I’ve met Malaipetch on several occasions, but I can’t say I really know him. He good friends with my trainer Bunkerd, and stops in whenever he’s in town. One of the things you immediately notice about him is how thick he is. Dude is f’ing jacked.
I wrote a brief synopsis of his fight with Jan VanDenderen at the WBC show. It was a bit of a mismatch, but I give VanDenderen mad, mad props for staying in there 5 rounds, the guy is a real warrior. Anyway I just came across these photos on the AX, they were taken by by John McPhail of Lapuente Muay Thai. I’m only posting a few, you can check out the rest of the pics here.
Malaipetch, truly scares me. I look at his calves and legs and can not image being kicked by them. Malaipetch’s legs sort of remind me of this guys legs.
Any of you guys out there train with Malaipetch? I would love to hear from you
13 responses so far ↓
1 Suwanna // Sep 17, 2007 at 1:23 am
All I can say..is “phuck”.
How did he get those monstrous legs. It is even more terrifying than Buakhao’s legs.
2 matt lucas // Sep 17, 2007 at 8:26 am
I dig Malaipetch’s elephant shorts, they’re cute.
3 nate // Sep 17, 2007 at 8:27 am
it looks like his legs are feed dinosaur meet
4 Ezrie // Sep 17, 2007 at 9:09 am
I used to train at the “Muay Thai Academy” in North Hollywood, Ca. Malaipet used to be attached there and would often teach classes. He is, in a word, ripped. Those pictures don’t do him justice. Also, his strength is very functional as I have never felt anyone kick as hard as he does (I had the “fortune” of holding the pads a few times for his demos.) Man is a bad fighter and an awesome specimen of human engineering. He is also a really nice guy — very approachable and a really good coach.
5 Kote Law Loi // Sep 17, 2007 at 2:47 pm
“I dig his elephant shorts, they’re cute”?? Wow that is a really creepy thing to say/
6 Kote Law Loi // Sep 17, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Thailand in MMA? GAMEOVER!
7 Tong Po // Sep 17, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Pretty badass. He looks not only ripped but pumped up too. I seem to remember Bunkerd being pretty “jacked” when he fought in the late 90s.
8 matt lucas // Sep 17, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I’m sorry but what I meant to say was “The cartoon elephant, that has a striking resembelance to Dumbo, makes Malaipetch look like a MAN… akin to say, Arnold Schwartzenagar, Sylvester Stallone, or Hulk Hogan. Malaipetch is without a doubt a man’s man.”
9 Dii Mak // Sep 18, 2007 at 7:56 am
Agree with Ezrie, Malaipet seems to be a really nice guy. I had the fortune of hanging out with him a bit after Neungsiam’s 1st Fresno fight, back at one of their friends house for late night thai food and drinks.
His English is good (comparable to Jongsanan’s) and he told us some interesting stories about growing up in a muay thai gym, recalling how crazy that is in Thailand. He also invited me to their smoker a while back that was held in a strip club. Nice! Sounded good to me but I never maid it.
Anyway, like most of the thais you meet, a very warm heart and really generous with both time and drinks (-: .
Always such a dichotomy when you see how they straight up wreck fools in the ring.
10 nae // Sep 23, 2007 at 11:44 pm
i can’t remember what was louder that night, the smack of his kicks or the chanting of the crowd everytime he kicked.
11 KaenSai // Sep 24, 2007 at 1:00 am
I heard the original guy he was supposed to fight on the card pulled out. W/ Malaipet weighing in at 155 the other guy that he fought weighed in around 170-175 and they didnt even give him a belt for winning.
12 Paul PP // Sep 28, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I totally agree with FLAKEY. We need the fighter TRAINERS and not the fighter being the trainer to train us properly.
13 Dii Mak // Sep 28, 2007 at 12:47 pm
On the note of thai fighters being trainers.. I think that goes across the board and is not a thai-only issue or a muay thai only issue.
Neungsiam at Fight and Fitness in San Francisco is a really good trainer and takes time to point out small things to you. Some trainers (I have trained at a couple of gyms) do not take the time. I have never been trained by Malaipet so this definitely could be true.
I know this also happens in MMA. You can have a really talented fighter that teaches class to pay the bills, that is not a good instructor. I think the main problem lies in if you pay all kinds of money to train with “the best”. Yeah, someone may be a name, but they really may be a lousy teacher.
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