Today I was a hired gun. When the Thais don’t like someone, they find somebody to beat them up…or do it themselves. It just so happens that there were two guys from some country that ends in ‘stan’ that have been riding the Kabib wave all week, and just wrecking some of the Chinese visitors.
Here’s the deal…MOST of the Chinese fighters were brainwashed back home. Somebody convinced them they could fight. They can’t…with very few exceptions. The ‘TRAINERS’, or leaders of the group sustain some mystery injury after day one that relegates them to taking video of their students getting beat up in class. They INSIST on being put in the advanced class for whatever reason…perhaps they are a ‘black belt’ in some Chinese form of slap fighting.
That said, they bring literally HUNDREDS of guests to Tiger Muay Thai every year for over a month. All of the businesses on Sio Taied have signs out front, welcoming them…they are a HUGE financial boost for not only Tiger, but the entire Soi (street)
This past week, these two knuckleheads have been kicking the shit out of all the Chinese fighters, and would not pull back when the Trainers asked them to. Therefore, I was given the task of putting them in their place.
I don’t like being that guy…because frankly, I was on the other end of it one time, when I kind of got into it with one of the trainers. I fought my way through it, and won back their respect, but it wasn’t fun.
More about sparring in a bit.
I want to share some pretty cool experiences over the past few days, then we can get to the blood and the gore.
My new hotel is situated right on the shore of Lake Chalong. If you know me at all, you should know that I am never at peace more than when I am fishing. When I go fishing, I am always the last guy to pull in his rod at night, and the first person on the water in the morning…if you consider 3-4 am ‘morning’. My brother John and I recently went fishing for my birthday. He said, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in years.’
I intentionally leave my curtains open at the hotel here, so I will wake up when the sun comes up (I’m usually up far sooner), but I have enjoyed watching the fish jump first thing in the morning.
I mentioned this to the manager of the hotel, Rosecy this morning. When I came back from training, she said that she had spoken with her husband, and that he would take me to the fishing store tomorrow afternoon, and get me all set up to fish. This is why I stay at this hotel group. I could easily have stayed at another hotel near Tiger when I heard Signature was full. This place is all about PEOPLE. It’s not fake ‘white glove service’…it’s genuine affection toward the PEOPLE who stay at their hotel. It looks like I won’t be spending as much time at the beach on the weekends this visit to Thailand…I will be GONE FISHING!!!
Back to Muay Thai. My drilling partner was an average sized Samoan from New Zealand…by ‘average’ I mean GIANT. He was super cool, and we had a good, intense drilling session. The trainers thought we looked so good together, they stuck us together sparring. It was a great spar session as well. Super controlled. We both stayed busy, and there was great energy. Around half way through the round, we hear a thud, and look over to see one of the Chinese fighters on the ground, with one of the ‘stans’ standing over him.
Pong has me switch partners, and tells me ‘POWER’. I shook my head ‘no’. I don’t like being that guy…until the ding-dong came at me like he did the Chinese guy. Suddenly I didn’t mind being ‘that guy’. I roughed him up pretty good, when Pong sends up the other ‘stan’. Things pretty much went the same. I understand why these knuckleheads thought they were tough against the Chinese opponents, but somebody fed them some bad information when they told them they were tough.
I was super exhausted by the end of it though, and took a pass on doing conditioning at the end of class. The trainers didn’t care…I had done their dirty work, so they gave me a pass.
In the afternoon, I trained with Kunchan. He is one of my favorite Trainers at Tiger. He’s a good looking kid, that speaks REALLY good English. I think his wife is among the prettiest women in Thailand, and they are super cute together.
Our rounds were short, but the breaks were too. We would hit it really hard for about two minutes, with about a 15-20 second break. We went for an hour straight, with two extended breaks. It was a fun session. He is high energy, and really positive.
I always forget when I come to Thailand that I don’t like going to fights. Phet is a former Lumpinee Stadium champ (For the un-indoctrinated, that’s a big deal), and he is always really friendly when I see him. He is the trainer I mentioned yesterday that started beating me with Thai pads when he first saw me. He somehow caught me with my guard down, and asked me if I wanted to buy tickets to the fights tonight. I had turned down at least a dozen other trainers already. I don’t know how he got me to say yes!! Looks like I am going to some fights tonight. Some of my favorite trainers are on the card, so I’m not too pissed off.
One final thing to report; I had my first experience riding my motorbike in a downpour. When it rains in Thailand…IT POURS! Just as my session with Kunchan ended, the skies opened up. I decided to go for it. It got worse as time went by. It should be noted that red lights mean absolutely nothing when it is raining…they just GO, so so did I. Somehow I made it safe.
The Author, Mike Stidham, owns and operates the Ultimate Combat Training Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. UCTC offers classes in Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA, as well as a wide range of Fitness classes to Men, Women, Children, groups, and private lessons.
