WPMF 100 lb Champion Little Tiger Loses to Peung Siam - Queen's Birthday

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

WPMF 100 lb champion Little Tiger came to Thailand and fought on a Queen's Birthday card yesterday. She fought Peung Siam who recently beat PhetJee Jaa in a very controversial decision. I didn't see the Jee Jaa match, but there was an uproar at ringside when the decision was announced, with 400,000 set bet at stake. Awesome clinching by Peung Siam in this fight. It would be my guess that Little Tiger, despite coming to Thailand many times, does not understand the scoring here, with all her lowkicks.

She also lacks in the clinch, which is maybe one reason why Saya Ito's recent development in the clinch could cause a problem for her. Saya has been very verbal about how Little Tiger has been dodging her in Japan.I had heard rumor that Little Tiger was going to fight either number 2 challenger Muangsingjiew or number 3 challenger Faa Chiang Rai, both of who I think would beat her. Saya tweeted something along the lines that she was told if she fought Peung Siam and won she'd be allowed to fight Little Tiger September 9th. This seems odd because Peung Siam isn't even ranked by the WPMF, but that's what it seems like is happening.

A Saya Ito championship belt would set up a very odd future fight against Phetjee Jaa, who she trains with here in Pattaya, once Jee Jaa gains a kilo or two. Saya Ito is basically learning clinch from Jee Jaa, her family (and me) when she's here. 

I'm probably left out of all these matchups, even though I've beaten the two most mentioned challengers and Saya Ito as well. Strange to be so close to it all.

In any case, a great exciting fight.

[threeoaks]

Very exciting fight thank you. Pity you are left out though; is it a political thing? Clinch looked great here. No sweeps? Was it a rule? So much standing on one leg makes me wonder (in clinch). Thanks again.

[WaffleNinja]

Thanks for the update Silvie. I know it will probably be too hard to get a match with Little Tiger, but would you be able to get a match with Peung Siam? What part of Thailand does she usually fight in?

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

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.