Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu

If so, it would likely be an amateur fighter fighting her first pro fight There just are almost zero 100 lb fighters in the US. Amy Davis, I don't know if you remember her, she fought in Japan, at 105 lbs couldn't find someone to fight in North America for years, and had to eventually move to MMA. It was very sad.

Charlie, did you get any sense that she wanted to fight Phetjee Jaa? This seems like the most natural matchup, no? They are bringing Phetjee Jaa in for this circus matchup now, creating buzz, but obviously with PJJ at 44 kg, a fight with Saya seems like it is inevitable.

It could be that she was just being modest about clinch, but what sent up a red flag was the somewhat honest sounding claim that she remembered the techniques she learned when she was in Thailand. From everything that Sylvie told me she really never got beyond the very basics in Thailand, things like how to tension the body, certain positions. You can't really learn clinch that way. It would be like learning wrestling from a few "moves". You have to train it hours and hours and hours, really for years. Sylvie's been at it for maybe a year and a half, heavy work, every day against adequate training partners (which Saya likely does not have, they are hard to find even in Thailand), and she's still only progressed to maybe intermediate clinch (which is still very high for a female fighter). Clinch in Muay Thai is maybe a little bit like "ground game" in MMA. You can't just add it, or learn some principles. It has to be rooted in the heavy practice of an art. Even if she has a trainer who is knowledgeable in clinch, he would have to be near her physical size, and she'd have to be dedicating pretty heavy hours to it to progress. This was a problem Sylvie faced in Thailand before moving to Pattaya. It's not easy to train for a female that size even in Thailand. re: "Being a student means that she doesn't have a lot of freedom when she can leave the country so odds are she is going to be fighting Japanese fighters or foreign fighters brought to Japan, plus it seems that she wants to fight in America or Europe before she retires." If she stays at 100 lbs, I'm curious which foreign fighters she would imagine she could fight? Perhaps there are some in Europe, but this is a very small pool of fighters. It was cool that she thought Lion Fight would be a great show, but it seems that Lion Fight is having some cash flow issues. I suspect there would not be a kind of money that would be able to bring her to the US. And again, who would she fight at 100 lb, or even 105 lbs? re: She reminds me a lot of Erika.They were both very quiet yet serious about Muay Thai, but they mixed their love of Muay Thai with Japanese Fighting Spirit for lack of a better term, so they prefer to go forward. I know Sylvie really liked her. Perhaps one day fates will meet up and bring them together again. It was certainly a wonderful coincidence that had them training together. re: Her coach actually asked if i was you, when he saw me. Saya just laughed at him and said no. So awesome Charlie! Makes me smile.

Really nice to hear her thoughts Charlie, great little interview. I fear she'll never fight Sylvie again...at least, it will probably be smart not to. That she doesn't really train clinch, and Sylvie herself counts that she didn't really know clinch the last time they fought back in 2014, it would probably not turn out that well, just as a match up of styles. In that vein, it's probably best that she fight Phetjee Jaa, as soon as possible, while she still has a weight advantage. But again, the clinch even at this point would be too much. All the top Thai fighters are clinch fighters. Puengsiam, Loma, Jee Jaa. Nice though that she hopes to fight once a month, and on Lion Fight as well. Thanks for bringing this all forward. Great reporting. p.s. it's also kind of funny that Saya doesn't know who holds the WMC belt...because I'm not sure that anyone else does. Your guess of Little Tiger is about as good as any, though I thought she lost it to Pizza (who then retired) in their last fight.

Very good linked article by Joanna Harper, who is a trans female distance runner and was a strong voice at the IOC meeting. Most compelling are her own studies of trans distance times. Do transgender athletes have an edge? I sure don’t. "I understood that this would happen to me, too. But I was surprised how fast it happened. Within three weeks of starting hormone therapy in August 2004, I was markedly slower. I didn’t feel any different while I was running. But I could no longer match my previous times. By 2005, when I was racing in the women’s category, the difference was astounding. I finished one 10K in 42:01 — almost a full five minutes slower than I’d run the same course two years earlier as a man. Interestingly, when I looked up my times in USA Track & Field’s age-grading tables — used to compare runners of all ages and both sexes — I found that I was just as competitive as a 48-year-old woman as I had been as a 46-year-old man. I was curious whether my experience was typical. There had never been any studies of transgender athletes, only of transgender women generally. So over the next seven years, I collected almost 200 race times from eight distance runners who were transgender women (including myself as runner No. 6). My research, published last month in the Journal of Sporting Cultures and Identities, found that collectively, the eight subjects got much slower after their gender transitions and put up nearly identical age-graded scores as men and as women, meaning they were equally — but no more — competitive in their new gender category. (The outlier was a runner who had raced recreationally as a 19-year-old male and became serious about the sport —"

So interesting Kristen. So basically they are defining the female gender by two elements: public declaration, and minimization of testosterone, and leaving genitalia out: 2.1. The athlete has declared that her gender identity is female. The declaration cannot be changed, for sporting purposes, for a minimum of four years. 2.2. The athlete must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition (with the requirement for any longer period to be based on a confidential case-by-case evaluation, considering whether or not 12 months is a sufficient length of time to minimize any advantage in women's competition). 2.3. The athlete's total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category. This is kind of epic.

I think its best to treat it as a non-expiring code. If we ask them if it expires, they'll probably put a date on it!

Jen, do you already know which gyms you are looking at, or the area of Thailand you might want to stay long term?

Just read up on Alex Gong (in the video). What a tragedy. On August 1, 2003, after a hit and run driver crashed into Gong's parked car in the Fairtex Gym parking lot in San Francisco, Gong pursued the car on foot. Gong caught up and confronted the driver, who was still in his car at a nearby intersection. Witnesses say the driver then shot Gong at point blank range and fled in his vehicle. Gong was pronounced dead at the scene.

Very nice seeing young Jongsanan. And then there is the English speaking instructor knowing/showing less than his Thai demo guy. Always this gap between very good, western boiled-down, rationalized technique, and actual 150 fight technique.

There are many ways of generating power, spinning around is only one of them. Sakmongkol was one of the hardest kicking Thai, and he trains to not spin around. In fact you almost never see top Thais spinning around and they kick with great force. Think about if you were swinging an axe hard attempting to chop a tree down. Would you expect to spin around if you missed your target? If you were swinging a baseball bat, trying to hit the ball, would you say you only were swinging hard if you spun around in a circle? I believe that like the swing of a bat, not spinning around forces you to generate more of your power with your hips, and throws the force more forward, at and through the target.

Hi TZ22 - I've been working from Thailand online ever since Sylvie and I moved here, and it is really the only way we could have stayed. The problem with working from Thailand isn't really the connection issues - Sylvie wrote a detailed blog post on all the things you may face when trying to stay connected - but rather with having the job itself. I already was working online before we moved. I'm a Social Media marketing consultant and already had clients for several years. IF you can get dependable work online, it is definitely feasable technically. Thailand's digital infrastructure has really improved. There are of course things you can run into and may need to work around, but it can be done. I will say, working from Thailand, online, is just like working from anywhere else. It is not a vacation. I spend very long hours inside the apartment, sometimes not seeing much outside the walls for days or weeks. I could literally be anywhere, in any room. Plus, and this depends where you live, but generally if you are going to live here long term you will find a place to stay which is cheaper, which means that it will be a part of town that is not vacation-y at all. You live where Thais live. For us this is fantastic, because we love Thailand and the Thai culture. But it is not glamorous. For instance we live in Pattaya which is notorious for its tourism of various kinds, but we hardly see any of it. We are in Thai neighborhoods, or Sylvie is at the gym. That's the way we like it. Pattaya, for this reason, is actually more "Thai" than Chiang Mai was for us, despite having a tourist reputation. The division between tourist areas and Thai areas is pretty strong. Long term westerners have different reactions to the culture. It seems like many of them get frustrated with the Thai way. It is pretty common to hear westerners talk about "The Thais" with an eye-roll or what not. It's an ex-Pat thing to complain about Thailand. Sylvie and I don't get it. Even when we run into big difficulties, or systemic limitations, they feel okay. You learn to just roll with and appreciate everything for what it is. There is no place we'd rather be.

Don't know if you've seen this, but this is the classic Bas Rutten video on generating power with the out-turned foot. The Thai round kick is one of the most deceptively complicated techniques for westerns I think. Sylvie for years had serious trouble with it, despite lots and lots of kicking. It was never fluid or fast. But she eventually kicked herself to a powerful version through tons of work on the bag and pads. But then you see Thai kids kicking fluidly in almost no time. I think a lot of it has to do with the looseness and openness of the hips (culturally), and probably something to do with the Thai squat. But in the end there is no "Thai kick", there are thousands of Thai kicks. I've seen Thais open up and turn their standing foot very wide, sometimes even ending up with it pointed the other way. And I've seen Thais not turn or pivot on the foot at all and get great power.

There is no "right" answer on this. These are all just different kicking techniques, and there is a ton of variability in Muay Thai. It's become very common to drive the hip forward with the whip of the arm. 5 years ago Sean Wright explained the torque of the arm really nicely to Sylvie, likening it to how a runner swings their arms when they run. But it should be lose and easy, like that, like a runner. One would not tear their labrum running, for instance. You can't really catch the audio, but you can see it here: But yes, you can also generate torque by stepping across, or combining the two movements even. Or turning your stepping foot "out" to open and spring load the hip. But very differently old Boran fighters in the Muay Chaiya tradition, didn't even move their kicking arm at all, they just kept it in place by their face. This is how Kru Lek teaches the Chaiya kick in Bangkok now. It looks very "odd" to a modern eye, but it shows how much difference there can be in Muay Thai and it's history. The decision on which technique needs, in the west, to be made probably using two criteria: what is most comfortable or expressive of explosiveness, stability, fluidity for me? and: where am I going to get the best instruction continuity from my teachers? In Thailand most of the time there isn't much correction at all. Everyone finds their way, mimicking others, adopting some things, discarding others.

I agree that makes no sense from maybe an economic standpoint, but the country is in a difficult position politically. Don't want to move towards a political discussion, but we should remain sensitive. The country may find itself becoming insular for ideological reasons. I believe the Prime Minister recently off-handedly joked about removing westerners from the country. Just as other, western countries can have very strong political shifts against aliens, Thailand may too. It's a push-pull. The country wants to remain an international, multi-cultural hub of business and ideas, but it also must confirm its identity. Borders are one of the first places this is usually done. So complicated!

The Ughi fight is very difficult to watch. Not because of the beat down, but the uncomfortable stance and guard. I tried to rewatch that fight the other night. There are some amazing things about that fight, one of them being that despite being completely outclassed in the ring Chantal actually has a moment when she could have finished Jorina, she just wasn't committed to her clinch. She very nearly had a knee to Jorina's head. I'm not sure why she didn't just try to clinch up Jorina, continually. She actually may have won that fight because Jorina didn't seem to know how to clinch, and clinch is Chantal's one dependable attack. Maybe it was that Santai tried to change her fight style in training camp (a guess)? It's a mystery.

So interesting. So instead of taking a more friendly approach, they are trying to take a tougher approach? Geez. I mean, if you are going to stay for 6 months you probably are going to need around a $1,000 a month but for some the timing could be very problematic. Nobody can just save up and go?

wow Emma. So what are the current visa options? Only the 6 month visa?! With bank account proof?

The above is a pretty awesome recent fight between Thanonchai, famous for his never-say-die attitude, and Phet-U-Tong. What's pretty interesting to me about this fight, and Sylvie and I talked about this when watching it, is how Thanonchai responds to the common righty-lefty tactic Phet-U-Tong uses here. You see it from Yodsanklai (lefty), and Sittichai (lefty) used it against Roosmalen in his recent Glory fight - but it's available to righties too, when facing strong left hand punchers. Basically, lots of rear-leg high kicks pinning and punishing the power hand. Phet-U-Tong a few rounds in really starts trying to pin Thanonchai's power left cross, and Thanonchai just tries punching through it. The stubbornness of Thanonchai makes the fight really tense. The eventual result, once Phet-U-Tong starts to tire is dramatic.

It's a very strong story we've heard. There seems to be distinct nationalism behind a lot of Chinese promotions, basically they are there to show the superiority of Chinese fighters, so pretty much everything gets skewed to the Chinese fighter. Sometimes this is the size of the opponent, sometimes its the rules, the reffing, the accommodations. The whole experience ends up feeling like some kind of assault that fighters aren't quite ready for psychologically. Now, there are of course many promotions, and this is a very big generalization, but it also is a kind of theme we have heard across the board. Hell, I even know of a well-known persona who flew out there under the advice of a friend who saw it as a quick money grab, and had such a harsh experience she basically retired from fighting. I also remember the almost all Chinese card that was put on for the Queen's Birthday a year ago, which matched up Chinese fighters against Thai fighters (in Thailand), in a production that was beamed back to China. We watched this Thai girl put against a pretty big and tough Chinese fighter. She was rag-dolled all over the ring with illegal throws of every kind. It was pretty rough to see, and clearly the Thai girl had no idea what she was in for - in Thailand. The general picture that emerges is that these tend to be very pro-Chinese productions where the non-Chinese fighter is often at a disadvantage, sometimes disadvantages they don't expect. We've heard several western female fighters say: "Well, I'm not doing that again." Valentina seems to have that look on her face too. On the other hand Chinese promotions are really on the rise, there's a big money draw growing there. With the dramatic increase of Chinese tourism in Thailand, the growth of the Chinese economy and middle class, this is just going to expand. Lots of Thais are finding work there, both as fighters and as trainers.

No, the trouble in China isn't that the opponents are so good (though this fighter's awesome). It's more about how they are treated there, their experience of fighting, the stay, everything. Valentina looks really pissed, and very confused. We've heard from a lot of westerners who just had very bad Chinese fight experiences. Female western fighters are drawn there because there is very big money being offered, but almost all of them that we've talked to regret it.

Not sure what the rules are for Kunlun, but Valentina, who may be the best female Muay Thai fighter on the planet right now, is very confused by what seems to be a rule that you can't cross your hands, even briefly in the clinch. The ref seems to explain "no elbows" and "no clinch" before the fight. But fantastic action, fight starts at 5:24, as she tries to adjust on the fly to the rules and a very aggressive opponent. It's crazy how many female fighters seem to have negative experiences fighting in China.

Yeah, that's not quite it. That's a fake knee which has a different spacing and timing. But I'm sure everyone can get the idea. You set up with teeps, and then teep and miss to the side, but land quite deeply to that side of your opponent, and reverse elbow. The key to it all seems to be that the fake allows you to cross the distance really naturally, you kind of "fall" to the side of your opponent. The set up may keep them rigid, the miss may confuse them for a second. A big element of the reverse elbow as Sylvie learned it is getting your lead foot deep enough, to the side (or beyond) your opponent's foot. The teep miss accomplishes this in a great way. Many westerns attempt reverse elbows without any step depth, so they are inaccurate or lose power. Of course this is a once in a great while trick, but I love how sound in principle it is.

I'll ask Sylvie who taught her this and see if we can get video up. It's pretty cool.

Sylvie has really grown well beyond what she knew in that fight, in the last year or more, and in fact has really started focusing on clinch entry. Maybe she can do a video share of what she is working on. There are lots of things you can do - you can just pick one of course - but I think she's broken through to a new level of awareness on this. I'll see if I can get her to put something together.