Muay Thai is an art. It’s a martial art; there’s a creative outlet in there and I feel like that’s kind of scratching that itch for me.”

Vadino isn’t alone in making the transition from art school to professional fighter. Former UFC lightweight and current commentator Paul Felder is a 2008 UArts graduate who replaced his love of the theater with an octagonal stage. Later in his career, however, the South Philly native returned to acting, including a cameo in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and, more recently, a recurring role on HBO’s Hacks, in which he brought his UFC skills to the screen.

Typically in Thailand, most fighters are ending their Muay Thai career at around 27 years old. But for Vadino, 27 was just the start. Now, nearly 10 years later, she’s won her first professional fight and plans to continue her journey.

“I want to fight for as long as I can,” Vadino said. “As long as my body will allow me to. I feel great right now, so, hopefully, that keeps going. I’ve technically fought pro and probably shouldn’t fight any amateur fights anymore. But Freedom [Fighter] Promotions asked me to defend my belt in Philly in September. So I might do that. Ideally, the goal is to only fight pro. But I just don’t know how realistic that is.”

Vadino defeated Jordan Smelker by TKO in December 2025 to win the promotion’s lightweight USA championship. September would be Vadino’s first time defending that title.

“To be honest, I’ve gone further than I ever thought that I would in this sport,” Vadino said. “I had no idea that I would even be able to call myself a professional Muay Thai fighter. That’s insane. So I should just be happy with where I’m at.”