41 responses so far ↓

• 1 Nathan Wade Willet // Oct 8, 2008 at 10:02 am

  First time we’ve seen jabba look bad before. He’ll bounce back though.

  Right from the beginning he wasn’t really there.

• 2 wallace // Oct 8, 2008 at 11:07 am

  Lifted From AXKickboxing regarding the UK Contender qualifier, along with a signed letter from stephan fox confirming the details below

  “These are the 8 names that will contest for a place in the house in Singapore in February 2009

  Everyone was invited and this is the chosen 8 from those that applied.

  In Surname alphabetical order:

  Richard Fenwick

  Daniel Hudson

  Steven Jones

  Craig Jose

  Chris Shaw

  Tim Thomas

  Jordan Watson

  Jay Woodham

  reserves: Steve Patterson

  Undercard to include…

  Andy Howson v Super K

  Michael Dick v Super Boy

  Olly Watson v Steve Primrose”

• 3 Stack // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:36 pm

  I wonder how this will do and given some of the inital feedback I have heard of the Contender eliminators in general is less than pleasing.

• 4 Stack // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:36 pm

  Also I wonder which MMA fighter the USA will send when the US allegedly has their tournies.

• 5 nyghtsky // Oct 8, 2008 at 1:38 pm

  World Muaythai Council (WMC), the sanctioning body for Contender Asia, in a recent press conference in Korea announced that Malaysia has recieve the thumbs up to be the host country for Contender Asia Season Two!

  As for Alex Ricci’s participation, there have been news that his win in the Canadian CA Qualifer was disallowed… hence, he will not be representing Canada after all… ( shame, really… as its has something to do with him not being the son of Mike Miles )

• 6 Alphadisco // Oct 8, 2008 at 4:26 pm

  This time, I want at least one Dutchman. Put anybody in there, Pique, Chabari, Holzken, whatever. They’re all good fighters, unlike some of the participants of the first season.

• 7 Frank // Oct 8, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  I know our qualifier was fought at 165lbs. As nyghtsky said, there’s some controversy as to whether Ricci truly won. However, I’d be upset if it was taken away from him. He absolutely deserved it 100%. I think the possibility of being saved by the last bell is ludicrous. Jesse Miles couldn’t even stand up. And that’s coming from a guy who trains under Mike’s name (although I’ve never trained with him, Trev Smandych is my Kru)

• 8 thaifan // Oct 9, 2008 at 2:04 am

  For anyone lost about the story behind the Ricci/Miles fight:

  Ricci and Jesse Miles were the two finalists in the Canadian Qualifier tourney.

  As I understand it, Ricci knocked Jesse Miles out right at the end of the last round. Because of it, Mike Miles is having the KO reviewed because of a “saved by the bell” rule or technicality. If he’s successful, a video of the fight will be decided on the scorecards…and that would make Miles the winner + Canadian rep.

  As nyghtsky said, there’s a lot of controversy surrounding the topic. I’m not taking up sides or anything, and I didn’t get to see it. A big point of contention for a lot of people is that Mike Miles promoted the show and Jesse is his son. So far, it seems the majority of the Muay Thai community in Canada is voicing the same opinion as Frank: that Miles was out cold and Ricci deserves to represent on the Contender.

  Just based on what I heard and read about the fights, I also think it would be a shame to reverse Ricci’s shot on the show now; in any case, the fight is still under review, so it’s still all up in the air. If I hear anything on the subject I’ll post.

  As an aside, Ricci now has his own gym and team called M-1.

• 9 Stack // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:17 am

  Miles is well known for his practices being less than ethical this is just another example of it perhaps made more public by a reality show.

  I must say it’s pretty dubious getting a win by getting yourself KOed.

• 10 Josh // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:25 am

  I have had to deal with Mike Miles once, and his fighters.
  His fighters were polite and respectful, he on the other hand…

• 11 Stack // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:28 am

  It’s a common story and from what I’ve seen none of the Contender qualifiers are wholly free of controversy. The Uk one in some ways may actually be worse.

• 12 Josh // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:41 am

  Actually as an American I’m ashamed of who could represent us in Contender. Right off I couldn’t think of anyone who could compete with the rest of them. Which really sucks, but everyone here has their head up MMA’s ass for the most part. Our pro Muay Thai is almost nonexistant but people fight pro MMA in some parts after training only for 3 months. Hopefully Master Toddy might have someone? Or is he MMA now too?

• 13 Stack // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:48 am

  Toddy as far as I am concerned is a compelte non-factor and so is his stable.

  Hate saying it but at the moment if anyone is going to come out of North America worth anything it’s gonna be Canada. I know of a lot of good candidates that could have been considered but don’t give a damn any more due to MMA basically being the number#2 combat sport and opportunities just flat out dying on the vine for them.

  BTW 100% agreed about MMA where every windmilling slob has ‘excellent’ Muay Thai and/or striking.

• 14 Frank // Oct 9, 2008 at 4:41 am

  Thanks for the nod to the fighters, Josh:) Who did you fight from our gym?

• 15 horc00 // Oct 9, 2008 at 6:39 am

  No rep from America? How about one of them Fairtex students in USA? Or perhaps one of Saekson Janjira’s boys?

  I’m sure there will be some decent fighters somewhere not into MMA bandwagon

• 16 mmcmx // Oct 9, 2008 at 11:44 am

  The Spanish qualifier will be held in November I think.

  Anyhow, the guy that looks like he is gonna make it is Rafi Zouhier with a 65-53 record 19 by KO

• 17 nopstar // Oct 9, 2008 at 3:53 pm

  Wallace-

  Welcome to mymuaythai and thanks for the info. I don’t have a clue who any of these guys are… but isn’t that the point of the contender?

• 18 sweeptheleg // Oct 9, 2008 at 4:40 pm

  The Australian qualifier will be held on the next Evolution show in December. It will be Eli Madigan, Warren Elson, Jason Scerri and one fighter they haven’t picked yet.

• 19 jake // Oct 9, 2008 at 7:08 pm

  :[ give us a good US rep.

• 20 alexander // Oct 9, 2008 at 9:02 pm

  I train at Master Toddy’s, we have some ok fighters but he’s more interested in promoting girls at this point. no MMA classes yet.

  thank god the instruction i receive is from Luukchang and Saohin from Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket. otherwise…

• 21 Josh // Oct 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm

  @Frank

  I didn’t fight anyone from that camp but had a chance to meet some. They were real cool.

  I hate to bad mouth US Muay Thai fighters, we do have some good ones but none that could compete at the international level. I hope more than anything that will change. But the fact is, in our gym most people come to train “stand up” for their MMA, they make fun of the Ram Muay and Mongkon, and they want to wear MMA shorts instead of Muay Thai shorts. Its a respect thing, they know nothing about Muay Thai but think Anderson Silva is the best Nak Muay to ever fight. So in a word MMA has left a bad taste in my mouth…which sucks because I love combat sports.

  Regardless, the Contender has proven to be the “best of the best” when it comes to Muay Thai and not “up and comers.” As long as that is the case I wouldn’t expect any Americans to make a wave anytime soon. And to me, that sucks.

• 22 Stack // Oct 10, 2008 at 12:24 am

  Some one put this link up of the last round of Jess Miles Vs. Ricci.

  Looks to me that Ricci got wholly robbed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DxowuCj3vs

  Get it before Miles makes it disappear.

• 23 greghow // Oct 10, 2008 at 1:47 am

  Thanks for the link, Stack.

  It’s a real disgrace to contest the loss when it took the mofo half a minute to even sit up. I guess his camp is just desperate to get on the show. What a bunch of losers. Pathetic…

  Is this Muay Thai or kickboxing?!

• 24 Stack // Oct 10, 2008 at 3:13 am

  Allegdly Muay thai and wholly agree.

• 25 nyghtsky // Oct 10, 2008 at 5:36 am

  Can’t understand why elbow pads were used by fighters during the North American/ Canadian Qualifier Super 8…

  I feel that sparing the fighters the condition of fight ( with heavy hitting elbows commonly displayed in a MT match ) is really putting them at a disadvantage when they have to compete in a real fight under full Muay Thai rules!

• 26 Fighter X // Oct 10, 2008 at 8:42 am

  This season im definately keen to see less Australians. Maybe cut it down to 1 person per country. On my dreamlist….

  1. Cosmo Alexander- a Brazilian who has made a name for himself in THAILAND…. thats impressive.

  2. Bigben J Ratcadakorn- this dude is mean and deserves some overseas exposure.

  3. Nicky Holzken- one to watch.

  4. Artur Kyshenko- my favourite in K-1 but can he cut it in muaythai?

  Hopefuly one of these guys can make it…. but definately less Ausies!!

• 27 Stack // Oct 10, 2008 at 9:23 am

  Cosmo actually took part in the Dutch reality show - It’s Showtime. It was modified Muay Thai rules but the matches were generally better matched and the fighters were on average more talented.

  I wouldn’t expect to see any K-1 guys there any time soon. They make some good coin already and the Contender won’t help or hurt that.

• 28 nyghtsky // Oct 10, 2008 at 11:42 am

  I think BigBen’s fighting light in the 50-55kg division..

• 29 Frank // Oct 10, 2008 at 12:57 pm

  We have to use elbow pads according to the boxing commission. Nothing to do with the promoters or fighters.

• 30 Fighter X // Oct 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm

  nyghtsky, your right I meant Big Ben Chor Praram 6. I think he fights around 70kgs.

  Stack - interesting about Cosmo. I think he deserves more credit th. He is well respected in thailand. And I know its a long shot for K-1 fighters but wouldn’t it be cool

• 31 Stack // Oct 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm

  Cosmo’s an interesting story having come out of Brazil, a country not typically associated with strong Muay Thai.

  You can check out more of his stuff on my new youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/StackMo1

  Also I am going to get the Zuniga fight too so you guys can also see for yourselves how the fight went and decide for yourselves rather than read a debate back and forth.

• 32 Frank // Oct 10, 2008 at 8:52 pm

  Hey Stack, I’d like to see that vid too. When I was at the fights, there was no question in my mind that Zuniga lost that fight 2 rounds to 1.
  See if you can get vid of Trev’s fight too; that was the nicest fight of the night by far.

• 33 Stack // Oct 10, 2008 at 8:57 pm

  With any luck I’ll be getting all of them. If I do I’ll stick them all on my channel.

  The youtube channel thing is new to me. I am going to see how it goes if youtube ends up not being the friend I’ll put the videos elsewhere.

• 34 Stack // Oct 11, 2008 at 4:51 pm

  Anyone get a chance to look at Evolution 14 yet?

  ***SPOILERS FOLLOW SO BEWARE****

  Man I have to say Parr never looked better than he did against Jabba. He completely controlled the fight and had pretty good combos while easily avoiding Jabba’s wide swings. Jabba really pushed it though and made the fight exciting.

  Zidvo got beaten and seemed to have hurt himself kicking Eli.

  Carnage beat Wheehan a significantly smaller Thai.

  Zidov

• 35 thaifan // Oct 12, 2008 at 1:41 am

  official decision reached: Jesse Miles is declared the winner against Alex Ricci…

• 36 sweeptheleg // Oct 12, 2008 at 1:42 am

  Although Parr beat Dzhaber pretty convincingly, Dzhaber was again impressive. The guy is only 22 and is already going toe-to-toe with JWP (who probably out-weighed him by 10kg for this fight). I think he has a huge future in the sport. I expect him to beat Preacher very decisively on the next Evo.

  Sean Wright also put up an awesome show against Preacher, easily outboxing him. I don’t think he’ll beat JWP on the next Evo, but if he puts up a strong fight (and I imagine he will) it will be another big boost for his career.

  I’m picking Eli to take out the 4-man.

• 37 Stack // Oct 12, 2008 at 3:03 am

  official decision reached: Jesse Miles is declared the winner against Alex Ricci…

  I saw that. Miles is a crooked guy so I’m not shocked. Shame for Ricci.

  I like Sean in this one. Sean was the least rated on the Contender and shocked everyone by bringing the goods. He has good reach and kicks like horse. A smart game plan can get him a win.

• 38 Frank // Oct 12, 2008 at 6:40 am

  Let’s not turn this into the juvenile grounds that is Ax. As much as I think Ricci deserved the win, rules are rules and if it’s an official review, then what can we say? I personally don’t think a fighter should ever be able to be saved by the bell.
  I’d really like to see a 5 round rematch. Stack did you get any more video?

• 39 Stack // Oct 12, 2008 at 7:17 am

  Not yet.

  As far as the rules given that Miles is the entire North America WMC sanction arm and deeply entrenched as well in Calgary’s commission I can honestly say I am not shocked. Are you?

  Any how more videos is supposedly forthcoming but I haven’t been able to chase down my source for more yet. Supposedly the entire event is within reach but it’s a camera phone so I wouldn’t think a camera phone could survive being on quite that long.

  Keep your fingers crossed.

• 40 WTF happened to the Contender? « mi caserio // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  [...] worse not to see them in HD. In my search I came across news that the show was picked up for a second season. Looks to start filming in Feb 2009. Not sure who will be airing [...]

• 41 Stack // Oct 20, 2008 at 12:51 am

  Probably not Versus. I heard the contender stank it up in ratings.

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