Muay Thai Stuff’s Blog

Many of you may already know that there are some more variations of Muay Thai but the most common that we know are Muay Chaiya, Muay Boran. Basically, No matter what kind of variations are, I believe that the “root” of Muay Thai still be the same. The variations of Muay Thai (such as those two examples) were invented, only in my opinion, because the different of culture and region where they live. However, Muay Boran may be different from other, because many people think that they can go to the real original of Muay Thai if they practice Muay Boran. I could tell that it is still possible to learn other type of Muay but they are not compulsory. But these two variations will give you more ideas about how to apply the art of self defense to use in the real situation, not for the fight for competition. So there are two different purpose, for the one who want to develop martial art skills, learning other types of Muay may be a lot of help but for competition fight, these should not be a compulsory, but any one still be able to learn if they want to.

Unfortunately, these variations, even though in Thailand, almost never exist, since the new era of “business” Muay Thai have arrived and we can see the real art of defense in the performance show. Apart from the camps that provide comprehensive lessons, there is very least chance too see these invaluable ancient Thai martial arts. However, there are some of real masters who live overseas and open for training Muay Boran and Muay Chaiya.

No Contender Asia fans do not know him. He is one of the excellent Thai Muay Thai fighters who has recently joined the series, together with his friend, Yodsaenklai Fairtex. Naruepon not reputable only in this series or in many of international competition, he also the ex-champion of Lumphini Stadium in 2005, which I think it is the most difficult to get title of this stadium because there were a lot of the well known and more-than-excellent fighters around. His camp, Fairtex is also reputable so should be no doubt what make him so strong and difficult to fight with. The most distinctive skills are knee kick and elbow. Even though he is really young, only in his early twenties) but I think he received such a wonderful success, compare to other Thai fighters in Thailand. This may be because he receive a lot of promotion and support from his camp to encourage him to develop skill as well as to support to fight overseas.

High Head Kick: Only one is enough

What make the match’s result different is KO, it turns the fighter who obviously gain advantage over the other to become a loser in just one shot. Even though I could not see KO that was made by effective deadly Mae Mai Muay Thai very often, even in Thailand, but sometimes I can see some common advanced technique like high head kick was used. This time, again, I can see from this video. I strongly believe that the guy in red corner will finally be the winner when the fight ends, but when he losing control when clinching and gave opportunity for the blue to kick on his head, that’s the end of the fight. Sometimes, it is really difficult to defense yourself when clinching because you will have to concentrate on arm locking and knee kick. The guy in red corner was attack at the moment when he tried to push himself away from clinch without carefully guard his head.

Good news for fighters in Greece, there will be a big event:

Casino Loutraki S1 World championship 2008
Venue: Club Hotel Casino Loutraki
Date: 6th-7th March 2008

8 Professional Muay Thai fighters from 8 countries will fight.

P.S. There will be giveaway TUFF t-shirts (special design for the event) for visitors.

** Limited availability **

See you there !

KOMBAT and TUFF proudly sponsorred the fighters.

Click to enlarge

Story Told by Kru Brooks Miller

All I can say is “WOW!” The new facility is great!
I did not have the chance to volunteer during the build and move as it was the holiday season and my wife and I were entertaining family that was visiting from out of town, so I had no idea what to expect when I pulled up out front for the very first time. I remembered what the original plans had been when we first began planning this relocation, but I also remember that these plans had fallen through.

When I first arrived and saw the front of the gym, all I could think was, “Wow… this is small.” After parking and walking in the front door, I was immediately impressed with the lobby. It was very nicely laid out… ‘simple elegance’ comes to mind. The training area looked to be a decent size, but considering the amount of mat space the gym originally had at our previous location, I was a bit dubious whether or not this would be suitable to our needs.

Then I noticed the doorway, which opened into another set of rooms, each with matted floor space and training equipment! At present, there are two large matted training rooms, and a third room for weights and exercise equipment. There are also bathrooms, a storage area, and an office.

Even better, the gym is expected to expand into the location that is currently next door at the beginning of this next month. The shop located right next door will be vacating soon, and we are expected to take over that area as well. That means we will have room for a boxing ring, a partial MMA cage, and a variety of hanging training bags, such as heavy bags and speed bags! I am especially anxious to expand into this new training area as many of the classes and skills that I hope to teach will be best suited to the way this room will be equipped.

It’s great to have a home for the gym again!

I accidentally found his website from links in K-1 Grand Prix page. Really surprise to know that he has very good Muay Thai skill, and good enough to be in the final round of K-1 2005 in Japan. Even though it was quite long time ago, but if you dig further down to his record and title bit you will see that he went through the final round of K-1 since the year 2000, which I believe that not many fighter could make such a successful and amazing records. For his fighting record, it does not about the number of winning fight that he had, but what interest me most is 50 KOs out of 60 fight that he won. This particularly interesting to me. Even though I do not know a lot about him, but after I saw some of his fights in youtube (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Ray+Sefo&search_type=) I would say that he is one of the best non-Thai Muay Thai (but I personally rather call mix between Muay Thai and kick boxing rather than purely Muay Thai) I have ever seen. You may also discuss more about his fight after you experience some of the videos. At present time Ray is the owner of Ray Sefo Fight Academy, which located in New Zealand.
Many thanks for information from www.raysefo.com

Part 1

Part 2

Not many occasion that I have opportunity to see such a quality Muay Thai female fight. I definitely did not expect the perfect approach, stance, attacks or any thing, but every time I have opportunity to see Muay Thai female fight, I only expect how well they perform in overall and the appreciation of Muay Thai but this time I may have to change attitude a bit. Both of ladies in this video demonstrated incredible stance, speed and technique, especially for the lady in blue corner who did very well for defensive techniques like front kick (foot thrust). I personally appreciate any of fighters who has excellent defensive technique and use less opportunity to attack but effective. However, it looks like other lady in red corner also very strong and powerful so she made very frequent attacks and this make they both seem to have very equal advantage.

Hi everyone, I had a chance to interview Zach regarding his career and the Contender Asia. Here is some bit from the inside.

Oak: How are you doing, bro?
Zach: Am doing great. Been very busy since The Contender Asia.

Oak: How long have you been doing Muay Thai?
Zach: I started when I was 17 and did it for fun and needed to lose weight!! Was abit of a chubby kid…90kg over!! All thanks to moms cooking!!

Oak: What fighters did you look up to as you were growing up?
Zach: I remember reading about Diesel Noi and how he had amazing knee strikes. How he was undefeated for so long. I only ever saw one of his fights on the internet and I was impressed at how he used his height to is advantage with his knees!!

Oak: What brought you into the show?
Zach: Well I’ve been fighting regularly for WMC and Stephan Fox said to me that he would like to give me a chance to go on the show. I was reluctant at first,because I knew some of the guys in there had alot more experience than me!! I talked to alot of friends and family and they supported me and said that I would be stupid to not take the offer. Im glad they all believed in me.

Oak: How do you feel about the show?
Zach: Well filming it and watching it is 2 totally different things! We never imagined what it could be like….and we were really sooo amazed by it when we saw the first episode. And the episodes just keep getting better and better. I think the show will do wonders for the sport. Muay Thai is so much more than just fighting.

Oak: Can you tell me about the house and your team mates?
Zach: The Loft was very cool. We didn’t know what to expect at first but I think when we saw it for the first time we were all pretty impressed!!! The Tiger Kings are all a bunch of really down to earth gentlemen. We all just got along very well. And even now after the show alot of us still keep in close contact.

Oak: How is about the other team?
Zach: Well blue team were loud and yeah they were also pretty cocky sometimes. But we took it in our stride and laughed it off. Don’t think it wouldn have made very interesting TV if all of us were just all so nice and sat around reading. hahah Yukay and Sean were my favourite to hang out with in the blue team.

Oak: Can you tell me about the accident in Episode 1?
Zach: Well the whole challenge on Episode 1 was just a disaster. When they told us what it was someone said,”If one falls,both falls coz we’re tied to each other an then we’re screwed.”…And guess who fell!!??…To make it worse it had rained all day,the lanes were narrow and I think it just wasn’t my day. We werent pleased about it. but we still had to do it. Me and Soren did a test run and it was ok. I remember running and Soren was behind me and I said “Keep Up” and next thing I know,I was on the floor Soren landed hard on my right shoulder and I just heard a loud riping sound on my shoulder and I knew I dislocated it. It really just was a bad way to start things off in the comp. The Blue team and Red team were very angry at the challenge and the producers apologized to us after saying that the challenges to come will be less dangerous as they don’t wanna risk anymore injuries from challenges.

Oak: What if you were picked you in Episode 1?
Zach: Well nothing you can do…Just gotta fight and do your best!!

Oak: What do you think about Yodseanklai?
Zach: Yodsaenklai is a MACHINE…..his kicks are just amazing. I mean the way he balances and Im amazed at how hard it is for people to read when he’s going to kick coz he’s so natural at it. Apart from fighting he is also a very funny guy. He really did put an effort to learn english while he was there. Ohh and one more thing…Yodsaenklai can EAT!!!!!!!!

Oak: What do you think about JWP as the team leader?
Zach: JWP is an awesome team leader. He knew what to say and when to say things to motivate us. He was just a really nice guy in general. Im very happy that he picked me into his team. Was a real honour to have been part of the Tiger Kings wth JWP as my leader.

Oak: Who are the toughest guys in this show?
Zach: I’d say JWP,Yodsaenklai,Jabba,Bruce. Are prolly the toughest in the house!!!!

Oak: Ok, that’s all. Thank you for your time, Zach. Good luck in the future!!
Zach: Thanks bro!!!

If you guys have any question for him, feel free to post below.

More about Zach, visit his blog: Zig Zach blog

Story told by, Kru Brooks Miller

I enjoy coaching, but as with any job, you go through ‘down’ periods. Over the course of late November and the entire month of December, my training classes had increasingly become deserted. For example, during the entire month of December, I believe I only actually coached 1 or 2 times in total. I would arrive to coach the fight team, but no one showed up to train. To tell the truth, it was a bit depressing. I was actually thinking about cancelling my classes.

Fortunately, now that we’ve relocated to the new gym, my classes are beginning to pick up again. While I’m not enjoying the same attendance I did this last Spring, where my class typically had up to 20 students, I am no longer left twiddling my thumbs during my training session.

Originally, my Friday night training sessions were “Fight Team Training & Sparring”. However, I quickly found that many of those who attended my class were recently ‘promoted’ in rank and allowed to participate in sparring classes. So while they had proven that they had mastered their basic skills, they had little to no understanding of how to fit it all together and fight with it. Rather than throw these Fight Team novices to the wolves, I quickly altered my approach. My class rarely allows MuayThai “free sparring”. Instead, my class focuses on strategy and contact drills designed to build the skills for use in the ring. When they do spar, it is with limited tools. They may be allowed to only Box or only Kick. Sometimes they are to fight only from the clinch.

Last night, one of the students was participating in my class for the first time. We only had 3 students attend class, so I stepped in as his training partner for the drills. Our focus was the Push Kick, or Teep. As I pointed out to the class, the Teep is really one of MuayThai’s underappreciated techniques in International competition. It is rare that you see anyone outside of Thailand use this tool effectively. Hence, it is one of the areas that I focus on when I coach.

At first, our new member wasn’t getting it. His push kicks were mis-timed, and mis-aimed. I noticed that he was using MuayThai’s “boxing” stance, as taught by Matee Jedeepitak, who has taught seminars at our gym in the past. I had him try a different variation of the stance, with his weight to the rear, and advised him of how to alter the delivery of his kick. We then practiced a number of different ways to use the technique throughout the training class.

All in all, it was a good class and I really enjoyed myself, but the real moment of satisfaction arrived in my email INBOX today. The new student had emailed the owner of our gym raving about my class, claiming that it was the most enjoyable training experience he’s had since becoming a member of the gym. The gym owner forwarded me this email along with his own “Thank You and Good Job”.

These are the moments that make all the blood, sweat, and tears worthwhile!

This name more familiar to me as a world champion for international boxing competition (WBU). But when I eventually saw the result of the K-1 Asia in late February 2008, just curious why I miss this important guy until he lost to Korean fighter in this tournament. Sirimongkol was a Muay Thai fighter before he turned to international boxing and gained the world titles. However, not every champions always have beautiful life, he also had a critical bad time. I don’t have much detail about him as a Muay Thai fighter because his Muay Thai life is too short, he started to fight international boxing since I was young and finally join K-1 in early 2007. However, I also heard that he is one of the best fighter, particularly for his punch and jabs, but unfortunately, his route for K-1 Asia has ended after lost to Korean fighter, Su Hwan Lee, but I still admire to him as the person who will never give up, even though there were many of hard time that he had to struggle to survive.