For all of the MMT brothers in the UK, we’re a couple of weeks away from the March 27th MSA show at the MEN.  If you haven’t bought your tickets yet you can do so here.  I’m booked and I’m good to go… I’ll be spending the night in Manchester (next to the Arena) if any of you want to grab drinks afterwards.

The last show was legit, and I expect nothing less from this show.  I’m looking forward to the rematch between Liam Harrison and Anuwat Kaewsamrit.   Anuwat is slowing a bit, and I’m hoping he brings it… otherwise there could be some real suprises.

The other main event is Bovy vs. Michael Dicks, I’m know Bovy will come out super agro… lets just hope he keeps his mitts up.  Here’s the trailer to the event.  Who’s thinking about heading up?

Props to Colargol for posting and sharing and SSTV for the footage.  This is probably some of the most insane action you’ll see this year.  Don’t miss the 4th round of this fight, it reminds me a lot of the old Jongsanan and Sakmongkol battles of the past.  In the red is Ponsaneh and the blue is Pakon.

I’m going to do a little more homework on these fighters but definitely going to looks out for these two in the future.

One for the MMT brothers In Jersey (Not UK) it looks like you’ve new league/sanctioning body coming to town.

It’s called Instinct fighting, the Idea is that its stand up, with MMA gloves.  I’m pretty sure elbows are good to go.   I remember having a talk about something like this 4 or 5 years ago with my ex-trainer Neungsiam.  I’m glad someone’s done something about it.  Maybe we’ll see some MuayChaiya guys get into the mix.

This is the brainchild of Stephane Patry (a Canadian MMA promoter and manager
of Georges St Pierre)

I know there have been a couple attempts at this in NV or Cali?  I think Japan has a similar thing going on.  I would be down to see some footage, maybe even go to an event.

It appears we’ve got two fighters participating in this.  Antuan Siangboxing (parents are French nationals? But has been living in Thailand since he was quite young) and Kamlayok Tongchai who’s from Fairtex?  I got these details from K-1forums so, you guys know as much as I do.

Here are the times and  locations of the upcoming shows.

17th April 2010 Newark (New Jersey)
19th June 2010 Atlantic City (New Jersey)
24th July 2010 Chicago (Illinois)
11th september 2010 Pittsburgh (Pensylvania)
06th November 2010 New York
17th december 2010 Las Vegas (Nevada)

Any of you guys going to be fighting on this?  Going to these?  Know anyone involved in this?

Props to Gusnark for passing this one along.  This took place a couple of months ago in Marseille between Fabio Pinca and Kem SitSongpeenong.  You may recognize Kem as he was most recently known as Kem Fairtex.  I think he’s been with Sitsongpeenong for a couple of months now.

For MMT regulars you should be fairly familiar with Pinca.  I think he’s one of the most talented Nak Muay’s in Europe today.  I’m not sure where he trains in Thailand, but it seems like his clinch work is improving every time I see him fight.

You may remember the Pinca /Bovy brawl… I would love to see the rematch.

Anyway, this is a quality fight… enjoy.

This bout took place a couple of weeks ago between Sagetdao Petchpayathai (Red) and Nong-O Sit-O it was for the Thai sports writers fighter of the year award. Sagetdao has been on a bit of a winning streak lately… the last fight we posted he had earned a victory over Sanchai Sor.Kingstar.

I think someone forgot to tell Nong-O about Sagetdao’s winning streak.  Interesting battle! This is probably some of the best MuayThai I’ve seen this year.

Many thanks to Gusnark for posting and sharing this with us.

I thought we would start the week off with some quality MuayThai.  This bout took place last week at Rajadomnern and features Petchboonchu the current featherweight Lumpini Stadium champion and Orono Wor. Petchboon.  Big thanks to Hellfighter of the K1 forums for sharing, and of course SSTV for airing these.  Enjoy!

Many thanks to Rob for passing this one along… this was from Saturday’s it’s Showtime show in Prague. Pajonsuk, a former Lumpini champion has been cracking skulls in europe for a while now.

Pretty surprised at the overall turnout and outcome of the fight.  It’s clear Jung, in my opinion was out classed in this match up.  That being said props for landing the spinning back fist, goes to show even word class nak muay’s can get caught.  What I’m unclear about it the ruling on spinning back fists?  Obviously the ref states the rules at the beginning of the bout, but I doubt any of those guys understood a lick of what he was saying.  Is the spinning back fist illegal in MT rules?  or was it just the rules in the Showtime show?

Hopefully we’ll get a rematch… also thanks to meyer1244 for getting this up so quickly.

Here’s another fight from last weekends action in Italy.  It’s with Andrei Kulebin and Sudsakorn. Kulebin is a gifted fighter out of Belarus, with loads of experience.  Can someone confirm did he compete in this years World Amateurs? That’s something I seriously don’t’ understand… you get folks like, Kyshenko, Levim and I’m pretty sure Kulebin who show up and compete in the world amateurs… seriously what the hell is that about?  I noticed it’s the Belorussian countries that always bring the pro’s to fight in amateur tournaments.  Can someone please set me straight?

Ok so sorry to go off on a tangent, this fight features one of my current favs… Sudsakorn, the nakmuay with hella swagger.  What’s up with the ref?  He needs to STFU, playful taunting has always been apart of MuayThai.  It’s the nakmuays way of saying “You ain’t got shit”.

Anyway both these guys are scary fast and vicious,  a little disappointed it didn’t go the distance but that’s just how it is.  Anyway  hope you guys have a great weekend, get some training in and I’ll catch you Monday.

Props to our good friend Mark Mian of the Altercenter for passing this one along.  When are we going to see some more articles from you buddy? According to the info on the clip, this fight took place back in June… I don’t recall hearing anything about this.  I typically can’t stand edited fights, but I don’t feel like this fight has lost any of it’s essence.  I’m not sure if this clip is sped up a little, but are these guys really this fast?  For those of you new to MuayThai, Kaew (black trunks) and Jomthong are both marquee fighters for the Fairtex and Chuwattana camps.  Both are multiple Lumpini and Rajadomnern belt holders, and all around bad asses.

The teep at the end of round 3 is ridiculous…  Many thanks to Aromashoota for posting and sharing this vid.

I just saw that the fighters from Kaewsamrit were busy last night in Paris… I didn’t even know this event was happening, then again I’m not really up on the french forums. Any french MMT readers out there?   Would’ve been a nice heads up, would’ve liked to attend this. I hoping to find more footage for this, if any of you come across any, feel free to share.

If you don’t want to know the results, I would stop reading now…  There are also some great pics of the event posted on Flickr. I was only able to find a clip of Bennoui vs. Anuwat. This clip was provided to us, compliments of Netkayo, thanks for sharing!

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

There was a 4 man tournament along with a superfight. The line up for the 4 man was:

Fabio Pinca vs. Sittichai (Winner: Extra round Dec)
&
Houcine Bennoui vs. Anuwat (Winner: Decision)

Anuwat vs. Sittichai (Winner: Decision)

They were supposed to have 2 superfights, from what I can tell Bovy was scheduled to have fought Ali Abrayem… however it looks like only Kem Sitsongpeenong (formerly fairtex) fought him instead. Still awaiting results and vids on that…

To begin, the fight results (winners in bold):

Ali Yaakub (Malaysia) vs Sornthong Dennawee (Thailand) – TKO, 3^rd round
Zaza (Thailand) vs ? (Thailand) (Joey Lee of China was replaced last moment) – points
Madsua (Thailand) vs Robbie Filiponi (Austrailia) – points
Kaoklai (Thailand) vs Erik Kosztanko (Slovakia) – points
Nonsai (Thailand) vs Dzhabar Askerov (Russia) – points
Nopparat (Thailand) vs Antoine Pinto (France) – points
Ramazan Ramazanov (Russia) vs Eduardo Maiorino (Brazil) – KO, first round
The fight between Nonsai and Dzhabar was my favourite.  It was intense and tight from the start.

This event was the first of many to come; Elite Boxing’s mandate being to deliver a minimum of eight events within the year, increasing to twelve to fourteen events in subsequent years.  The intent is to host similar events in various countries worldwide.

Being that the fights were held in the Royal Paragon Hall (the fifth floor of the Siam Paragon shopping complex, where on lower levels you can purchase designer gear and luxury vehicles), the intended audience isn’t the usual lower income local muay thai enthusiast that dominates the bleachers in this country.  If you’re a Foreigner, the price range is actually better than you will receive at Raja or Lumpinee stadiums as the event is void of a dual pricing policy.  Everyone pays equally, whether you are Thai or not.  The price point began at 500 baht and increased to 2,500 ringside.  I believe at both Raja and Lumpinee, prices for Foreigners begin in the range of 1,000.

In addition, Elite Boxing is marketing the Thailand vs Challenger Series as an event, not simply a fight.  One of Thailand’s top hip hop acts Thaitanium opened the night and spectators witnessed a numbered of cultural shows.

The production was excellent.  I believe Elite Boxing successfully targeted a more affluent demographic while maintaining Thai integrity.  Meaning, although Western elements were apparent (i.e. ring girls and a dj) I still felt that I was in Thailand.  At this point, I’d like to say, Mr. DJ, thank you for not being a cheesy hack.

I suspect the events will do well.

More about Laura

I’m a Canadian who decided to quit my job, sell most of what I own, pack a suitcase, and skip continents to pursue a martial art I’m not particularly efficient in. A minimalist. A modern nomad. A kid who just likes having a good time.

My attraction to muay thai is that it’s an art with no wasted motion. It has been the greatest vehicle for my continual education. It’s incredibly challenging to me – both the physical and the mental game. The latter probably more so than the former.

Currently I’m in Bangkok training muay thai fulltime. The plan is to be here for a few years, but realistically, I have no idea where this path is leading, or what the timeline is. I like change and pushing my comfort zone. A lot. Nevertheless, muay thai will be the constant among the variables.

Be prepared for updates, rambling, video content and anything I’ve learned that I think may of use to you.

This hasn’t been easy, but so far, its been a pretty sick ride.

For those of you who’ve been in BKK, you’ll know that you can’t walk 5 mins without running into some sort of shopping center.  My peeps love them some malls… seriously and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight, every time I’m back there appears to be a new mall springing up.  Anyway I digress…

Greg and Rob

This last trip back I caught some fights at the MBK center.  It looks like Songchai the uber promter is putting on fights every Wed night.   My friend Greg who’s currently training and fighting out of Kiatphontip had his first fight in Thailand at a shopping mall!  Actually it’s a decent way to break-in a foreign fighter in Thailand, it’s low pressure venue and low key event.   That being said Greg just fought at Lumpini this past Saturday and won via TKO, I’m still trying to get the details, but more on that later.

It’s a strange atmosphere… you’re outside in front of the mall in full view of sky train commuters and tourist just passing by.  I guess it’s the ideal venue if you want to introduce MuayThai to the masses.

Most of the fights involved foreign nak muays getting some exposure. So if you’re out and about on a Wed night, swing by the MBK center for some muaythai action.  On a side note it was good to run into GorillaPalmz! It’s nice to finally put a face to a name.