Hey guys! I just wanted to announce that I just had my first muay thai fight in Thailand, maybe 2 hours ago. In fact, I'm still bleeding as I write this :).
I've had one muay thai fight back in Toronto and two mma fights, but this was the first time I'd actually felt nervous before a fight because this is a whole lot more dangerous than the competitions back in Canada. It was scheduled for 5 3-minute rounds (15 minutes total) with full muay thai rules (elbows and knees legal to the face).
I was originally supposed to fight a Thai boxer, but then they switched it while we were waiting and I was told I was fighting a Burmese fighter instead. To be perfectly honest, I was pretty damn scared. I felt confident of victory against the Thai guy, but the Burmese guy was such a completely unknown element for me that I imagined myself on the receiving end of a serious beating. This guy had an entire Burmese entourage with bells, whistles, drums, etc. He got into the ring with 2 swords on his back and put on a display of "dancing".
By the time I got in the ring, my fear was gone and I just resolved to knock this guy out asap. We both came at each other hard. We threw kicks and punches, then clinched. We ended up falling to the canvas and getting separated. We had some more exchanges and clinches, in which he threw spinning elbows at me! At one point, we clinched and I forced his head down. I started pounding his face with knees a couple of times but then the referee broke us up. He needed several moments to recover from this, so I was sent back to my corner.
My trainer told me that I could easily knock this guy out if I wanted to, so he discouraged me from doing that and told me instead to just "play". I told him the guy was throwing elbows at me! He told me to just keep my guard up. I did as he said and simply let the Burmese come to me. I counter attacked with kicks and punches and clinched only when forced to. He was getting rocked by my punches and slammed by my kicks.
In the second round, I continued to just "play" and countered him when he attacked. I hit him with some more kicks and punches and he had trouble landing anything on me. I finally threw a head kick which landed solidly and dropped him like a rock. The crowd went wild and the referee stopped the fight after seeing the fighter's condition. The fight was over in the second by ko! It was over so quickly that I couldn't believe it at first! I truly hadn't meant to knock him out.
Nevertheless, everyone in my corner was very happy and the crowd loved it! My trainer told me afterward that there's a long-standing rivalry between Thailand and Burma, so the crowd had no problem with me beating him. I found out shortly after that my left ear has been split open (and is still bleeding) and I damaged my right pinkie knuckle (which is swollen). My legs also took some punishment, but they're basically fine.
So there you have it! My first muay thai fight in Thailand! The first of many, I hope. Looking back on the experience, I can truly say that it really doesn't matter whether I'd won or lost. What matters most is having the balls to get in the ring and having the determination to do your best. If you do that, then win or lose you'll come away a changed and better fighter. I can't wait to do it again!
Lautaro
Awesome! Congrats!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Now post some pics for us!!!!!!!!
(did I mention that I'm jealous?!??)
Congratulations!
Where was this? N Thailand somewhere?
How did he throw spinning elbows from the clinch?!
Where there any significant/noticable differences between the Burmese fella and the Thais generally?
Well done again!!!
congrats
Sorry Khun Kao, I'm a mudnamer so I can't post pics :(. I did ask someone to take pics though, so we'll see...
Sonic_11: Yes, this was in Northern Thailand. I'm training at Lanna gym in Chiangmai, but the place we went to was about a 40-minute drive out into the countryside.
When we clinched, he was bent over instead of upright. It's a little difficult to describe, but the spinning elbows came when he would duck his head down and twist his body to one side. This enabled him to throw a spinning elbow which comes on an upward diagnol trajectory. The target is the face or head. It's actually a technique I remember seeing many years ago in a ninja magazine and demonstrated by Robert Bussey. I remember thinking that it was an interesting attack since it comes at a very unexpected angle.
The main difference I noted between this guy and the Thais was that his clinch was quite different. The Thais remain very upright and are very strong in the clinch. This guy had a bent over clinch which relied mainly on the spinning elbow. It left him susceptible to several knees which I hit him with in the body and face.
I forgot to mention that I also received a trophy and some extra money both in recognition of the quick ko victory. I was surprised and delighted to receive these gifts.
I was also congratulated many, many times by the people in the crowd who wanted to shake my hand and touch my muscles. I couldn't understand almost anything they were saying (speaking in Thai) but they all had big smiles on their face, so I'm sure it was good :).
Thanks for the encouragement guys!
Lautaro
Congrats bro!
very cool!
congrats man!
I'll be in Lanna in a couple weeks. See you there.
Thanks for the info lautaro, so this guy from orthodox stance would bend down and spin clockwise trying to strike with a bent over sok klab?! How did he do this with you gripping his head? He must've gone real low.
Also, did the guy cross the border on a day visit just to fight or was he training in N Thailand also? What was his background, do you know? I'm just interested in the Burmese style. The locals must've lapped it up, you representing Siam against the old enemy!
When I was in Cambodia, the locals kept telling me about how they end fights by elbowing from the clinch especially using sok nad (uppercut elbow) but I never saw one actually used in a fight.
Nice one for the Kiat Busaba camp buddy!
awesome
Congrats.
Was it at Gawilla?
Woops... just read it was outside... Sorry. Hang Dong? Lamphun? Was it at a Wat fair?
BugEyedEarl: Looking forward to training with you! You'll recognize me by my dashing good looks :). Just kidding. Do you post on Brave Dave's forum by any chance?
Sonic_11: "so this guy from orthodox stance would bend down and spin clockwise trying to strike with a bent over sok klab?!" That's correct.
"How did he do this with you gripping his head? He must've gone real low." That's correct.
"Also, did the guy cross the border on a day visit just to fight or was he training in N Thailand also? What was his background, do you know?" No, I don't know anything about him except that he's had several fights before. I was originally supposed to fight a Thai, but then they switched fighters at the last minute. I don't even know his name. I was able to shake his hand after I found him in the crowd, after the fight, but he couldn't speak English and I can't speak his language.
"The locals must've lapped it up, you representing Siam against the old enemy!" Yes, the crowd was very pleased with the fight.
TheAdonis: "what is your height/weight?" I'm about 6' tall and about 175 pounds.
"do they do HIV tests before fights?" No, they didn't test me for HIV or any physical tests. This is out in the countryside where such facilities are nonexistent.
OctaviousBP: I don't believe it was any of those places. I'll ask my trainer today and let you know.
Lautaro
Lautaro,
I was wondering if I could get your e-mail. I am moving to Thailand next year and had some questions
Thanks
Sure man. My email is lautaro9@hotmail.com but be sure to put "Thailand" in the subject heading since it'll go straight to my junk mail folder. That way I can salvage your email. If you have questions about Thailand, there are others on this forum who've also been to Thailand who could probably help you out as well.
Lautaro
How are things at Lanna now anyways? Lots of success? Getting to be low season now...
Yeah, it's the low season in Thailand right now, but the gym is still quite packed with foreigners and we keep getting more people coming every week!
In terms of success, I'm not entirely sure... We have people fighting pretty often. As far as I'm aware, the success ratio overall is about 50% from the recent fights I've heard about. But I don't keep that much up to date with the fights, so I don't know how accurate this figure really is.
Lautaro
that's awesome man. Good job on your fight & victory.