MSA Premier League Pics

Had an exceptional Saturday afternoon and evening watching some quality MuayThai.

I took an early train up to Manchester with some friends from the gym, the 2:30 hour train ride was well worth the effort.

I spent most of the afternoon taking snaps and talking to NakMuays.  I spent the better part of my afternoon and evening with Khun Thakoon Pongsupha the manager of the Sasiprapa camp.  He’s a solid guy and I look forward to training with them the next time I’m back in Bangkok.

Khun Thakoon and Rungravee

I’m not going to get into the blow by blow commentary of what happened in the fights.  It’s going to be on Sky Sports so I’m sure we’ll get footage soon enough.   Besides, because I was running around all night, I ended up missing a majority of the fights.

I’ll give you a little run down of the conversations I had.

Sanchai

Had sometime to catch up with Sanchai.  It Looks like we’re going to be seeing some more of him in the next few months.  He said he had a fight lined up in Japan next month and they were working on getting him on a couple of shows in Europe.  He said he would love to fight in the States, but it just hasn’t happened (Dennis Warner are you listening?)

Liam Harrison

Liam is really looking forward to his rematch with Anuwat.  It’s going to be at the next MSA event in a couple of months.  He admitted that his training just wasn’t there the last bout.  He said he really felt embarrassed and annoyed with himself in his last fight with Anuwat.  He said it was particularly embarrassing because of all the other high caliber fighters who were there that night.  Anyway, he seems to have the right motivtion, and I’m looking forward to watching his re-match.

Liam and the Dr.

Sagetdao Petchpayathai

I spent a fair amount of my evening with Sagetdao, he said it was his first time out of the country, and frankly he looked a little overwhelmed.  I know his of the highest level of fighter, but he really looked quite nervous and intimidated.  I wasn’t the only one who noticed, Sanchai came up to him a couple of times and told him to just relax… not to worry about things, that it would be fine.

I sort of felt bad for him because he really looked like he wanted to be left alone.  He would try to shadow box but there were always a number of people looking to get a picture or autograph.  I sort of wanted to step in, but it just wasn’t my place.

Sagetdao

Rungravee Sasripapa

Rungravee is a beast.  I had never seen any of his previous fights and wasn’t really sure what to expect.  He was really quiet and seemed quite shy.   I watched as they finished massaging him and he started shadow boxing.

It was pretty impressive… I can’t remember the last time I saw someone doing shadow work and thought, shit this guy is nasty (maybe amir khan).  I’m not talking hitting pads, but just shadow work.  Just watching him move you could see how fast and explosive his movements were.

You’ll see the clip when it’s out, but it was definitely one of the more painful bouts of the night.

Andy Howson

Andy Howson, is one tough bastard.  Rungravee said to me he couldn’t believe that Andy kept coming, which is a huge statement for Andy.  I think most other fighters would have just packed it in.  Afterwards Andy said it was the first major leg kick that rocked him… he also said that Rungravee was most definitely the hardest guy he’s ever faced.

I had a great time, it was a really well run event and I’m looking forward to their next show at the MEN.   I’m confident after meeting with the CEO of MSA, Dr. Swee Lip Quek that there shows are going to get bigger and better.

Maybe we’ll do a quick MMT meetup at the next event?  Who’s down?

Here are my pics from the show… enjoy!