Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu
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Posts posted by Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu
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Scratch that, I did find a video!
What a find that is! Can't wait watch it. Sylvie's faced Loma twice and she's been a real puzzle, very underrated as a fighter. Maybe the best 45 kg fighter in Thailand.
[edit: what dominance. Shows that you can can be a complete, explosive kickboxer, but if you don't understand clinch at all in Muay Thai you stand very little chance. Really interesting fight.]
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Initially I was going to simply send Sylvie a question about this since I know she has written about there being tension between her two gyms at times, but figured it might be good for discussion. It feels like the exact same thing but on a smaller scale.
Wow great topic. This is such a big one, and so hard to negotiate. Hopefully Sylvie jumps in, but these are my thoughts based on what I witnessed, and a little how we tried to use these kinds of internal politics to our advantage. At the heart of it though is that there are two "gyms" in Thailand, when farang are a focus. There is the "Thai" gym where questions of hierarchy and respect are central, and there is the commercial "farang" gym which operates as a business, with money paid and services given. Westerners tend to live in the commercial gym, in terms of expectation, but the trainers actually live in the Thai gym. And when you stay long enough as a farang you come to realize that you are in both gyms. At Lanna Sylvie was originally "given" to a particular trainer, one who usually trained women (for obvious reasons - loved women, didn't want to work hard). Pretty much a bad match for Sylvie, though technically very sound. It took her a while to work her way off of this trainer. Once she did this she became basically the student of Den, the head trainer, who was excellent, but who also got frustrated with Sylvie (not fighting how she trained, etc). This resulted in Sylvie trying to get supplementary training from Daeng (a very fight oriented trainer) and also boxing training from Neung (a socially "low" trainer who happened also to be a former WBC western boxing champion, in private lessons). So, so complicated. It was a daily ballroom dance trying to keep all these trainers feeling good about the work that was happening. Luckily Lanna trainers were not very competitive, and generally got along. They even collaborated on how to bring out better performance, but it doesn't mean that there were not question of face saving all the time. Sylvie did great in a fight, who gets credit? Sylvie did bad in a fight, whose fault is it? There was always a push and pull. I think Sylvie did best when, aware of it all, did what she could to make sure she connected to whichever trainer was being left out at any one period of time. She kind of had 3 at a time. As long as she kept everyone involved, asking for padwork (not easy for her, she's quiet) from particular trainers, or asking for technical advice, it seemed pretty good. Also when winning fights it helped. Complicating to all this was that she was paying one for private lessons. Add money to any "respect" issue and it really is too much. I think in the end that fact that Sylvie felt loyal and genuinely cared for all 3 trainers, and worked her butt off trying to adopt what each was teaching, made everything okay.
At her current gyms it works the same way, across gyms. O. Meekhun is the most sensitive. If you don't win, or if it feels like Petchrungruang is getting too much credit they can really sour on the relationship. They are the small gym. It's really about going out of your way to pay respect to whomever feels like they might be offended, constantly working to repair relationships that become eroded. As much as it would be great if "commercial" gym Muay Thai mapped perfectly onto traditional Thai relationships, it really seldom does. Money and monetary exchange mean very different things to the west and in traditional Thailand. In fact in many ways they mean the opposite. In the west if you give money to someone in exchange for something it basically means: We are even, I don't owe you anything. In Thailand it means: I'm invested in you, our bonds should grow more dependent (and hierarchical) - we owe each other.
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http://missmuaythai.com/2015/08/18/fight-21/
This is a post from 2 fights back. I almost quit after this fight and I just wanted to share my experience of this time with you all.
Gemma, I thought this was one of the best fight posts I've ever read. You are so very clear-headed about what was going wrong, and giving insight to all the pressures that a fighter can face. It was kinda incredible. This is just very private stuff. Not that nobody should know about it, but rather than people just don't realize that you can really want to do something, keep telling yourself to do it, but the whole thing can be undermined. Fighters are warriors of the mind, even more than they are of the body. Just a very brilliant and honest telling.
It amazes me that the mind can trick us into feeling that we have NO advantages, when in fact we may be brimming with them. I think this has been a very brave year for you, an amazing year.
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Very exciting fight thank you. Pity you are left out though; is it a political thing?
Hopefully Sylvie will hop on and give her view, but to offer my thoughts, it seems pretty clear that nobody at the top in this weight class really wants to fight Sylvie. It's maybe not that Sylvie is some incredible fighter, really it's just that her fighting style is very hard to deal with and there is no upside. She is extremely strong, and she's a clinch fighter, so a lot of things that work in normal fights don't work against her. She's beaten Muangsingjiew twice this year (#2) and Muangsingjiew cancelled at the last minute of the last two times they were supposed to rematch. We're told that Faa Chiang Rai (#3) doesn't want to fight Sylvie either, ever since she lost to her. Little Tiger on the other hand has been accused of picking her fights carefully. Sylvie inquired about fighting her through a female Thai fighter friend and she said she only wants to fight Thais. This is what Saya Ito is saying when she calls her out. What is a little funny about this fight here is that it seems like she was targeting in a low-key way what she may have thought was an easy, small Thai girl. When she fought Jee Jaa I think she was at 44 kg. She's not ranked by the WPMF, as far as I can see. But it wasn't easy at all, she took it to her. The same thing seemed to happen last year when she fought Faa Chiang Rai. The biggest weaknesses Japanese fighters can have is as clinch fighters, they just don't have that dimension to their training.
What's so crazy is that Sylvie beat Saya Ito in clinch, and now Saya is coming to Thailand to train clinch with Jee Jaa and Sylvie. Sylvie was helping her with technical things Thais won't explain. Basically Sylvie is helping Saya Ito beat Little Tiger. But that pretty much leaves Sylvie out of the picture, because Saya now is not only a part time teammate, but she also knows first hand how strong Sylvie is now, though Sylvie has held back some in training. Sylvie more or less is left fighting 50+ kg girls now because they are the only fights she can regularly find.
Ito vs Phetjee Jaa on the other hand, I can see it happening, simply because she is a big name, and represents Thailand. Plus, whenever she does fight for the belt she'll probably be several kilos lighter than whomever she fights. It looks like she could beat Little Tiger right now, honestly.
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but I think it's fair for me to say explicitly that I'm really reacting to a broad suite of essentialist thinking. Your specific comment was really just a point of entry for me to talk about some frustrations I've had with the same "man vs woman" conversation that prompted you to create this video.
One of the interesting things about the mythos of Muay Thai is that the Thais enjoy the thought that it's a martial art that allows someone to make up big differences in physical size. It's one reason, I suspect, that nationalistic shows like Thai Fight, which often feature larger, less-skilled farang fighters against smaller top Thai talents are popular. Long into Thai history, Muay Thai is seen as an equalizer of western "muscle mass" and aggression, accounts going back to the 18th century, if I recall.
Lawrence's own treatment of Muay Thai talks about technical advantages in clinch which can make up for huge differences in size and strength:
There are no mentions of determinative muscle mass in the video above, even though the difference is far more profound than anything Lucia Rijker may have faced. Not to jump on Lawrence here, I think he does an insanely good job of bringing out interesting features in anything he touches on, but I think the muscle mass story is just too easy to fall back on in male vs female fight debates. Clearly if a "Rijker" had the skills of Kaoklai (training, life opportunity) nobody would be talking about her muscle mass, as she would have cleaned her opponent up. But the truth is, as good as Lucia Rijker was, and she was good in so many ways, she was never as good as top male Thai fighters...and this is really an issue of training and life experience.
Yes, physiological differences may be a factor, but Muay Thai is really designed to be the art of the smaller person.
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btw, Ramon since you stayed there at Club 7 and had a great experience if you have the time why not write a separate review of it here on the forum? It's a gym people don't know much about, and I know I'd be interested in hearing what it was like for you.
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Anyways, I stayed in 7muaythai and the training is directed and done with thais (sparring, clinch, paos) maybe they are trying to mix both approaches... Adittionally when I met Sylvie in Petchrungruang, I felt that "family thing" that I love as well, by the way were you one of the farangs watching the training? ( :unsure: ) Thank you and chok dee mak to Sylvie!
I should have been more generous with this, but it irks me a little when Thailand is packaged in a fantasy tradition way, it's my hang up. Sylvie already recommends Master Toddy's in Bangkok and Santai in Chiang Mai when people coming to Thailand ask without much experience because they both put emphasis on technique and correction. Most westerners come to Thailand thinking that there is going to be lot of correction and technique and they just aren't prepared for the long, slow "do your own work" approach that most Thai gyms operate under. They can feel under-attended and ignored, and if they don't already have solid self-driven work skills can be left out of what is really happening. You can get correction, but you have to ask.
So places like Master Toddy's, Santai, maybe some Phuket gyms (don't know, haven't been), and Muay Farang's gym, if they too focus on technique and correction, can be really rewarding. It's just that that's not how most Muay Thai is taught.
But westerners don't have the years and years to take the long way, so especially if you are going to be in Thailand for shorter periods of time, they may pay off. I just take issue with the marketing of the article, as if it is proposing some kind of "guide" to Thailand gyms. Just come out and say "This is what is great about Club 7 Muay Thai".
I wasn't there when you visited Petchrungruang, but I indeed have been a farang watching training for a very long time. Learned a lot from quietly watching.
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ok, cheers, it was a set up scenario, but dont you think is important that someone is watching you as you are doing paos, for example? Formally or informally I mean.
Honestly, it isn't how most Thai gyms are. There is very little direct correction in Thai style gyms, either for westerners or for Thais. But I can see how as a westerner it is something you might want or need. Muay Farang has created a gym for westerners, so it makes sense to sell it that way. But to couch the whole thing in some kind of traditionalism feels wrong to me.
But hey, there are all kinds of flavors in Thailand, in a way it is just another one.
I wrote this guest blog post about the difference between the Thai way and the Western way.
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"Arjan" is a term used mostly for westerners or by westerners. The presence of a stick wielding "master" as a major sign of an organized camp seems absurd to me. Hierarchy is very important in Thai settings, but most Thai gyms are informally organized, and have a casual feeling to them. This seems like a fantasy scene out of a Kung Fu movie. There is lots of good training in Thai gyms without "Arjans" walking around barking orders. Sylvie's gym Petchrungruang is a wonderful family run Thai gym that raises Thai kids into Lumpinee fighters, there is no "Arjan" master correcting people left and right.
Sylvie's getting ready for a fight, cutting weight, don't think she'll hop on right now.
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The stuff about the "Arjan" seems silly to me, as a guide to an organized camp. I'd quote it but they don't make copy and paste possible on the site. It reads as an advertisement for their own camp.
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Lawrence, here is a good example of what I'm talking about with clinch. It's Caley Reece who is probably the most accomplished western female clinch fighter in the world. Because of her ex-fighter husband who spent a lot of time in Thailand she trains regularly in a very Thai style, and her clinch is probably the reason she's been so dominant in fights, especially against westerners - she owned Tiffany van Soest in the clinch, who herself no doubt trained in it. But her clinch knowledge doesn't compare to Thais.
In this video of hers shared by MTG she is controlled by someone, not through strength but through technique. She herself talks about the mystery of how smaller Thais can get the better of her - Sylvie will attest, it feels like magic.
These kinds of differences play out, in less advanced techniques in western fights all the time. A female fighter who knows to take the inside position and control the arms against a fighter who doesn't will appear much stronger. A fighter who understands how to lock their hands can own a fighter who doesn't. And in a more rudimentary version, a fighter who can take the Thai plumb (a position which is actually rarely dominantly used in Thailand because there are so many counters to it) will cream a fighter who doesn't know how to get out of it. A lot of the time in the west in terms of clinch it is just one female fighter knowing one or two things the other doesn't. But it doesn't even mean that they are a strong clinch fighter. Fighters with a little bit of knowledge can go a long way.
Back to the issue of availability of training, even in Thailand it is very unequal. The highest form of the clinch art is in this country, but Sylvie has fought maybe 70 female opponents, most of them larger than her, and only a handful have had the technique to stay with her in the clinch. Some of it is Sylvie's strength, but most of it is just technical, stuff that comes from training. Most Thai female fighters are not trained in the clinch anywhere near the level that their male counterparts are. And Sylvie has just been training in a real Thai style for a little over a year now.
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Also, I remember reading about Sylvie & Phet Jee Jaa via Sylvie's posts, and their dynamic, but also recall a few months back (maybe more than a few months) of Sylvie posting that she could now nullify PJJ with her size due to her new knowledge / training?
I actually asked Sylvie, who was next to me, when wrote my response. She indeed is able to neutralize Jee Jaa now with size, strength and new knowledge, but that is simply a change from being dominated. Jee Jaa, despite 10 kg, was able to put Sylvie down on the ground pretty easily in the beginning. That is why I characterized the current state between them the way I did "is able to hold her own against Sylvie, and even out perform her, despite both a weight and a strength difference" - Jee Jaa used to do far more than hold her own. Now thing are closer, showing how important knowledge and skills learned are - Jee Jaa has probably gained 2 kg in the last year. The way Sylvie put it is that Jee Jaa would definitely "out point" her if they fought a clinch battle now, which is a big deal in how Thai fights are fought, but that she would have a good chance of KOing her with one very strong knee. They basically are even but with different advantages.
re: Somchai being the most commons men’s name) If you watch the vid, firstly he doesn’t look Thai, secondly he doesn’t move like a Nak Muay.
I didn't say he was Thai, as in a fighter of Thailand, at all, if you got that impression I didn't phrase myself well - I meant that he looked to be of Thai decent. I rather suspected that he had undergone some Thai-style training in the clinch (sessions of barehanded clinch with more skilled partners about your same size, with some regularity), perhaps at the hands of Thai trainers who had immigrated, but only a wild guess. This isn't the same at all to being Thai raised as a fighter (he has very few fights for a fighter his age, on the Thai scale), but it would put him ahead of whatever clinch Lucia had trained in. I don't see anything in her clinch that suggested that she was a clinch fighter. If she were clinching with a Thai male, of Thailand, of that size I suspect she would have been handled very easily in the clinch.
As to the name, I'm not sure there is much evidence either way. Thai fight names are also adopted names with very similar meanings.
If you do get information on him, that would be great though. But bottom line, strength differences are not as important as skill differences, especially when one partner has little knowledge. You see it all the time in Thailand, very strong, partially clinch trained, large western fighters being tossed around by relatively small Thais in clinch in practice rings. Very few western women have a strong foundation in clinch.
But as this is the whole fight there doesn't seem that much clinch going on at all.
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If I remember correctly, Ali had a background in dancing.
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The (other) GOAT Sugar Ray Robinson was a dancer, a street dancer as a kid, in fact when he retired at first he became a song and dance man. Here he is dancing with Gene Kelly:
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I was a bit put off when he started explaining why Somchai was winning exchanges, especially in the clinch. Judging by his name, Somchai trained muay thai, and therefore clinch work. I don't know much about Rijker beyond that sports science episode, but most kickboxers literally don't know how to clinch at all -- or know the inactive clinch of a boxer. Maybe one factor was that only one of them knew what they were doing in the clinch, and now only a difference in strength?
....But nothing here helps us understand which factors had the greatest influence on the result. For instance:
- Inherent biological differences between women and men of the same height/weight (maybe hip shape, for instance)
- Biological difference across populations (men are taller on average, although a given man is not necessarily taller than a given woman)
- Differences in talent pool (there are almost certainly many more men than women who run marathons. The top 15 out of a pool of 5 million are going to be faster than the top 15 out of a pool of 500 thousand. You get the same effect when you look at the number of olympic medals held by large nations vs small nations.)
- Differences in training (for various social reasons, it might be that one group trains with greater frequency or higher quality on average)
There's absolutely no reason to think that factors 1 and 2 are having a greater effect than 3 and 4. And yet all I hear about, over and over, all day, is how women can't expect to beat men in fights because of biology. Maybe there are some other things going on, too.
I haven't watched the whole fight in a while, but I didn't see a lot of clinch in that fight, especially as Lawrence presented it. But I do think that in the few clinch clips I saw it was fair to say that Somchai was more skilled in clinch, likely more trained in clinch in the traditional Thai way. He looks Thai, and his gym "Lumpini" in NZ was probably populated with Thais to some degree. Understanding off-balances can make you appear very strong. It's probably too much to say that those clips were showing some definitive muscle mass strength difference. (Btw, did anyone else think that Lucia probably had a weight advantage here?)
Drawing from our own experiences in Thailand, we have Sylvie and Phetjee Jaa clinching in training. Sylvie has 8 kilos on her now, and has had a year of twice a day clinch training in the Thai style, and is probably physically the strongest female Muay Thai fighter in the world at her weight. Sylvie definitively a clinch fighter and wins almost all her fights against Thai fighters in the clinch, even when they have a size advantage. Jee Jaa was raised basically as a boy since she was 7 in term of training in the clinch (very, very rare) and is able to hold her own against Sylvie, and even out perform her, despite both a weight and a strength difference. The knowledge gap is huge, and the physical differences between Sylvie and Jee Jaa are much more pronounced than those between Somchai and Lucia.
On your second point, this is really big. Yes, there are physiological differences, across the board, by average, but built on top of these are very strong magnifying factors exactly as you describe. Talent pool and training, not to mention ideological expectation (athletics are mental), which make those physical difference appear enormous. Your example of clinch here is a really interesting one. Even if Lucia was trained in Thailand it is very unlikely that she would have had the training in clinch that the average "Somchai" would. And even if a Somchai did have a small physical advantage in clinch, what really would make the biggest difference would be the training and technique.
Generally I resist essentialist arguments about gender performance differences, especially when they are grounded in averages. Yes, there may be on average built in advantages between genders, but the art of performance is learning how to turn an opponent's advantage into a disadvantage, and discovering ways to enhance your own qualities. For women I think there are much bigger hurdles to overcome than physiological ones.
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This doesn't mean she is a great clincher, rather, I'm just saying that she's trained clinch.
I think differences in clinch knowledge can prove HUGE. A good example is how Sylvie beat Saya Ito last year. Sylvie hardly knew clinch (unlike now when she is much improved), but she knew it much better than Saya, who probably trained in it lightly. These differences can make an average clincher look very good. You see a lot of this in the west, I believe.
But to say that someone trained in clinch may be the difference between having taken Italian for a year in High School, and speaking Italian. Dutch style fighting tends to not be clinch oriented, and the real art comes from training in a Thai style, every day - it's a particular mode of development. Most western approaches to clinch in Muay Thai are abbreviated in technique, and then women in training usually are usually experiencing a dilution of that.
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This is the next piece for the Asian Correspondent on race In Thailand Black is "Ugly", Racist or Misguided.
Lots of coverage of the different arguments about why racist (or racialist) stereotypes exist in Thailand, about the image above:
Last week a Thai children’s teaching resource appeared online. A poster, which is a vocabulary learning tool, shows pictures of objects and people presented next to a corresponding word. ‘Handsome’, we learn, looks something like a cartoonish Korean pop star; ‘beautiful’, a western babe; and ‘pretty’ looks something like a young female Japanese anime character. Meanwhile, ‘ugly’ is depicted as what looks like a young African man, replete with diamond stud bling earrings. At the bottom of the poster it is written in Thai: “A way to thinking and teaching.” If such an arrantly offensive description exists in a children’s ‘thinking and teaching’ aid, then what kind of thinking and teaching happens in some Thai households?
Thai social critic Kaewmala explains much of it in terms of xenophobic nationalism and class:
“Thais have a strong dislike and distrust of dark-skinned Burmese and Indians, and can find little beauty in dark skinned people, poor foreigners from neighboring countries, poorer fellow Thais from Isaan or Thai-Malay Muslims in the South, or Africans. Racism in the Thai cultural context is more intertwined with the chauvinistic attitude based on ultra-nationalism in Thai education which teaches us that we are better than our neighbors, and the Bangkok-centric worldview, interwoven with persistent discrimination based on class, urban vs rural and social-status hierarchies.”
There is also a link to an article Being Black in Thailand which presents first person perspectives of black experiences.
All in all, a very good continuation of the discussion.
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his elbows protect his body, legs are bent (or flexed, I don't know the right term lol)...
This is a major difference between western boxing habits, and Muay Thai (at least the Muay Thai of Thailand). In boxing it is very common to protect the body with the elbows and forearms. You aren't protecting against elbows at closer range so your guard can be lower, for one thing, and a crouch can be advantageous in boxing for many reasons, both offensively and defensively. Lots of westerns come to Thailand and favor this habit. But in Muay Thai the body is mostly protected directly by the knees and shins, and the guard stays higher. It's a very different defensive posture.
This is related to some degree also to the hips. One of the biggest challenges I think for a westerner in Thailand is learning how to push the hips forward as part of defensive maneuvers, especially, at closer range. This goes against a lot of western instincts which basically are inclined to pull the groin back (to safety) and to hunch. It can make a bad habit in Muay Thai. One of the concerns of training boxing is getting comfortable with an ass-back defense.
There is a lot of variation in Muay Thai styles, so this isn't universal, but one of the biggest hurdles westerns have in Thailand is the orientation of the hips in both defense and attack. Thais learn early on that pushing the hips forward can be very advantageous and safe. Adding to the western bias towards the hunch is that Greco-Roman wrestling also can favor hip-back, ass-out positions (very different than most Thai clinch positions) so with western boxing and wrestling combined the tendency of the ass-back can get in the way of a lot of Thai Muay Thai techniques, at least at introductory levels. You need to be able to toggle the hips, out and in - you see Saenchai humorously do this in fights, and be prepared to use your shins defensively.
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Western boxing has been influencing Muay Thai from the modern beginning. We tend to think of Muay Thai as "pure", but the very first permanent ring in Bangkok in the early 1900s featured western boxing, and there has been western boxing in Rajadamnern and Lumpinee stadia from the start. They are of course two different arts, but Thais don't seem to see them as contradictory. Samart Payakaroon, who some consider the best Muay Thai fighter of recent eras, was also a WBC boxing champion.
But there are schools and styles of boxing, and some may be less conducive to Muay Thai than others.
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The highlights of the fight:
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I received a strong blow to the shin sparring, and the subsequent bruise and knot/swelling followed.
I put ice on it the first two days and then tried the towel/hot water method that Silvye shows in her video.
It felt good, the problem is that after the second time I did it I ended up with scratchings on my skin from the towel (I have very thin skin, it sucks) so now I don't know what to do.
My trainer, the old one, told me to freeze a glass water bottle and then roll my shin with it.
I could also try the stick method.
I am confused ;)
What do you use to treat your shins?
Do you have any suggestion for sensitive skin?
Hopefully Sylvie will jump on later tonight, but you don't need to use a towel at all. You can heat the area first, and then rub with your hands, then passively heat again. The heat gets everything open, the massage drains the area. Also Sylvie was showed by I think Wung that you can use a glass bottle (like your coach said) but with very warm water. But not ice. Heat does the healing after the first 24-48.
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No clue yet if there is a video, but there should be some links popping up soon. I heard that Tiffany retained her title by unanimous decision!
One fight description:
The women touch gloves and Van Soest is the first to attack with an inside thigh kick. Krol is being a little cautious as the American is being the aggressor. The Pole looks out matched as Van Soest’s blows are landing clean. Krol attempts a spinning back fist that doesn’t land but she remains focused as Van Soest lands a jab.
The second round is underway as the touch’em up again. This time it is Krol whois on the attack but Van Soest answers with a side kick. Van Soest is the smaller fighter, but every time Krol makes a move she makes her pay for it. Van Soest fights her way to the inside and lands several knees in the clinch before the round comes to an end.
Van Soest has Krol on the ropes and is landing knees in the clinch until the ref breaks them up leading to Krol landing a front kick to Van Soest’s face and then another to the chest. Van Soest lands a Superman…or a Supergirl punch rather leading to one of her spinning back elbows. Krol tries to land a spinning back elbow of her own, but with very little power behind it, it doesn’t affect the American.
Krol starts the round with a switch kick but Van Soest lands a low kick knocking Krol to the canvas. Van Soest is dominating the fourth round just like she has been the previous three.
Fifth and final round is now underway, both fighters are showing signs of fatigue, it’s now down to who wants it more as they hug it out before the feet start flying. Van Soest has Krol’s leg while pressed against the ropes and lands a right cross almost knocking the Pole out of the ring. Van Soest is letting the elbows fly as the referee gives Krol a standing 8-count for not being able to defend herself in the corner. With 10 clicks of the clock Van Soest is still on the attack as the fight comes to an end. In the eyes of the audience, Van Soest is in the winner as she ascends the ropes and bows to the crowd.
Your winner by unanimous decision and still Lion FIght Featherweight Champion, Tiffany Van Soest!
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Thanks Dana. What I'm interested in is body mapping, the Efference Copy. I sense that when trauma happens to us, especially violent invasive events, our body maps become redrawn. This involves our virtual selves, the copies we use to project ourselves into space and predict how we will interact with other/s (objects, events, spaces), which influences our sense of agency. I suspect that we have different body maps for different thresholds of arousal/intensity, and that fighting and training to fight forces a kind of regrowth of body maps that have been broken or amputated in some ways. As fighters with impaired body maps attempt to train actions under extreme duress, and they enter into those thresholds, it is as if certain limbs or pathways of action are being grown again - under the auspices of the art. But this is very slow work.
One of the most frustrating aspects of becoming a fighter, for some people, is: "Why can't I do x or y, when under pressure?!" The harder they push to do it, the more impossible it becomes. I believe, that at least for some people, they simply do not have the body map to complete those actions, under those intense affects. It's like asking someone to take a step with a 3rd foot, a limb they don't have. It is literally off the grid.
I could see how memories, conscious or otherwise, play a role in these maps because they return us to primordial states, but here the idea is more about two-fold thinking. Train bringing yourself back down into affective states where you have a more complete body map. Two, through the art itself and stress inoculations grow your impaired body map at higher states. Literally grow your virtual limbs under pressure.
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Teresa really looked focused and intense, but an unfortunate series of turns/slips in the 4th turned the tide and she just couldn't recapture the momentum. Good fight. Kwanchai's cross-face in clinch effective early on.
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Doesn't Lion Fight break up the clinch kinda fast?
Caley Reece had no difficulty defeating Tiffany using the clinch on Lionfight.
But Martyna (or even Bernise Alldis, another opponent of Tiffany's) isn't a clinch fighter on the level of Caley, imo. Nothing against either of them, but Caley is a notch above in the clinch. That being said, the task is even harder now as Tiffany looks like she's improving in the clinch as well.
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Questions about the 60 Day Visa
in Open Topics - men and women - General Muay Thai Discussion and News
Posted
I'm just going to jump in here, I'm definitely no expert on visas, but we do have our own experience. When we got our first Thai visa (in the USA) it definitely started on the day it was issued, in the USA. Not on entry. So each day spent not in Thailand was coming off your visa length. Ours though was an ED visa of a kind that does not really exist any longer, but I suspect that this is the case for all visas issued by Thai embassies or consulates.