What an interesting night. I had an opportunity to accompany a few of our fighters back stage. Things sort of came full circle for me as one of the fighters who I was accompanying was Mariuz Cieslinski. I was actually at his fight 4 or 5 years ago when he made his Muay Thai debut against my trainer Bunkerd Faphimai. When I told Mariuz the story, he gave a nod and said “Bunkerd is great man”. I couldn’t agree more.
Lots of great fights… One of the fights that stood out in my mind was with Danny Taylor of Lumpini Thai boxing vs. Jonathan Fabian of RZ Team Madrid. It was a fast paced fight and Fabian built a decent lead. Fabian has great hand speed and has clearly worked a lot on his boxing combination’s; he showcased his technical ability with some nice spinning and leaping elbows. You could imagine the crowds surprise when Danny Taylor’s hand was raised in victory. Actually I wouldn’t really call the reaction “surprise” it was more like disgust, with plenty of booing.
Afterwords I saw him in the dressing room and let him he know it was a total shit call. He walked away and came up to me a few min. later and said in broken English “you are the guy from the internet… yes?” Yes, I guess I am from the internet. Anyway, Jonathan great fight and I hope to see you in action again soon.
Our fighter Greg Walton was on form and pulled out a win. I’m not sure what Greg hit is opponent with maybe it was a knee? Anyway his camp decided to throw in the towel. I was with Greg before his fight and I was impressed with how calm he was. He’s young and he’s only been training about year… I really think he’s going to go far.
As you can see from the promo pic, one of the highlights of my evening was meeting… Rob Cox! For those of you who don’t know, Rob is a MT Journalist who runs his own camp and Muay Thai Focus. Rob is someone whom I hold in high regards. He’s been living, breathing and reporting on Muay Thai for over a decade. Rob is a walking encyclopedia of modern MT knowledge, I don’t think there is anyone who knows more about the Muay Thai scene in Thailand then Rob.
Rob was called in last minute when Sanchai’s trainer was denied a visa. In fact Sanchai and Rob had only arrived the night before, apparently it was all very last minute. I spoke with Sanchai briefly and he was looking pretty rough. I was slightly concerned as all he was really interested in was sleeping. I looked at Rob, ”he going to be ok…? He looks like shit…” “Sanchai? Oh he’ll be fine…”
Big ups to LuvMuay for taking the time to record and share this with the rest of us.
Part I
Part II
I was pretty impressed with Liam, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fighter sweep Sanchai. I felt Sanchai fought pretty conservatively compared to what we’re used to seeing. I think it was a combination of him being tired and him taking Liam seriously. Thoughts?
February 10, 2009 at 9:48 am
First fighter in the news is named Mariusz Cieslinski not Cielenski.
I remember once when I went to a boxing gym to improve my hands, he was there bombing a heavy bag. When I saw him doing that, I knew I was in the right place lol
February 10, 2009 at 10:01 am
I got back to the Uk from Thailand last Thursday afternoon.I had a ticket to go watch this show.I was so ridiculously jetlagged and exhausted on the saturday that I didnt bother going (to my eternal shame, as Iv never seen Saenchai fight). The fact that Saenchai had only arrived the day before and fights like that us astounding.All I can do for a week is go to bed early and wake up at odd times in the morning, the idea of fighting appalls me.I know he is a professional and its part of the game but you would think the promoter might have broght him over at least a few days over to acclimatise?Or was it visa issues?
February 10, 2009 at 11:22 am
I love the way both seem to be having fun. At moments looks like they are doing some heated sparring in Saenchai’s advanced class :)
February 10, 2009 at 11:59 am
so gutted this happened while I was away. Did Sanchai give away weight for this fight? I know he often does and Liam looks a fair bit bigger in the clips.
I wonder if Liam will try his cartwheel kick against future oponents?!
February 10, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Liam is a really awsome fighter. Very inspirational.
He diffinately had a weight and strength advantage I would go so far as to say he could have over-powered sanchai even knocked him down if he had really pressed the fight.
February 10, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Crap Shit, my Comp is worn, and for some Crazy reason I cant watch the first part. But Im really, REALLY impressed with Liam, damn a nice performance against The Doctor! And he matched the Cartwhell Kick, Dude Respect!! But Still. Saechai Sor Kingstar Nr 1. :-)
February 10, 2009 at 2:53 pm
How’d Nate’s fight look? I won’t be to the gym for a couple days to find out…
February 10, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Damn-
I forgot to add my prize pic of the evening…
February 10, 2009 at 7:17 pm
(the first half of the video didn’t work for me either.)
what a cool showing of muay thai and respect for your opponent. it’s nice to see someone fighting sanchai with a bit of a gameplan. i think if Liam followed up with more than 2 punches every time, things would’ve gotten a little more stickier for sanchai.
February 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Love Liam’s cartwheel kick! Great respect at the end of the fight by Liam as well, and a great show. A bit off topic, can someone tell me what the show of respect at the end actually means or came from? I have seen the Thais do this many times in the ring but usually never Euros or Americans. Tx.
February 10, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Not the best fight from Saenchai, he did just a bit more than opponent to pull a win. Liam seems to be studying Saenchai – did a good job. Nice and very respectful man.
February 10, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Weight difference?
Also, Liam showed a lot of skill against the extremely skillfull Sanchai! Sanchai mastery of knee grappling is second to none!
February 10, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Really dissapointed by your opinion on the Taylor fight.
The spanish fighter was working hard in the early rounds but scoring really was limited to boxing. Danny had a big fourth round and took the Fifth as well, he was scoring with kicks punches and knees. The spanish fighter threw planty of flashy elbows which landed right on Dannys gloves.
Danny scored with a great lead leg body kick almost at will when the spanish fighter stepped in, and the jumping elbow Fabian threw again missed and was countered with an elbow by Danny.
Both fighters fought a great fight and for anyone who supposedly loves Muay thai to advocate booing a fighter who had no control over the decision of three well respected judges, who in my opinion won the fight, is ridiculous. Would be great to see your opinion when you see a video of the fight and study it from a scoring perspective and realise how wrong you are.
February 10, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I don’t think nop has any reason for not being objectibe.
February 10, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Lumpini – if you re-read the post Nop didn’t “advocate” booing a fighter. He described the crowd’s reaction as disgust with plenty of booing.” That’s different from advocating booing, which would be something like “they should’ve booed that decision”, etc. Different people see fights differently. If he thought it was a bad decision, that’s his call to make. If you thought it was a good decision, that’s your call to make.
February 10, 2009 at 11:42 pm
By describing the reaction of the crowd as disgusted, and then going on to say that you thought the decision was shit, that insinuates that you think that you agree with their sentiment and possibly their actions.
Differing opinions about the outcome of the fight are reasonable but even coming close to suggesting booing a fighter in that way is anything other than shameful is disgusting.
February 11, 2009 at 12:23 am
Lumpini-
Welcome to MMT, and thanks for commenting. I personally didn’t agree with the decision., just my opinion… But as others have already mentioned, I wasn’t advocating anything. I was just describing what was going on around me. Yes there was booing and jeering, but it was directed at the judges. You can’t fault the fighter, he didn’t have anything to do with the decision.
If you get footage, please do pass it along, I’ll definitely post it.
February 12, 2009 at 5:24 pm
what a great display of Muay Thai. Both guys looked like they were having fun..a good fight. Great respect for his peer on the part of Liam. There were no losers in this fight
February 12, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Always a pleasure to see the fights on this site since we’re so deprieved in SF.. Hope all is well Nop!!
February 12, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Now the undercard fights are on P4TV, have re watched and still think that Taylor clearly won the fight as do both commentators. It was a very close well matched fight and would be interesting to see over 5 3 minute rounds. Interesting that the commentators echo what I said on the night about people taking too much notice of flashy techniques without effect.
Interested in your opinion on the video Nop.
February 13, 2009 at 12:10 am
Lumpini-
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll watch it later on tonight. If you guys are interested it’s at
http://www.p4tv.com/player/index.php select the “Muay Thai” channel and in the top left of the menu you’ll see “Muay Thai Legends”
Thanks again Lumpini
February 13, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Lumpini-
Thanks for passing that along. The fight was actually a lot tighter then I remembered it being. I think the crowd’s reaction belied the fact that this was a close match. That being said I think we’re going to agree to disagree.
1st even
2nd Jonathan
3rd even
4th Danny
5th Jonathan (very close)