Russian Uranage throw

I got away with doing a very similar throw to this in one of my Muay Thai matches. I think as long as long as you don't do a full back arch and put more emphasis on the horizontal twist, the ref wil let you get away with it.

It's a good uncommon technique to use in the Muay Thai clinch, especially when you end up at your opponent's side and you have underhooks.

15 year old Mike Tyson vs. Kelton Brown

Mike Tyson when he was 15 years old. He was already punching better than most men at that age. What a monster!

Manny Pacquiao Training Highlight

Great HL training clip of Pacquaio training for his match against De La Hoya. Always inspriring to see all the hard work the pros put in for the short time they're in the ring.

Peter Aerts VS Badr Hari

The K-1 WGP 2008 finals just took place four days ago and what a night it was. I am not a fan of the heavyweights but Aerts vs Hari and Le Banner vs Bonjasky as the first round matches of the night really excited me. Hari was amazing up in the night. Here are Hari's matches for the night. What a natural talent and a dumbarse!!

Manny Pacquiao Vs Oscar De La Hoya Highlights

Highlights clip of the recent Pacquiao vs De La Hoya match. I don't think anyone predicted Pacquiao to win let alone in such a dominating fashion. He absolutely put on a boxing clinic on De La Hoya. I am amazed at how much he keeps on improving! Freddi Roach (his coach) is a genius!!

Mirko Filipovic CroCop vs. Mike Bernardo - 3.10.1999

And old K-1 match between a young Crocop vs Mike Bernado. Mirko was really a devastating top fighter in K-1 and this match shows why. Great combination.

Bruce MacFie vs Daniel Dawson

Part 1

I don't know how the hell I missed this fight which took place last year. Both are two Aussie fighters. You guys might know Bruce MacFie from the Contender Muay Thai series. Dawson is a top fighter that has competed against many big names such as JWP, Zambidis, Shane Chapman, etc. Dawson has fought as a pro boxer as well with a record of 30 wins and 1 loss. You can see the difference in the hand skills in this match. Awesome match.

Part 2

And here's part 2 of the match clip. Great finish here.

Manny Pacquiao training for Morales rematch

Seeing the vid clip of Spong doing boxing training with Mayweather Snr made me look up other boxing training vids again. This is Manny Pacquiao in training. Pacquiao hails from the Phillipines and is the current WBC lightweight champion. He is trained under Freddie Roach who at one time trained Mike Tyson.

Just look at Pacquiao's handspeed!! He is known for his blistering handspeed but still....wow. At times I am so focused on Muay Thai these days that I forget how good a boxer's punching is. Seeing this I think it might be a good idea to supplement my off training days by going to the local boxing gym.

Dieselnoi on Thaipads

Another clip of Dieselnoi in training. What a knee smashing machine! That padholder is one tough guy to be doing this on a daily basis with him!

Dieselnoi Chamuekpet training

Training clip of the famous Diesel Noi. It's hard to get any clips of this famous fighter so this is a gem! Dieselnoi doing clinch work and padwork. I would really hate to be on the receiving end of his knees.

Tyrone Spong training with Mayweather Snr

Tyron Spong doing boxing training with Floyd Mayweather Snr. Wished Mayweather Snr would have talked less and showed more training footage.

Tyrone Spong Warming Up Fights Exclusive Footage by Rayen Bindraban

Tyron Spong is one of the big name Dutch fighters. Great fighter, known for his skills and power. He fights alot in full Muay Thai rules which is unusual for Dutch fighters. One of his notable wins is against Thai fighter Kaoklai. You guys might know Kaoklai as being the lightest K-1 fighter ever in the heavyweights. I love the boxing combinations he does for warming up in this video. A little bit of good HLs from his matches at the end as well.

Ramon Dekkers Vs Joeri Mes

I'm browsing youtube as usual looking for martial arts related videos and I found this. My first thoughts were WTF?! Dekkers vs Joeri Mes? Joeri Mes must have still been in kindy when Dekkers was in his prime!

Seriously, why did Dekkers took this fight? What was the point? Dekkers is way past his prime. Joeri is a young up and comer. We recently saw him KOed Japanese fighter Kohi in K-1 Max finals. Did Dekkers need the money that much??

Albert Kraus vs Kaolan Kaovichit

Classic K-1 Max match. This is the K-1 Max 2002 final match between Albert Kraus vs Kaolan.

I posted this match because not many people what a good fighter Kraus is. He was very successful in the beginning as I don't think many people expect such a fighter in kickboxing to be so heavily reliant on boxing work such as him. Although this proved to be undoing as people see more of him. At least he seem to be improving his array of skills now. Though he's not one of my favourite fighters to watch, I admire his grit and toughness. Hope he keeps improving and make a a big comeback to the crack the top four of K-1 Max in 2009.

Did anyone notice his face and his entrance song? How appropriate don't you think? :)

Ko Taisei (Kyokushin Karate IKO1) VS Sun Wu (Sanshou)

Good to see professional San Da still in existence. This event is supported by FEG. For those who are K-1 fans, you will have heard the name before. FEG is the group that runs the K-1 events. I hope that this is a sign of things to come. Fighting sports in China need a big financial sponsor to grow.

Anyway on to the match itself. I think Sun Wu must have a muay thai coach. His guard and stance is not the typical Sanda style that I am used to seeing in the past. His kicks are not as flicky. He even attempted a jumping knee at one stage! Despite that, he is still too sanda in that relied too much on throws and takedowns. Sure he made alot of good throws off caught kicks, but KO Taisei was still able to fight on and eventually get that one strike that will make the difference. Good match to watch and learn for those from a sanda background.

Sifu NG Chun-hong on 1-arm-against-2 Gor Sau

Another Wing Chun teacher that I think would be pretty worthwhile to learn from. Interesting use of the forearms, elbows and shoulders which I haven't seen demonstrated in Wing Chun generally. I like the flow into a shoulder bump at the end.

Wan Kam Leung Practical Wing Chun

Just a quick update while I'm on a quick break from study. A number of guys in the class have had training in Wing Chun. I'm not a particular fan of Wing Chun in general but I thought this guy has something worthwhile to learn. His Wing Chun does seem more practical than what I've generally seen. It seems to be more free flowing and I like that the teacher shows takedown moves in his combinations. Something that I don't usually see in Wing Chun. His knife and pole work looks pretty good too. I like how he picked up the pole from the floor. Not having much experience in weapon work I thought it was quite unique. I might look this guy up when I'm in HK.

Sorry for lack of updates lately!

Hi guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates on the blog lately. I'm preparing for my CPA exam for the past two weeks so training and martial arts web surfing have taken a back seat lately. My exam is on Thursday next week so after that I'll be back to my normal self again. Thanks for your patience.

K-1 Max 2008 Final Match!

Part 1

Part 2

The final match of the K-1 Max series this year to determine the champion for 2008. All I can say is...bloody awesome!

Artur Kyshenko vs Andy Souwer - K-1 Max 2008 Semi Final 2

Part 1

Part 2

Another great semi final match though not as nail biting as the Masato v Sato match. Enjoy!

Masato vs Sato - K-1 Max 2008 Semi Final 1

Part 1

Part 2

All I can say is...what a great match! Enjoy guys. I'll write my post match analysis later on.

K-1 Max Final Four night!!

So here is the main fight card for tonight's K-1 Max 2007 - 2008 finale. The Final Four fighters battling to take out the crown is Masato, Sato, Souwer and Kyshenko. I'm very annoyed that I haven't been able to convince any bars or clubs around to buy the ppv so I'm going to ahve to wait for the download to be available from the internet. The event should be starting 8pm Japan time. Here's my analysis of the Final Four match ups.

Masato vs Sato

Masato is the poster boy for K-1 Max. His good looks and legit fighting skills is the main and original reason why the vast majority of K-1 Max fans are young women. In fact the reason why this year they're broken down the series into three part series is to help make sure Masato get through into the finals unscathed to win the series! Masato is said to possess the best hands in K-1, with some even saying he should be a pro boxer. Sato on the other hand is the quiet hardworking achiever. He's come back from a KO revenge win against Buakaw which shows how far he has come since his Muay Thai days. Sato is tough! He always seem to follow whatever strategy and plan that have been set out. It's hard to tell who will come out on top with this one. My spirit is for Sato but my brains say that Masato still has a slight edge and will come out on top.

Andy Souwer vs Artur Kyshenko

Any of the Final Four fighters have the goods to win the series but if I have to put my money on the one fighter, it'll be Andy Souwer. He's been the K-1 Max champion twice now and still look hungry to win it again for the third time. I think he will win against the finals inexperienced Artur Kyshenko, whow as KOed last year in the semis by Masato despite starting well. Andy is a shrewd fighter, always taking full advantage of the rules and situation to his advantage. He's got great punch kick combos, always returning any attacks and seem to always get stronger during the match. Kyshenko is one of the more Muay Thai stylist in K-1 but he seems to have adapted very well in the K-1 game. He's known for his low kicks, body rips and usually have a reach advantage but I think still lack the experience needed to win over a wily veteran opponent like Souwer. Souwer is my choice to win this one and take out the K-1 Max crown for the third time!

Badr Hari vs. Choi Hong Man

This is Badr Hari vs Hong Man Choi from the K-1 Final 16 that just took place in Seoul, Korea in the weekend. I'm not usually interested in the K-1 Heavyweights since I find the action generally slow and the skill level not very high. There are however a few heavyweights that are the exception like the great Andy Hug, Hoost, Aerts and Bonjasky but guys like these are rare in today's K-1 scene. That's why Badr Hari is being talked about alot these days. He is the trash talking loudmouth who can actually has the skills. He's considered the future of the K-1 heavyweights.

Badr Hari came into this match saying something to the effect that he will smash Hong Man Choi who has no skills other than being big and heavy. Hong Man Choi is a 7' Korean giant who was a former sireum wrestling champion. Sireum is a Korean wrestling style similar to sumo. Jerome Le Banner, another great K-1 fighter, have commented that kicking Choi's legs is like kicking a stone pillar.

Badr Hari fights the perfect style against a big man in this match. Low kicks and body shots to punish the legs and body. He wasn't afraid to get in and mix it up with the big man up close either. Watch and enjoy!

Muay Thai Inspirations

Great HL clip of various famous Muay Thai fighters. These are the fighters who really stand out in their era. As the clip title says, it really is inspirational to watch these guys do their stuff.

Work out in the park

Bunch of guys working out in a playground park. Great workout! Alot of variations on the pull ups and a variety of gymnastic type exercises. I think this type of training would be a good substitute to the standard strength & conditioning training.

It's free, out in the outdoors and best of all it looks like they're having a lot of fun doing it!

Rawee vs. Kenji Kurosaki

This is a gem of a clip! This clip shows Kenji Kurosaki in the famous 1963 Kyokushin Karate vs Muay Thai battle. Kenji Kurosaki was one of the three Kyokushin fighters who went to Thailand to fight in this event. After this, he went on to learn Muay Thai which he later combined with kyokushin to develop and become a pioneer of Japanese kickboxing.

I find it fascinating that in this clip, Kurosaki fights just like a sanda fighter. By that I mean he is contantly trying to throw and take Rawee down. I don't recall Kurosaki using any punching-kicking combinations. I wou;dn't be surprised if Kurosaki was also a judo blackbelt. I think it was a good tactic of him but he attempted way too many throwing attempts and was getting to be to one dimensional. Unless you're going to spike the opponent on his head with a throw for a KO (which is illegal), I generally think too many throws actually make the thrower more tired than the opponent. Eventually the Rawee adapted to the tactic and took advantage of Kurosaki's increasingly sloppy clinching attempts.

This clip was uploaded by youtube member GKfromMTA. He has a number of other excellent rare fight clips so check them out!

Dieselnoi vs. Shogo Shimazu

Dieselnoi is one of the most famous and dominating Thai fighter in the 1970s or any era for that matter. He is remarkably tall for a Thai and because of this he excelled at clinching and knees. Infact his clinching and knee techniques were said to revolutionise Muay Thai. Here he is up against a Japanese kickboxer, Shogo Shimazu. I don't know much about Shogo but I am curious that he is wearing the long pants more commonly seen in the American kickboxing rules yet he performs the Wai Kru at the beginning. Wai Kru is the traditional Muay Thai ritual dance. Anyway Dieselnoi shows his trademark devastating knees in this match. Enjoy!

Back Flip Wrestling Move

Amazing counter to a single leg! The wrestler does a back flip and straight into a takedown when landing. What crazy skills! And this looks like a high school wrestling match. Apparently this is not that uncommon in wrestling after seeing all the other backflip counters to the single leg on youtube. I am constantly amazed at the athleticism of wrestlers. Makes me wish there was a wrestling program in my school instead of Taekwondo or Karate.

Tribute to Takeda Kozo HL

This is Takeda Kozo, champion Muay Thai fighter from Japan. I came across this HL clip while checking out my favourite muay thai blog www.mymuaythai.com. Kozo is one of the few foreigners to win a stadium belt in Thailand. He's known for his punishing low kicks as you'll see in the HL clip. Unfortunately when K-1 Max was introduced, he was already past his peak and thus was never that successful. Despite that he really is a quality fighter beating alot of big names from Thailand such as Kaoklai and Bigben. He actually beat Bigben by TKO via low kicks. I found it abit suspicious but it looks legit.

Personally I find Kozo abit one dimensional. He tends to rely too much on his low kicks. You'll see near the end of the clip he had an injury to his right shin but he kept kicking the bag with it. In the last match where he came in with that injury, he still relied only on his right low kick, despite the fact his opponent was a former wrestler. Not surprisingly he pulled out of his next match in the night.

Despite this, his low kicks are still awesome and this HL clip should show you guys how devastating it can be.

K-1 World MAX ~ CALIBUR ~ by shunsuke

Latest K-1 Max HL clip from shunsuke. I love his clips. They are just awesome! This is in anticpation of the Max finals which will take place on 1st October.

The finals will put Masato vs Sato and Souwer vs Kyshenko. I think Souwer will take it again this year. I'm undecided who will win between Masato vs Sato but I'll be rooting for Sato. I feel Masato is too arrogant at times and the more honest but hard working Sato is just a fighter that I usually root for.

San Da VS Muay Thai

Sanda vs Muay Thai event that took place in 2006. I'm not sure if this is 56kg or 65kg. The info on the first clip says 65kg but the info on the second part of the match says 56kg.

Anyway, match weight aside the action were quite interesting. The Chinese fighter is very versatile, using combinations of punches, kicks and even knees! I didn't remember seeing any elbows but since elbow pads were worn I think it was allowed. Like past Sanda vs Muay Thai matches in the past, I find if the Thai fighters didn't score a KO, the Chinese will run rings around them accumulating points. I've heard that some Sanda gyms in China now employs Muay Thai coaches to help i,prove their fighters' techniques and from this match it seems to be working. The only thing I'd like to see more from Chinese fighters is the will and ability to stand toe to toe.

Mike Tyson sparring clip

Imagine being Mike Tyson's sparring partner! He makes all his partners in this clip look really slow.

Mike Tyson daily training routine

I was and still is a big fan of Mike Tyson the boxer so here is yet another training clip of Mike in action. His speed and combinations on the heavy bag is just amazing. I like the simple exercise for the head movement. Will we ever see another heavyweight boxer like Mike?

Judo: Isao Okano vs Russian

Isao Okano is a famous Japanese Judo champion. Here is a clip of him going up against Boris Mishenko. This took place during the time the Russians just entered the judo scene.

The Russians in Judo were famous for their unorthodox style, due to their background of Sambo, a Russian jacket wrestling style.

Arm and leg submissions are a specialty of Sambo. Here the great Isao Okano is caught off guard by his Russian opponent via armbar.

Sambo training in Japan

This is Sambo training in Japan by a coach named Hagihara. I don't much about the coach but the training looks really solid and top notch. Alot of the warm up drills are the same if not very similar to wrestling. Though these drills are mainly found in wrestling or grappling schools I think they will be beneficial to any styles . Body coordination, flexibility, breakfalling, these are some of the things off the top of my head that can be developed through this.

You guys can see we do some of these drills in sanshou training but they have some really acrobatic ones here that we don't do. Given the time I would love to try and learn them. The exercises look really fun and I'd like to master them before I'm too old!

Combat Sambo training at Red Devil Club (Fedor's gym)

This is Fedor's gym, the Red Devil Club in Russia. It's a Sambo and MMA gym, hence you see the guys in sambo jackets, guys with mma shorts and gloves, padwork training, etc. I really like Sambo as its Combat Sambo variant seen here intergrates strikes with grappling, making it a good all round style especially to transition into MMA. No wonder Fedor is the world top heavyweight MMA fighter at the moment.

Floyd Mayweather`s defensive skills

Another Floyd Mayweather clip, this time highlighting his defensive skills. Good reference for the guys in the class who should be working on their defensive skills. Notice how he always tuck his chin next to his shoulder even when he has one hand down. Often we are dazzled by a fighter's offensive skills like Mayweather and forget that a big reason why they're able to win often is they hardly get hit.

Obviously some thins will need to be modified when kicks and knees are allowed but this is still a good reference to refer back to from time to time to get some ideas and inspiration.

Floyd Mayweather Training

I'm always interested in the training of fighters, no matter what combat sports or martial arts they're from. There's always something to be learnt or admired when watching dedicated or accomplished fighters train. Hope you all know who Floyd Mayweather is. If not he is the current World WBC welterweight champion and has won six different world championship belts in five different weights!

I don't really like his brashness and showboating but I do like his boxing skills. Two things to note from this clip. He comes from a boxing family. His father was a pro boxer as well and he's trained by his uncle. That's his uncle iirc doing the padwork with him. They have a very unique tap tap style of padwork style I haven't seen anywhere else. Doesn't seem to emphasise much power in the padwork but I'm guessing it develops and focuses strongly on speed, accuracy and reflexes.

The second thing is his awesome skipping rope routine. He makes it look so easy doing all the complicated tricks and skills. There's a couple of youtube vids solely on this which I'll post later on.

Daido Juku

This is Daido Juku Karate. It is an offshoot of Kyokushin which helps explains the footage of the full contact karate at the beginning of the clip. Daido Juku competition is quite extreme compared to even Kyokushin. They allow punches to the head, kicks, clinching with knees, elbows and even headbutts! They also allow throwing, takedowns and submissions making it basically like MMA. They do wear full on headgear with face visor but as you can see from the clip people still get knocked out wearing the headgears. There is a few secs in there of someone doing multiple headbutts to the opponent. Very very extreme. Did anyone notice the guy at the start who I assume if the founder running on concrete barefoot? Hardcore!

Master Sken - Super Kicks DVD Trailer

Master Sken's - Thai Boxing Fighter - Phil Nurse

Just found this fight clip of Phil Nurse. Might be of some interest to the guys in the club as Phil Nurse is a student under the famous Master Sken in UK. Master Sken is one of my coach's primary muay thai teachers, the other being Master Toddy. Both Master Sken and Master Toddy are considered the pioneers of Muay Thai in the UK. Very wild but amazing fighter. Enjoy!

Kyokushin karate speed kick tutorial

This is Kenji Midori, a famous Karate teacher who was an Open Kyokushin champion. He is well known for his kicks as you can see in this round kick demo and tutorial. The kyokushin kick is slightly different than in Muay Thai in that Kyokushin tend to chamber their kicks. Chambering refers to the knee being raised before being released to kick. This tend to create a more hipping kick than the the Muay Thai roundhouse. I prefer the Muay Thai style kick myself but many fighters who come from Kyokushin background has proven the effectiveness of their style of kicking. The baseball bat breaking demo was awesome.

The Brazillian Kick tutorial

Kar Lok keeps saying he loves the downward roundhouse kick as seen in some K-1 fighters. So this clip is especially for him. The kick is usually called Maha mawashi geri in Japanese. Maha is Japanese for Mach and mawashi geri is roundhouse kick. I guess they call it the mach kick because the kick's speed is like the speed of breaking the speed of sound. The popular name for the kick is the "Brazillian Kick". This is because the Brazilians were the ones who popularised using it in competitions. The K-1 fighters who are known for using this kick are usually Brazillian and have a background in Kyokushin Karate.

Dog Style kungfu!

This is a clip of Fujian Dishu Quan (Fujian Ground Boxing), also known as Fujian Gou Quan (Dog style). The second name is not very glamourous so people usually call it Ground Boxing. It's full of ground fighting techniques that focuses on kicks, rolling and sweeps. It's a very demanding style and I liken it to learning breakdancing. It'll build up the body tremendously. I would have love dto learn this kungfu style when I was young. I think the physical attributes one would build up training this will carry over to almost any other nartial arts styles in the future. I also think the ground fighting techniques themselves are worth to learn. It's totally different than what is thought of groundfighting these days with the dominance of BJJ but I think it can be useful. In fact I've seen afew Japanese shooto fighting rolling around, doing leg sweeps and kicks from the ground that could have come out from Fujian Ground Boxing. At the very least you can start doing a form on the dance floor and look cool :D

MMA in China: Art of War HL clip

This is a HL clip of the Art of War events in China. Art of War is a professional MMA event. They seemed very professional and surprisingly the MMA rules used seem to be the most NHB (No Holds Barred) I've seen today. It looks like they allow stomps, soccer kicks and even elbows. Even though I am more of a kickboxing fan and stylist, I think it's a great direction for combat sports in China. I've always thought that MMA is a natural progression for most Sanda/ Sanshou fighters rather than crossing over to other kickboxing formats such as K-1. This event seems to have alot of Sanda fighters competing. Enjoy the clip. There are others available that I've yet to check out and even the matches themselves.

Peter Aerts HL

Peter Aerts is one of the great old K-1 heavyweight champion that are still competing and still competitive. You guys should now know what Ducth style Muay Thai is like after all the clips I've posted. Peter Aerts is from Holland and he has the classic Ducth style of fighting. He's known for his kicks as you can see in the HL clip, hence his nickname is the Lumberjack. Enjoy!

Sambo in the NY Times!

Some of you guys might know that I love all good martial arts. I have a strong interest in grappling before but decided to focus on striking for the last couple of years, thus training solely in san shou at first then muay thai. One of the grappling styles that I have a strong interest in is Sambo. It's a Russian style of jacket wrestling. It's similar to judo but they wear shorts instead, can do leg submissions and have alot more wrestling influence instead. Sambo is not all wrestling though. They also can include striking and one of their competition formats that allow strikes is called Combat Sambo which is basically MMA. Anyway there is a new article introducing Sambo in the NY Times! I can't believe the NY Times did a martial arts article. Awesome! Have a read and enjoy.

Sambo in NY Times

Muay Thai KO HL

Old but good HL clip of various matches from Thailand. Great KOs in this clip. I find Muay Thai matches in Thailand tend to mostly be a grinding clinching affair most of the time so this is very entertaining to watch. Lots of elbows KOs too which is rare. Watch out particularly for the KO at the 42sec mark. The fighter in red shorts throws down his opponent and kicks him as he lands before the referee can stop it. Very nasty and a bit on the grey side but shows that anything can happen. Getting that last kick in on your opponent before the ref can stop you seems to be more common in Thailand than overseas.

Albert Kraus vs Mike Zambidis K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Battle of the two most boxing orientated fighters in K-1 Max. This is a K-1 super match, meaning that it's a one off and not part of the tournament series. Both fighters lost their tournament matches and out of the running. However K-1 likes to do super matches to fill up the spots in their events with fighters who they think is exciting, worthwhile to watch, came off a close loss, etc.

Albert Kraus used to be almost exclusively all hands but in recent matches he seemed to be more varied in his attacks. I think he must have realised he is getting a liitle one dimensional hence his recent lack of success.In this match he uses his knees to good effect. Zambidis does his usual stuff, lots of hooks and overhands. I like Zambidis's punching style which I think is awesome but I wish he would learn to fight in the Thai clinch. K-1 doesn't allow full Muay Thai style clinches but there are still guys out there like Sato and Souwer who can exploit the clinch rules very well.

Benny Urquidez vs Naito

You guys might know Benny Urquidez from some old Jackie Chan movies. One that I remember clearly is "Meals on Wheels". I didn't know much about Urquidez at that time but I thought the end fight scene with him vs Jackie Chan was great.

He was a famous late 70s early 80s fighter that originally competed in the American karate and kickboxing scene. Kickboxers under the American rules wore the long pants due to it developing from the karate competitions. He later became famous for taking on primarily Japanese kickboxers in Japan. He's known for his jumping spinning back kick, like the one in this match.

Saro Presti vs Warren Stevelmans K-1 Max 09.04.2008

Warren Stevelmans has become my new fighter to watch in K-1 Max after seeing his performances in the K-1 Max Holland and now recently against Andy Souwer in Japan. He's got great punhcing combos and an active style. In this match he does a great left hook against a low kick and later on does a great left body hook. He's also shorter than most of his opponent (just like me!) so I'll be watching him to learn and improve.

Andy Souwer vs Warren Stevelmans K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Warren Stevelmans was the winner of the K-1 Max Holland two months back. I love his double hook combinations. I thought the match was pretty close and could have gone either way. Souwer as usual starts out slow but always finishing strongly in the end. Both fighter are very typical Dutch Muay Thai style, i.e. strong punch & kicking combinations. Hope to see more of Stevelmans in teh future. He has a good crowd pleasing power technical style. Best match of the night for me.

Masato vs Drago K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Masato was in great form in this match. Great boxing combinations and a low kick to finish off every combination. Check out Drago's lead thigh as the match progresses. Drago is known for his toughness and power but I think he totally got outclassed in this match.

Buakaw vs Sato K-1 Max 07.07.2008

Amazing match! Buakaw seemed to look old and slow or uninterested in the match. Contrast this match with when he first appeared and won K-1 Max back in 2004, it's like looking at two different fighters. I won't spoil the match for you guys but Sato is always improving. One of my fav fighters for his down to earth, honest and hardworking attitude.

Fujiwara Toshio Vs Muay Thai

This is a match that took place in Rajadamnern stadium 1979. Fujiwara Toshio is a famous Japanese fighter known for being a pioneer for Muay Thai in Japan. He was the first and one of the few foreign fighters to have won a stadium belt (Raja stadium belt) and respected by the Thais. Known for his long range punching, low kicks and a very offbeat unorthodox rhythm and footwork designed to fight against the typical Muay Thai fighter from Thailand. He also trained in Greco-roman wrestling to help counter the Thai style clinch as you can see from his clinching style in the video. His coach was Kenji Kurosaki, a well known Kyokushin karate fighter who fought n the first Karate vs Muay Thai challenge back in 1963. This is a vintage and rare video clip well worth a watch.

Badr Hari vs. Glaube Feitosa

I posted a training clip of Badr Hari before. Here is the latest fight clip of him. This is him against Glaube Feitosa of Brazil in the opening round of the latest K-1 wgp 2008. He has amazing explosive power for a heavyweight. Haven't seen the rest of the event yet but this match really impressed me so I thought you guys will enjoy it as well. Great striking combinations, explosiveness and power.

Mike Tyson Training Highlight Reel 2

Another Mike Tyson training HL clip. I love his head movements and punching combinations. What a waste of talent.

Little kid boxing training

A friend forwarded this clip to me. Amazing! The kid's boxing skills in pad training is better than most guys I've seen in training. In my experience women and children tend to learn at a faster pace than guys as they're not concerned about power. This clip certainly tend to reinforce that experience.

K-1 World Max ~ Nemesis ~ by shunsuke

Shunsuke is a pretty well known internet personality that's famous for creating some of the best K-1 Max highlights. This is his latest one in preparation of the upcoming K-1 Max event in July. He does not disappoint. It's an awesome HL clip and showing alot of action of one of my favourite fighters, Andy Souwer, the reigning K-1 Max champion.

Rob Kaman - Low kick

Rob Kaman is one of the two most well known Ducth pioneers of Muay Thai. The other being Ramon Dekkers which I've posted about before.

This is Kaman showng how to train low kicks using a square kick pad. I'm posting this to show you guys how to improve your low kicks. Rob Kaman was known for his powerful low kicks. Low kick is one of those techniques considered essential in kickboxing/ Muay Thai. You don't have to be the best at it but you do need to have one the opponent will respect and thus need to shin check.

2001 Sanshou in Hong kong

Good example why you must keep your guard up, especially when you're going forward. Ouch!

Off topic, I didn't HK hold sanshou events like this. You HK guys in the club should find out more. Looks like fun to watch and maybe compete.

Mongolian wrestling

We were talking about the Sanda champion Baoligao which I posted a clip of him against a Muay Thai fighter earlier in my blog. I mentioned Baoligao is very different to the typical Sanda fighter in that he is very power orientated and particularly very strong in the clinch. This is because he is not ethnic Han Chinese (the group most Chinese belong to) but rather ethnic Mongolian. Mongolians have a very strong wrestling culture as is typical of all horse nomad tribes. They were brought up on wrestling. Even today wrestling champions are well respected and can earn a good living in Mongolia.

Every year in Mongolia they have what they call the naadam festival where they have archey, horse riding and wrestling competition. Above is a footage of the wrestling competition. The rules are no ground wrestling, first one to touch the ground loses with three points of the body loses, there are no rounds and no weight divisions. They were the special costumes reminiscent of the undergarment the Mongolians used to wear as calvary warriors. You may have seen the Mongolians in these costumes during the Olympic ceremonies as they walk in. If not, look up for it. They always make people's heads turn!

In north China, wrestling is or was a strong tradition. Mongolian wrestling is considered one of the four main branches of Chinese wrestling.

Liu Hai Long vs Robert Kaenorrasing

This is a match that took place in a Sanda vs Muay Thai event in Guangzhou, China back in 2003. The match is supposed to be 85kgs class but I know that the Muay Thai fighter Robert Kaenorrasing used to fight 75kgs. I'm not sure if the Muay Thai group are just supremely confident in their fighting skills or was tricked but it really is not a fair fight in terms of size and power. Even the rules itself slightly favours the Sanda fighter more as elbow pads are worn and the limited clinch time. Liu Hai Long is a very good Sanda fighter but I wish that he would go up against a quality Muay Thai fighter to test himself.

Kickboxing in Burma

Time to introduce you guys to Burmese boxing or lethwei as they call it. The Burmese still fight using the old bare knuckle rules that were used in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It's not exactly the old style rules but it's the closest to as you can see here. Only handwraps are used. Punching, kicking, knees, elbows, throws and HEADBUTTS are allowed! When a fighter is KOed that is the end of the round. The KOed fighter will be revived and given the chance to continue or not. There are five rounds. There are no judges. The winner must be the only one left standing in the ring. If both fighters are still standing at the end of the match, it is declared a draw.

The older rules were even more hardcore! You were allowed to continue attacking a fallen opponent till the referee stops you. It was common to sweep or throw someone down and follow him to the ground by dropping your knee into the opponent. You were also allowed to kick your opponent in the groin back in the old days. Thank god they've modernise abit huh? It's now in a boxing ring instead of a sandpit.

You can see that the fight is very different in pace and style to a typical Muay Thai fight. WIthout the boxing gloves, punches become even more lethal and you can see that the lethwei fighters tend to punch more than muay thai. Also in lethwei you don't see much of the clinching and knees common in Muay Thai. Being allowed to throw and headbutt changes that aspect of the fight game. Lastly the manner of declaring the winner, ie. last man standing I think is the reason why lethwei fighters tend to be very aggressive and active. It's almost like a street fight!

Sanda in Russia

I was just amazed when I saw this. This is apparently sanshou/ sanda in Russia. Not only do they not wear the usual protective gear such as head gear, shin pads and vests BUT they also allow some sort of limited ground fighting! Russians are crazy. They always somehow managed to make a sport more hardcore :). But I like these developments! It makes it more realistic and complete. I would only suggest for knees to be added so it is more complete in stand-up fighting. Sadly I doubt if these developments will be followed in China.

Compilation of Sanda techniques

Nice compilation of Sanshou/ Sanda techniques and skills from the Oakland Sanshou team. I often find the sanshou fighters and training in the US to be more dynamic and skillful than their Mainland Chinese counterparts. I particularly like the fireman's carry and the scissors kick takedown at the end.

Baoligao vs Sitichok

This match took place in Bangkok, Thailand in 2003. It was part of a Sanda vs Muay Thai event. The rules were a combination of Sanda and Muay Thai. Punching, kicking, elbows, knees and throws were allowed. The clinch were however limited to about 3-5 seconds rather than the long clinching time of muay thai. Elbow pads were worn.

Baoligao is a Mongolian Sanda champion. He is known for his strength in wrestling (he's Mongolian after all) and striking power. Not much finesse in his clinching and knees but didn't look like the Thai opponent had an answer for it. I think the Thai crowd were quite shocked at the result. Chinese Sanda fighters are not known for their power and KO ability.

Albert Kraus vs Kaolan Kaovichit

This is the last match of the first ever K-1 Max Final which took place in 2002. Albert Kraus is a Dutch kickboxer who is known for his boxing skills. Kaolan is said to be a former Lumpinee champion. Great contrast of Muay Thai styles, Ducth vs Thai.

Ramon Dekkers vs Hector Pena

This match really shows the importance of good roundhouse kicks and the need to have a good solid defence against it. Hector Pena is from the US. His style is more boxing from what I see in this match. Alot of the older kickboxers from the US come from an American kickboxing style where low kicks are illegal and good boxing skills were then a necessity. I think Hector Pena may have come from such a style.

Ramon is Dutch but his style is very Thai in this match. Calmly stalking Hector and punishing his legs with low kicks every chance he gets. You can see Hector getting more slower and sluggish as the match goes on.

So the lesson is you don't have to be the best in low kicks but you should have a good basic low kick and also good low shin check.

Andy Hug HL

Andy Hug was one of the greatest K-1 heavyweight champion despite being one of the smallest heavyweights. He came from a Kyokushin Karate background. He was very popular in Japan, earning the nickname "The Blue eyes samurai" due to his fighting spirit and great fighting skills. He was known for his axe kicks and spinning back kicks. He died age 35 of leukemia in Japan. RIP Andy!

Andy Souwer vs. Wei Shoulei

This is a good typical Sanda vs Muay Thai match, although in this particular match it's Dutch style Muay Thai. This was part of a Shootboxing promotion in Japan. There were five Sanda vs Shootboxing matches. Shootboxing rules slightly differs from muay thai in that it allows throws and submissions but the fighters that normally fights in Shootboxing are from Muay Thai or kickboxing gyms.

Watch the match and enjoy guys! I welcome any comments and questions about the tactics used, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

Badr Hari Training

Badr Hari is one of the top rising fighters in the K1 heavyweights division. He's one of the rare few heavyweight K-1 fighters blessed with great speed, explosiveness and technique. Watch this training clip and you'll see what I mean. It's also a good example of Dutch style Muay Thai. Alot of emphasis on punch and kick combinations.

Tommy Hearns HL

I was talking to JP today about boxing and where he's from in the US. We got talking about Kronk gym. JP, if you're wondering why I know about Kronk, it's because my favourite boxer is Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns. Watch this HL and you'll know why. He looks like a guy you don't want to piss off.

San Da Wang match ----Zheng Yuhao VS Li ming

Nice Sanda Wang match to introduce you guys to Sanda (i.e. professional sanshou). Sanda Wang means King of Free Fighting in Chinese. You can see that the biggest difference is that no head gear, protective vest or shin guards are worn. It's also held in a ring instead of the traditional lei tai (raised platform).

Sanda still follows the point scoring system found in sanshou in that a successful strike will score points that are tallied and total to determine the winner, unless of course one of the fighter gets KOed.

Zheng Yu Hao is one of my favourite Sanda fighters. I think he is retired now unfortunately. He is one of the most versatile and entertaining Sanda fighters I've seen. He fought and was runners up in Shootboxing S-Cup 2002 tournament (an event kind of similar to K-1 Max but using Shootboxing rules). He tore through all his opponents until he met Andy Souwer in the finals which he lost in extension round by decision. Very good power and toughness for a Sanda fighter. He's also known for his jumping spinning back technique as this video clip shows.

Basic Punch & Kick Progression combinations

This is the four sets of basic punch & kick progressions combinations we've done in training. These sets help to teach to throw out each technique with power from side to side continuously. Note that each technique in a combination leads to another technique from the other side, e.g. LJ into a RBK (Left to right) or LJ into a RC into a LBK (Left to Right to Left). Hence at the most basic level these combinations are trained as mainly power combinations. These combinations should provide you a good basic framework of simple and effective striking combinations. I normally like to train these combinations in reps of five or ten. So I'll do 5-10 reps of all three sets non-stop with only 10-15 sec break in between.

The combinations can be modified as you see it once you achieve a good level of proficiency. For example, the left hook in the combination RC+LH+RBK can be replaced with a left uppercut instead. Another example would be to throw the left hook to the body instead of to the head to change levels. If you like throwing knees, you can add in a knee technique after the kick. The variations are endless! These combinations are only a guide. Use your imagination and create your own!

1 Punch + Kick
LJ+RBK
RC+LBK
LH+RBK
RC+LBK

2 Punches + Kick
LJ+RC+LBK
RC+LH+RBK
LJ+RH+LBK

3 Punches + Kick
LP+RP+LH+RBK
RC+LH+RC+LBK

Legend
LJ = Left Jab
RC = Right Cross
LH = Left Hook
RH = Right Hook
LBK = Left Body Kick
RBK = Right Body Kick

What is K-1 Max?

So I heard on Friday that some of you don't know what K-1 Max is *GASPS*. It's a crime to be training muay thai, kickboxing, sanda or even boxing and not know what K-1 Max is! Here are two of the best K-1 Max clips I know on the net. The creator Shunsuke is a big K-1 Max fan and makes the bets highlight clips I've seen.

K-1 Max is the biggest and I dare say best stand up fighting promotion in the world. K-1 is a Japanese promotion but they typically have fighters from around the world competing. The promoters of K-1 are originally from Shidokan Karate which is an offshoot of Kyokushin. As such the rules of K-1 are not Muay Thai rules. They only allow one knee per clinch before you have to disengage. There is no elbows and the rounds are 3 x 3. They hold several events throughout the year culminating in a World Final event sometime in late June or early July where all the winners in the year fight it out in a tournament style format.

Despite the crappy clinching rules and the sometimes biased judging, K-1 Max is still the best kickboxing show in the world. Top quality fighters and top fights! Start watching and reading about K-1 Max guys!

ZAMBIDIS TRAINING

Various clips of Iron Mike Zambidis training. Notice the heavy emphasis on boxing in his training and the lack of knees and grappling. As mentioned before this is because he is from a kickboxing background where it is illegal to clinch Thai style, knees and to even catch kicks. But he has very good footwork and even though primarily known for his hands he actually is very good for his punch-kick combinations. He is said to be training with Dekkers in anti-clinch skills but I don't think this is much of a worry for him anymore since K-1 Max has been enforcing their no Thai clinch rule for the last 2 years now.

Kaew 'Sugar' Fairtex

This is the current WBC 60kg Muay Thai champion. He is one of the few top Muay Thai fighters I've seen that is known for finesse, technique and speed. I saw him fight in Japan at an AJKF show against a Japanese champion which you'll see bits and pieces of in this HL clip. He absolutely dominated and bloodied the Japanese champion. The Japanese even kneeled down to him after the match to show his respect.

Shizuka Murakami HL

Another amazing and cute Japanese karate girl. How come karate have all these cute kick arse girls?!! I wish I was in Japan.

Yuka Kobayashi HL

This girl's skills is amazing! And she is cute as well! She is from Ashihara Karate which is an offshoot of Kyokushin Karate. They are known as knockdown karate styles, ie. full contact. They are famous for being the strongest styles of karate through their full contact sparring.

Kyokushin full contact rules allows full contact kicks, knees and body punches. They do not allow head punches or any clinching which is why it tends to look strange for first time viewers. Nonetheless they are very tough as they do not wear any gloves or shinpads. Many Japanese kickboxers tend to have a background in kyokushin or one of its offshoots. This is the reason why quite afew of Japanese kickboxers' kicks tend to be more whippy than muay thai.

Judo - Efficiency

Nice clip of various judo takedowns and throws done in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). When I was only doing kungfu my strong point was throws. It's always good to know a few throws as it can really throw (pun intended) your opponent's game off if he's not used to it or he doesn't know how to breakfall. I always try to do one or two big throws (the legal muay thai style ones) in my matches.

Sanshou HL

Another good sanshou HL for you guys to have a look. Note the use of headgear, shin guards and protective vest. Also note all the throws that were used. Throws are the strong point of sanshou/ sanda. Most of these throws are illegal in Muay Thai.

Funny Thai comercial

Funny muay thai commercial. I LOL when I saw this. The Thai fighter is actually one of the top Muay Thai fighter in the world today, Seanchai Sor Kingstar. He is known for being one of the best technical fighter and as a testament to that, he is about 25 years old and still fighting.

The Contender Asia

Great combat reality show on Muay Thai. The show has finished and was aired on Foxtel. If you guys have the chance to watch it, I highly recommend it. It has abit of drama, cute hostess and great action. What more do you want from a reality show?

Floyd Patterson Greatest Hits

Flyod Patterson was a champion boxer in the 1960s to early 1970s. He is known to have been the inventor/ originator of the "peek-a-boo" style made famous by Mike Tyson. He is also famous for his leaping left hook nicknamed the "Gazelle Punch". Many fighters today have copied Patterson's leaping left hook such as Tyson. Even fighters in kickboxing have copied this technique. Ones that come to my mind atm are Stan Longinidis (famous Aus kickboxing champ) and Mike Zambidis.

Floyd Mayweather skipping rope

Fantastic video clip of Mayweather doing his skipping rope routine. Skipping rope is a very important part of any boxing/ kickboxing training. Great for warming up as well as improving your eye-hand co-ordination. It shouldn't be done as a chore. Rather when you skip rope you should try and be creative and make it fun. We can't all be like Mayweather but hopefully this video will get you guys pumped up and be more creative the next time you're skipping.

Iron Mike Zambidis

Mike Zambidis is another famous K-1 Max fighter. He is from Greece and single-handedly is said to have popularized the sport of kickboxing there. It's said that everyone in the street has heard of his name. He is known for his boxing skills, especially his insanely powerful hooks and overhands. He is originally from a kickboxing background. When someone refers to kickboxing rules, it usually means no elbows, no knees, no throws and no leg catches. It is because of this that he is very weak in the clinch and knees department. Fortunately K-1 Max is now actively enforcing their only one hand clinch and knee rule. Prior to this MT orientated fighters like Buakaw, Masato and JWP will constantly get the upperhand against him using the clinch.

He is a top fighter, just a level below shy of the top fighters like Buakaw, Masato and Souwer. He always gives the top fighters a run for their money but just falls short of victory. In his latest K-1 Max, he was KOed for the very first time in his fighting career. By a high kick against Andy Souwer!

Masato HL

Great Masato HL! Masato is the Japanese posterboy for K-1 Max. He was the K-1 Max 2003 champion, earning him instant stardom. He is blessed with model looks and great fighting skills, a combination that has won him a legion of female fans in Japan.

Don't think he's just a pretty boy though. He really is a good fighter and trains like crazy. He probably has the best boxing skills of all the K-1 Max fighters right now with some people saying he can probably make a good boxing career if not for K-1. My only gripe about him is that he is said to be arrogant and the annoying female fans that keep screaming his name in his matches.

Andy Souwer Highlight

Andy Souwer is the two time and current K-1 Max champion. He's representative of the typical Dutch style muay thai, i.e. strong boxing skills combined with low kicks. He's a very tough fighter and seem to get stronger every round while most of his opponents get weaker. He's one of my fav fighters. I love his striking combinations and his toughness!

Some of you may ask why is he wearing those tight pants? He became famous initially in Japan from Shootboxing. The pants are known as Shootboxing pants. Shootboxing is an organisation that promotes "shootboxing" matches. It is essentially muay thai plus throws and standing submissions (ie. chokes, armbars, etc). He entered K-1 Max as the representative of the Shootboxing organisation.

Typical Muay Thai training in Thailand

Typical training in a Muay Thai camp in Thailand. Notice the poor and squalid condition of the gym. The fighters are training barefoot on concrete floors and the bags and equipment are all quite old and worn out. You see some of the fighters as young as eight or nine years old training as well.

Despite the poor conditions, all the fighters train hard! It's their full time job and their way out of poverty. They train all day 6-7 days a week all year. Usually a typical day will consist of a morning session 6am to 10am then an afternoon session 4pm to 8pm. No wonder they're so good!

Watch out the the great kneework on the bag at about 1:54 mark. Awesome. There are five videos in this series. Be sure to watch them all. They're worth it to get an inside look and feel at how they train in Thailand.

Buakaw Por Pramuk HL

Buakaw is one of the best present day Muay Thai fighters currently. He doesn't fight in Thailand anymore. These days he competes almost exclusively in K-1 Max, the premier promotion for under 70kg fighters held in Japan.

He's won the K-1 Max title twice now and it was because of him that K-1 started to enforce their clinch and one knee only rule. He entered K-1 Max in 2004 and other than his first opponent, fellow Muay Thai stylist John Wayne Parr (famous Aussie fighter), he smashed his way to victory in typical MT style using kicks and knees.

2003 Sanshou World Cup Highlight

This is Sanshou, what I am officially coaching the club in. It is kungfu full contact fighting. The rules are full contact punching, kicking and throwing allowed. No Knees, no elbows and no groundfighting. Sanshou is normally used to refer to the amateur format. The professional format is usually called Sanda. Sanda differs in that knees to the body are allowed and only boxing gloves are worn.

Sanshou is an amateur sport and the rules reflect that. It is a points based system based on successful technique. A punch is 1 point, a low kick is 1 point, body/ head kick is 2 points, a throw is 1 point, a throw where the thrower stays standing is 2 points. A successful technique must be clearly successful so often a flurry of punches or kicks, or a good close range body punch will not be counted even if it hurt the opponent. Very different to Muay Thai where it is based on a 10 point system and on aggression, power and offence.

Karl Gotch - Mace Swinging Demo

This is Karl Gotch, a famous wrestler who was responsible for introducing shootwrestling to the Japanese. Many Japanese MMA fighters come from a background that was influenced by shootwrestling. He is known for his conditioning. This is him demonstrating mace swinging. It's an old Indian wrestling exercise to improve strength and power. I've tried the mace swinging with a sledgehammer and it really works out your arms, shoulders, back and especially grip! The proper mace cost almost $200. I'm going to stick with the sledgehammer for awhile or maybe work out how to make my own.

Samart Payakaroon

A highlight clip on one of the best and slickest Muay Thai fighter ever. He was both a Muay Thai champion and a Boxing champion. Amazing footwork, boxing skills and a great front kick. He is beautiful to watch! In fact he hardly got hit and had a face that women love that when he retired from fighting he became a singing star.

Introducing Ramon Dekker !

An old but great highlight clip of one of the most famous non-Thai Muay Thai fighter in the world, Ramon Dekkers. This is for the guys at uni who is still new to who's who in Muay Thai. Ramon Dekkers was a pioneer of Dutch Muay Thai. It was because of mainly him that the Thais started to incorporate more boxing training in their training regime.

Young Mike Tyson Training

Great clip of a young Mike Tyson in training. I love the head movement combined with his hooks and uppercuts.

Knee Jump Progressions

I came across a discussion thread on Rossboxing on knee jumps. I regard the flying knee as one of my favourite techniques in muay thai so naturally this exercise caught my interest. It is designed to improve one's jumping ability. The person in the clip shows a variety of knee jumps beginning with the basic progressing to a variety done with different weights. The various knee jumps looks quite fun to do. I'm definitely going to incorporate this to my training regime