Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu
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Everything posted by Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu
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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.
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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?
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wow Emma. So what are the current visa options? Only the 6 month visa?! With bank account proof?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I'll ask Sylvie who taught her this and see if we can get video up. It's pretty cool.
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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.
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Off the top of my head there are not only teep location variations (the thighs, the hip points - to interrupt kicks - low in the abdomen, mid stomach, solarplexis, face), but there are all styles of teeps. You can hit with the ball of the foot, the point of the toes (this is painful), the heel. You can teep short and stiff, or lean back and long. You can jump on the teep, or turn the teep into a side kick a little for power. And then there are tons of combinations off of teeps, including a cool one Sylvie recently learned where, after setting with teeps, you "miss the teep" on purpose and fall into a reverse elbow. The teep is its own world. It's a great way to attack the gas tank, change levels when fighters are too concerned with hands. Sylvie in fact just has added the teep to her comfort zone and it is making a huge difference in the last few fights.
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Pretty cool you see this clearly. Not everyone does because Muay Thai in the west can come filtered through very narrow technical pathways, and it is natural to want to emulate your trainer. But in Thailand this is really a big truth. Sylvie's first trainer in Chiang Mai, a westerner Andy Thomson who has been training Thais for 20 years, told her "There is not 1 Muay Thai, there are 1,000s. Each person has their own Muay Thai." And Den, her Thai trainer some years later told Sylvie "Everyone learns the same Muay Thai, up to you to put it together". At Sylvie's current gym, Petchrungruang, the trainer has a very distinct style that he likes, but he is so open minded no Thai fighter comes out of the gym looking like any other. It's kind of amazing. His own son fights very unlike how he would like. Big clinch fighters, or very artful defensive fighters all come out of the gym. You can feel that the gym just feels that everyone has their Nature, and this nature just comes through. Once you figure out a kid's nature you try to find the techniques that compliment and express it. I know I'm just saying what you have said above, but this is a really exciting part of Muay Thai. And it is exactly as you say, it's because it's a fighting art, proven and evolving in 1,000s and 1,000s of fights all over the country every year.
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I was thinking the same thing, in reverse. I can watch good clinch all day long. Hop in, hop out striking, unless at a really elite level, is boring. I will say though, I would like to see the Meksen KO fight of Iman Barlow. Iman's such a nice pressure fighter, that must of been something.
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No, I mean I've never seen her in a fight that I've enjoyed. She's very athletic, very skilled. But not interesting to me. I feel guilty to admit it. Just me.
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Glory 25
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu replied to 515's topic in Open Topics - men and women - General Muay Thai Discussion and News
This is really a great breakdown of the rules of Glory and the Sittichai fight. I don't follow Kunlun, so I have no idea really. Maybe someone here does. -
I know you are talking about energy and fitness levels here, but I see it in your fight style too. One of the more interesting questions facing a fighter in development is: how much to I go with what I feel is my "nature" and how much to I work very hard to change it? This can be really complicated when trainers have a vision with how you "should" fight based on either what has been successful for them, or on your body type (Sylvie had long struggles with this). Some things are worth changing through hard work, some things that really are you should be embraced, because ultimately fighting is an expression of you. It's the fighter's path to figure out which is which. In watching the fight I really could see your "slow and steady" nature, though it wasn't that slow at all, you had a nice pace. It was more that you had a uniformity to your striking, in terms of tempo and power. Something that might be very interesting for you is to really work on your teep with your length. Teep to the high torso, the low torso, the thighs. If you got good lean back on this it would make you very hard to deal with, and it would compliment your nice round kicks. But mostly why I recommend it is because a good stiff teep could compliment your "slow but steady" comfort level. It works like a great jab in boxing. It would allow your medium tempo, strike, strike, strike comfort, but because it is read as a defensive strike, it would make your more aggressive round kicks and combinations feel more explosive, in contrast. Anyone can have suggestions of course, but it is something I thought about during your rounds. Throwing it out there. :)
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Great first performance Yuki, first fights can be a huge blur and your wasn't. You were very present in this fight. Your head was still, you stayed so nicely engaged in the eyes. Pretty awesome. The small thing that really stuck out to me, technically, was in the first round in the Thai plumb. This was were you could have finished the fight. But your hands were not locked, and there was not enough draw back or turn to make space for yourself, pulling her forward. If you clinch with bare hands in practice the lock on the Thai plumb can sometimes be a problem with gloves on. At the earlier stages of development it is best is to try to cross palm to palm or at the wrist, and dig the elbows in for leverage. Look at the palm to palm gripped showed here: The above is not exactly the Thai Plumb, and it's part of a system involving the head and a squeeze, one that Sylvie uses a lot, but you can see how the palms/wrists lock - they can't slip. You can move from palm to wrist if you need. If you try to lock how you did in this fight it can be hard to hold the grip in gloves. Going wrist to wrist or open palm to open palm is more stable. Cupping back of the hand, which feels natural in bare hands, is more difficult - advanced Thais can plumb this way with the cupped hand because they are not so much using the hands to control the head and neck, as the pinch of the arms, and their body frame. At your height, at this level of fighting, such a good lock would be a definite fight finisher. (oh, and p.s. I jumped in and edited your fight video in. On the forum if you just put the normal YouTube url in the post, the video automatically is embedded).
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I feel terrible saying it, because she is probably one of the best female kickboxers in the world, but I find her fighting style incredibly boring to look at. I couldn't even finish watching the fight. I guess I'm just not a visual fan of savate.
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Glory 25
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu replied to 515's topic in Open Topics - men and women - General Muay Thai Discussion and News
Nice post! I still can't get over the Sittichai loss. Glory loses Spike TV, and then suffers that debacle. It is sinking itself. It was a very promising show. -
See the fight here (tried to embed, it Daily Motion doesn't embed): http://dai.ly/x3d8wk7
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This sounds over-broad. This is a problem with Overtaining talk, it becomes incredibly vague and yet prescriptive.
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Do you run as a significant part of your training? There are three basic things that Thais use to develop power, or "charge the battery". Regular running, padwork and extended clinch sessions.
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I thought it was pretty cool to see the breakdown that they offer, and the reasoning behind their motivations. We don't get to hear these voices from gyms very often. Lynne seemed to be responding to Siam Scholar's pretty cynical blog posts about the Muay Thai gyms and sponsorships.
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Muay Thai as Therapy
Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu replied to Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu's topic in Gym Advice and Experiences
You say the most amazing things. I can say that as your husband, because they still strike me from afar, like an arrow.