Jump to content

Kathy Long Attempts to Fight her 2nd MMA Fight at 51


Recommended Posts

Love this Fightland article about Kathy Long: Kathy Long: Defying the Boundaries. There's a prominent female Muay Thai trainer who strongly suggests that if you haven't started Muay Thai by the age of 24 (if I recall) it's probably too late to become a fighter. Ugh. I don't know where that mentality comes from.That's a full 26 years before Kathy Long's age here. People really make too much about transition to "being a fighter", in my opinion. Too many coulds and shoulds. The article has an interesting piece about promotions, age and investment too.

In the fight game, the business equation is a logical one: the longer a fighter is around, the more potential promoters have in cashing-out on a championship name. Investing in a fighter is essentially an investment on youth, and with Long on the horizon of her 51st birthday, it is unclear how many fights her return entails, or if she still retains the athletic capacity to compete at an elite level. It’s been almost six years since her last competitive outing and that contest was her first inside the MMA cage. However, these considerations don’t seem to concern Long.

“It means nothing to me, it’s just a number,” Long says when I ask about her age. “You see me in there and I’m working with these guys and I feel fine. My body is responding to what I want it to do, and I feel fantastic. When my body is not responding the way I want to, when my body says I can’t do this anymore, alright. I’m done. But right now I’m not done. Right now my body says, ‘Yeah I like this, let’s go.

Laurie Cahill has fought into her 50s in the New York City area. It is almost as if women find more meaning in what fighting is, as they get older, then do men. Some are life long martial artists like Long and Cahill, but some simply discover it later in life, in a different arc.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's incredible. There is a woman in ther 50ies at the gym right now, who has just started muay Thai but is now giving it her all. I find so much inspiration in looking at her and the way she has lived her life.

Hat's off to Kathy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've read this article today and I love it! I love Kathy!! She's such an inspiration - I think to women of all ages!

I especially loved the quote at the end of the article:

 

 

“(...) I’m 51-years-old and who knows how far I can go with this, but I suspect I’m going to take it as far as I can. And if it means breaking all the rules then I’ll do it.”

 

I really hope I will be able to go on as long as she does.

The other thing I hope for, that I will be doing it with people my age. Like, my age then - in their 40s, 50s.

I really think this might be possible, because the trend is now to stay fit - in any way you like to. I hope in 10 or 20 years there will be no limitations like I see it now. For example, a lady in her middle 50s is seen as old and would be expected to go do some yoga or nordic walking. As it is perfectly okay to do these activities at any age, if you have fun with it.

I am a bit of a rebel, so I want to think I understand the force that drives Kathy to train - against all odds. I think I will be like her too when I'm older. :)
What am I saying, I'm already like this! :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kathy Long was one of the first and only high-level female fighters who I was aware of when I started training as a teenager (pre-Youtube, when we had to rely on VHS!). I'm stoked to hear that she is still competitive. I've met a lot of "older" women training and competing in combat sports (my first fight was against a woman who was 40 years old at the time.) These older women who I have trained or competed with often have a different type of strength, a level of self-awareness, a well-established and multi-faceted sense of identity, and a mental resilience that seem to make them very well-suited to combat sports.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • ONE didn't invent giving bonuses on top of fight pay in Thailand. In fact it took a long tradition of gamblers providing injections during fights to inspire fighters. When you hear about traditional fight pay you are missing out on the "injection" bonuses which can be substantial. Here today a fighter winning 500,000 injection bonus ($15,000+ USD) and being guided into the stands to thank the gamblers (who are often portrayed in simplistic caricatured ways). It's an ecosystem out of balance, but its still an ecosystem, in which parts support parts. Instead in ONE this bonus tradition has been transferred to only ONE big boss, being handed out on the preference of a single man, who is attempting to steer the aesthetic of Muay Thai itself...away from tradition.  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=791304983340912&rdid=mUWvMklDzJ4i3xa6  
    • Watched this fight yesterday, and was really moved by Devy. Looking back at Bill's skills he's everything Entertainment Muay Thai dreams of for a fighter, mixing combinations with Thai techniques, eyes and timing. Beautiful stuff. But Devy is incredible...in such a subtle way. He's like: I'm take your pyrotechniques and just hold position and cover, then move the set, take, hold blast a lowkick to your back thigh. It's like watching a chef cook a masterpiece with 3 ingredients. It really doesn't matter who won this fight, its up over 150 lbs, its the art of this cloistered, minimalist fighting, and his shrug-offs of the aggression and attempts to intimidate. Bill probably the most skilled Western fighter in history, but something deeper and older going on here with Devy. Something that is almost painful to receive beamed across the decades to here and now, as everyone is trying to push Muay Thai into Entertainment and Westernization, Globalization.   
    • Saenchai with another KO win on Entertainment Thai Fight. He's the last magical fighter of Thailand, that last of Thailand's greatness, and we are all blessed as he continues in the ring. I don't watch it much (or any of Thai Fight), but still consider it a blessing. When he stops it will all be gone, even though this is kind of half-fighting, and surely he'll do show fights after his retirement. What I love about this photo - and the first thing is that it suddenly feels like Saenchai has aged, and this happens - but what I love about this photo is that you can see his "coal eyes", which is what I call them. There was an old trainer at Lanna named Nok, who when you trained with him his eyes, if you got any advantage or edge, would just turn black. You could see, he just went into that state. And you knew, stop fucking around. Saenchai has always had such a joyful, playful visage, and a charm of handsomeness that he carried everywhere, even into intense battles. But every great, experienced fighter, even Saenchai, has "coal eyes" inside of him, they have to or they couldn't do it the way that they have. And, in my poetic view, it feels like in this slightly aged photo you can see his coal eyes come out. And its really beautiful. 
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • Hi all, Does anyone know of any suppliers for blanks (Plain items to design and print a logo on) that are a good quality? Or put me in the right direction? thanks all  
    • The first fight between Poot Lorlek and Posai Sittiboonlert was recently uploaded to youtube. Posai is one of the earliest great Muay Khao fighters and influential to Dieselnoi, but there's very little footage of him. Poot is one of the GOATs and one of Posai's best wins, it's really cool to see how Posai's style looked against another elite fighter.
    • Yeah, this is certainly possible. Thanks! I just like the idea of a training camp pre-fight because of focus and getting more "locked in".. Do you know of any high level gyms in europe you would recommend? 
    • You could just pick a high-level gym in a European city, just live and train there for however long you want (a month?). Lots of gyms have morning and evening classes.
    • Hi, i have a general question concerning Muay-Thai training camps, are there any serious ones in Europe at all? I know there are some for kickboxing in the Netherlands, but that's not interesting to me or what i aim for. I have found some regarding Muay-Thai in google searches, but what iv'e found seem to be only "retreats" with Muay-Thai on a level compareable to fitness-boxing, yoga or mindfullness.. So what i look for, but can't seem to find anywhere, are camps similar to those in Thailand. Grueling, high-intensity workouts with trainers who have actually fought and don't just do this as a hobby/fitness regime. A place where you can actually grow, improve technique and build strength and gas-tank with high intensity, not a vacation... No hate whatsoever to those who do fitness-boxing and attend retreats like these, i just find it VERY ODD that there ain't any training camps like those in Thailand out there, or perhaps i haven't looked good enough?..  Appericiate all responses, thank you! 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.5k
×
×
  • Create New...