Bangkok & Superfights SG: The Disaster!!!

Hey everyone,

I was away for a week up in Bkk. Bkk known to many as the land of smiles, city of angels...or even sin city!! =) This was my first trip up there in a year...Im usually there every few months but this is prolly the longest I've ever been away from Bkk. Bkk is seriously like a second home to me. I know so many people there its like going home to familiar faces and surroundings. When Im there I speak Thai all the time,in taxi's, when Im going out to eat or even when I'm shopping around. I actually speak more thai than I do speak mandarin and bahasa!! It's weird....? I LOVE Bkk or just being anywhere in Thailand and I wish I could move back there!!

I was in Bkk for the WMC/IFMA World Champioships. Every year at the world champs it never fails to amaze me how big the sport is growing. ...new talents, and new countries show up every year. This year even Iraq managed to send a team! Going to the World champs is always so much fun. Catching up with old friends and fighters that I've even foguth before. I bumped into some of the boys from Contender Asia....Pitu, Jabba and even Trevor!! Was a pleasant surprise seeing him there.

I got back a week before the supposed Superfights: Lion City Grand Prix was supposed to happen. I was actually asked to fight on this show. But I turned it down for a number of reasons. One main reason being that one of the Organizers/Promoters is extremely SHADY!!! I have worked with him on 2 or 3 events and I have vowed NEVER to work with him again. I was actualy wondering at first if it was a good decision of mine to not fight on a home event. I mean it was a cool venue,and an amazing lineup that all my friends were on. Jabba,Naruepol,Madsua & Ramazan....I was beginning to wonder if I had done the right thing?

I mean to be honest I didn't really hear much about the Superfights event??...I mean I am a Pro fighter here and people were asking me for info and all...but to be honest I really didn't have a clue about anything. I occasionally heard some people mentioning an event...didn't know the dates...and were going on sistic to look for tickets and couldn't find it so who knows if it was happening.....?....When I did mentioned it to some people they'd be like,"REALLY there is an event??" I have heard more about Ian's White Collar Boxing event at the Padang on the 11th December 2009 more than I've heard about the Superfights. And Ian's event was a sellout!!!...and it was all AMATEUR boxers?!?!?!?!??!

And I mean as a event organizer/promoter. Wouldn't you kinda plan the schedule of your event abit more carefully and check to see if it clashes with anything around your dates??
One) Dec 11th was Ian's White Collar Boxing which was a sellout...meaning thats 700 - 800 ppl who WON'T go to your event already!!! I dont know many people who will pay to go and see two different events.
Two) You've planned it on the same night as Zoukout.........??????????? SERIOUSLY??????????? I am a Professional fighter and muaythai is my LIFE.....but even I said,"Fuck that Im going to Zoukout!!" Zoukout released their date MONTHHHHHHHSSSS ago,what the F@#$ were they thinking????? Zoukout attracted a record number of 27000 people by the way!! I've got pretttty bad maths but I think so far that is 27,700 people already NOT attending his event!!!!
Three) Superfights starts selling ticket on their website 2 weeks before the event date??????? Yeah great.......coz all of us have nothing to do and will gladly wait around til tickets come on sale!!!!! Retarded.........................

Lastly this is one thing,I've noticed from the very START of Muaythai events in Singapore. For some really odd,strange,ridiculously,stupid,fucked up reason...fight posters in Singapore always show one thing....and come press conf or fight night it's almost NEVER the same as who is on the poster!! I have fought in events internationally and I mean I usually see ONE or TWO changes in the fightcard rarely to the Main Fights.... but honestly Singapore's lineup always changes!!! I'm really not sure why it's like that here in SG??? Fucking disgraceful................

I feel horrible for fight fans in Singapore. I mean it's like paying to go see a concert or festival that advertises bands who will perform U2,Green Day,The Killers,Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Kasabian......and then only to turn up to the venue and get something like..........................The Backstreet Boys or fucking Boyzone and Take That all in one night!?!!?!

In the end the Superfight event got canceled on the very day itself. I feel so bad for fans here....and I feel even worse for fighters who have been training hard for their fights. I have never known of any muaythai events to be canceled on the day itself......and sadly it had to happen here in Singapore.

I think this was probably the BEST decision I've ever made in my career to not fight for this organizer/promoter. I will stand by my decision to NEVER work with him ever again......no matter how BIG the event is...how much TV Coverage the event is gonna get...no matter how much publicity or fame it will bring.........good luck to them and to those who work with him. I think this whole event has proved my point.

Alright guys,I'll update again soon.
Can't believe it's almost 2010!!!! Where did 2009 go!?!?!??!

LaterZ!!!

Online interviews!!

Hey Guys,

I've actually had a couple of interviews and very cool photoshoots in the last few weeks. Thought I'd share it with everyone. I did a simple photoshoot with a good friend and talented photographer,Daniel Lois. The series I did with him is online along with my interview I did. Make sure you check it out.

http://www.sg-pro.com/2009/11/21/sg-pro-interviews-contender-asias-zig-zach/

Another online interview I did was for Terence Tong. Pics taken were all from various photographers at the Planet Battle event. Abit of info on Terence Tong, I met Terence while training at BXG. He's a really nice kid and has alot of potential in Muaythai. He has had 5 or 6 fights and undefeated still. Hopefully he'll keep training even tho he's busy with Uni now and hopefully there will be more local tournaments so he can keep fighting here and keep on improving. Check out the interview here.

http://www.sim.edu.sg/sge/pub/blogs/terence/post.cfm?entry=zig-zach-the-pride-of-singapore-fights-at-planet-battle-hong-kong

There is a Photoshoot and interview for CLEO Magazine that I did a week or two ago? I think it should be for the Jan edition (meaning it'll be available from Mid Dec). Looking forward to that one, the pics we took looked kinda cool from what I remember.

Lastly,this Monday I'll have a photoshoot for Men's Health. It's for an Adidas fashion spread. Should be fun!! No interview...just need to look pretty hahaha!!

Alright guys enjoy the online interviews and pics! =)

LaterZ

K-1 Max Finals 2009

Right I know this is abit late. And most prolly everyone already knows the results.....But I thought I'd just give my two cents worth!! =P

First up was Giorgio Petrosyan vs Yuya Yamamoto.

All I can is Petrosyan is just AWESOME. He made short work of this fight. And that is exactly what you need to do when you do 2 fights in a night. Go in,do the work and hopefully come out with no injury when you get into the next fight. That was exactly what Petrosyan did! Personal favourite Petrosyan moment was at the 28 sec of the clip,where he catches the Yuya's leg and lands a leg kick and then just leaves his leg there and turns it into a sweep....sneaky and innovative!!.....I LIKE!! =)

Second Semi-Final fight, Souwer vs Buakaw's Semi-Final Fight.

Buakaw got ripped off BIGGG time in this fight......ridiculous!! I was chatting with one of the thai's the other day and he said in Thai,"Buakaw peh,peh kemagan" translates to..."Buakaw lost,lost coz of the referee/judges!!!" Which is true....I dont think Andy landed ANNNNNNY decent shots on Buakaw and to be honest he got tossed around like a rag doll by Buakaw!! Fair enough you don't get points for that in K-1 but....it kinda shows technicality and that he is dominating the fight. I have a funny feeling K-1 might change the rules AGAIN so that Buakaw can't throw his opponents in the clinch!!??! So Andy Souwer who gets the controversial win goes into the final.

So K-1 Max 2009 Final was between , The new kid on the block, Giorgio Petrosyan vs K-1 Max Finals veteran,Andy Souwer.

I was pertty much rooting for Petrosyan on this one. Petrosyan has always been a favourite of mine. His style,technique and crisp punches and kicks make him an AWESOME fighter to watch. He is a very COMPLETE fighter. Im not a huge Andy Souwer fan, never was...never will be...Just not the kinda fighting style Im into.

Petrosyan pretty much took Andy Souwer apart in this fight. He looked the more dominate fighter throughout....landing awesome jabs and punch combinations,landing good kicks and just doing everything right. And making it look all so damn easy! Well giving credit to Andy after getting bashed by Buakaw for a few rounds in the semi's and then still being able take some serious hits from Petrosyan to lose on points is still something to give credit about.

I'd really like to see Petrosyan have a rematch with Buakaw and also take on Yodsaenklai. Prolly the dream match up for me at the moment!! But before that happens...It's gonna be Masato vs Giorgio Petrosyan for Masato's retirement fight. Gonna be a pretty damn good one if you ask me!!!

So there ya go Giorgio Petrosyan K-1 Max 2009 Champ. Very impressive to have won the tournament on just the first try!! Some have been there years and not even got close enough to winning!!!

Anyways before I leave I thought I'd leave you guys with an old video from Petrosyan vs Contender Asia's very own Raffik =) For all of you who either love him or hate him,Enjoy!!

LaterZ people!!

7th Oct 2009,PLANET BATTLE, HongKong

Hey guys,

As you all know from the previous post (it's been on way too long...sorry!) I was DJing at the F-1 Fuel festival (BTW it is prolly one of the fucking most DISORGANIZED gigs I've ever been on!!) I honestly don't even know where to start on how bad it was!! Am staying away from those promoters from now on.

Anyways,I just got back from my fight on Planet Battle in Hongkong. I was really excited to be fighting on Planet Battle. I've heard alot about Planet Battle and I've always heard very very good feedback about the event and promoters from the other fighters who have fought on it. Planet Battle fights are not full thai rules. They opt for the K-1 Rules. Meaning 3 X 3Min rounds. No Elbows and with 3 knees and limited clinching. Was gonna be my first time fighting K-1 Rules and was kinda looking forward to it.

The line up for Planet Battle was pretty awesome! Thor Hoopmann,Flip Street,Ryan Mitchell all from the famous, Boonchu up in Goldcoast Australia. Home to the one and only JWP. Joey Bam Bam Lee also fought for a women's title. And most importantly the main fight of the night K-1 Supersta, Bob "The Beast" Sapp vs Alain Ngalani from Impakt Gym in HongKong. And of course me vs Phet a thai with over 250 fights currently based in HongKong also working at Impakt Gym.

So I brought my trainer Bangman over here to Singapore for slightly over 2 weeks to train me for my fight on Planet Battle. Bangman is like a muaythai dictionary. I showed him who my opponenet was and what his name was and he'd be like,"Ok this fighters was from this gym in Bkk...he fights this style...this this this....." He spends alot of his time watching muaythai fights on TV and reading Muaythai magazines. He truly lives and breathes muaythai even til this day. I really wish I could have him here all the time to train me. =(

We arrived in HK two days earlier to get settled in. Bangman's never been to HK so he was very impressed with the whole hustle and bustle of the city,but he said he still likes Singapore alot more! =) The staff from Planet Battle and Impakt Gym were really really nice and attended and took care of our needs to every detail.

We had a press conference and a weigh in on the 6th October. I was reaaaaallly pushing it again this time cutting weight to 71kg. I honsetly dont know how some of the fighters who are slightly taller than me can pull it off. I already hadn't eaten any solid food in like a day and a half....and I remember sitting in the sauna and steam room and I just didn't have anything saliva in my mouth anymore even!! And my last check before the official weigh-in I was still 72kg!!! Right....so out came the sweatsuit on to the balcony of the IFC mall skipping and running around in the hot sun...!! Damn I hate making weight!! Uggghhh

Me and my opponent,Phet.

Oct 7th Fight Night at Queen Elizabeth Stadium. Was good to be back there!! There was about 13 fights that night...So I won't go talk about ALL of em.

The ones worth a mention were from another Thai fighter based in HK, Sodcheun Chuwatthana vs Sohanne Bengana. Was a pretty exciting fight but the thai guy landed a SWEEEEEEEEET cross and I haven't seen anyone fall over from a knock out like that for awhile! Damn!! What made me laugh/CRINGE....was that the ref still tried to count him out...?!?!? There was NO WAY he was waking up!!

Knockout punch!! LIGHTS OUT!! (Photo by Tim Bowman)

Fight of the night was from Flip Street vs China's Sanda Champion Ng King Chung. Flip as I've mentioned is one of JWP's top fighter. You can really tell Flip is from Boonchu and trains with JWP!! They move and fight verrrry similar!!

Flip Street vs Ng King Chung (Photo by Tim Bowman)

After Flips fight was my fight. I went into the ring....Without my Arabheadress...without my armbands...?? I almost NEVER go in without them...Was weird....I must have thought,"K-1 so no need WaiKru" and then forgot everything else!! D'OH!! We squared off and 1st round was pretty even and I thought it was gonna be a pretty good fight. Landed some hard leg kicks on Phet. And he started chopping on my front leg. Round 2 I can only remember one paticular moment.....!! I kicked him and he pushed me back into the ropes and as I fell on the ground BANG I got caught with a KNEE TO MY CHIN!!! I was lying on the floor and seriously everything was just BLACK around me and I was struggling to get to my feet. I woke up and I see myself in the ring...and Phet in the neutral corner ready to charge at me to take my head off!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAPPPPP!!! I managed to hold on and stay in the fight but honestly there wasn't anyone home in my head?!?! Copped a few punches and knees from Phet in the 3rd and when the bell went....The winner was clear.....Phet. Was a good fight.....just abit UNLUCKY with the knee as I was falling!! Ughhhhh!!

Some cool pics from the fight. Tim Bowman's series.

Florence Lee's series from the fight!!

Thor Hoopmann who also trains out of Boonchu and is currently one of the names dominating the heavyweight scene in Oz. We were all chatting and he has got some tougggh fights coming up and Im looking forward to catching them!! Thor fought twice that night...first winning against Ryo a Japanese Fighter....and then later against a reaaaaallly tough China Sanda fighter. The chinese guy walked into everything and just kept coming back for more!! Seriously strong chin!!

Thor vs Japanese and later the Chinese Sanda Champ

One of my all time fav fighter,Teelek Fairtex (I will do a write up on this guy one of these days.) He fought another Chinese Sanda champion and just toyed with him. He barely put in any effort. He just made the whole fight look sooooooo easy. I guess that's what happens when you have had 300 fights experience!!

Showing the chinese guy how it should be done!

The female fight of the night was pretty exciting too. Joey Bam Bam Lee vs Teresa Wintermyr. Teresa did well trying to keep her distance from Joey and moved around well but Joey wanted the win infron of her home crowd and kept pressing forward in the fight. Joey finally caught Teresa with a pretty damn nice headkick and it was so hard that Teresa's mouthguard flew out of her mouth!...Check the picture out!!!

Awesome timing Tim!!! oh and Joey of course!! =) haha

Last fight of the night.....there was a slight delay and people were jeering and getting annoyed thingking that Bob Sapp wasn't gonna fight. But to be honest.....They were having problems with the gloves....!!! Bob's hands wouldn't fit into the size 12S....14S....16S......And only finally fit into Size 18s!!!!!!!??!?!? I mean Bob Sapp is just HUGE!! Hence the nick name THE BEAST.

Sadly his fighting is anything close to BEAST like!?!....Alain who is a fair bit smaller than Bob Sapp literally took him apart. Alain just kept jabbing him in the stomach....and leg kicking him. Every now and then Bob would try to rush Alain...but credit to Alain for ducking and weaving his way out of the corners!! Bob looked SLOOOOW when attacking....and awkward. BUT still getting hit with ANYTHING from someone THAT big is gonna hurt!!!!!!

Hit and Run!! =p

People don't really understand how big BOB SAPP reallly is?!?!?
Alain is a pretty big guy himself. It just looks MENTAL!!

That was it ...train hard fight hard...PARTY HARD! =)
After the fights we all head out to Lan Kwai Fong...and then to the notorious..............
WAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN CHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! (Yes that was how it had to be said!!)

Anyways I really wanna thank The Planet Battle team and Impakt Gym for taking care of us so well whilst we were in HK. Sunny,Alain,Sylvain,Alex,Angie and everyone else working that day.night. THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH. You made my first experience to Planet Battle a memorable one. Hope you guys bring me back for the next one!!!

LaterZ

F-1 Fuel Festival!!

Hey Guys,

So F-1 weekend is round the corner and last year's F-1 was an absolutely UNFORGETTABLE time. Im not bother about the race to be honest with you. (I dont even DRIVE a car!?? so racing is not at all intersting to me!?) But it's the PARTIES that Im really looking forward to!! You can read about last years F-1 here. http://www.zigzach.com/2008/10/week-of-f-1-madness.html

I was actually called up by some people in the UK to train Mark Webber again and it was supposed to be part of some F-1 Rocks tv show. They wanted to feature me training Mark Webber and then we have a matrix style fight?? Sounded cool and I was really looking forward to it,but they wanted it in Kung Fu or Wu Shu kinda style.....????????? BLEGHHHHH!! So they asked me to find a friend to video a play fight scene and send it in to them.

I politely turned down the whole deal in the end. Reasons being:

1) I am known for being a MUAYTHAI Fighter. Not some Kung Fu/Wu Shu master!!?! Not interested in that AT ALL!!!

2) Im not gonna do a crash course and try and act like I know alot about it then try to teach Mark Webber about something I have no clue about!?

3) I would look like an absoulte MUPPET doing it!??! The show is gonna be international!! If I wanted to be on International TV for doing something...I wanna look damn good doing it!! And doing something I know I can be confident about...not look half hearted about it.

Fortunately,I got another good deal lined up!! =) This being the F-1 Fuel Festival Party!!!!
No no..I'm not just gonna be partying my ass off at them...Im actually scheduled to DJ on one of the nights,Sat 26th Sept =) WHOOOPPPP WHOOOPPPP!!! Im not sure what time Im DJing yet tho? Will update as soon as I know. But check my profile on the artist page!! http://fuel.com.sg/zigzach.php

Abit more about the F-1 Fuel Festival. The F-1 Fuel Festival is gonna be held over 4 nights at 2 Venues,with a seriously awesome line-up of DJs!!! Featuring Underworld, Darren Emerson, Hybrid, Bloc Party, Samantha Ronson,

Check their facebook events page for more details.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=92512103101

This is a reallly funny promo video they did. Well I found it funny at least! =)

Here are some of the posters that I've got from them. Check it out.

Some videos and tracks to tease you to coming out to the event!!



"Shouting - Lager Lager Lager!"



"All time fav track!! Killer Bassline from Peter Hook f New Order who will be DJing at the Event too!"



"Indie Rock/Electronica band Bloc Party! Doing a DJ Set!"

I have a feeling the F-1 Fuel Festival is gonna make this years F-1 Weekend MUCHHHHHHHH better than last years!!! =)

I hope to see you guys at the F-1 Fuel Festival!!!! If you are going to the F-1 Rocks part on Fort Canning....it literally is just RIGHT BELOW Fort Canning....so you got NO EXCUSES to not make it to the party! =)

Alright LaterZ people,gonna practice some dance moves! hah

Muay Tired..................

Hey everyone,

Once again it's been awhile since I've blogged. It's been a very frustrating few weeks for me. I have had 3 fights canceled on me in the last 3 weeks. Making it almost impossible for me to plan my training schedule,diet and live a normal life!

I had one fight in July 24th in Bkk - Canceled. A fight in Aug which was supposed to be on the Contender Asia 2 undercard..Canceled. They have now moved filming back coz of the Haze??? And most recently I've heard they are pushing it back another 5 weeks til after Ramadan?? (Season 1 Filmed during Ramadan...but yeah Malaysia being a muslim country might be abit more strict on things like that) Lastly Sept 13th I was supposed to fight in Japan....and I just found out it got canceled.

What really pissed me off about this fight in Japan was that I actually wanted to go and see my mom for her Birthday in August and visit some friends in London for a party but canceled it all coz I really wanted to fight in Japan. Now this....................

I love Muaythai but times like this when promoters screw you around with dates it SUCKS....!!!!
Why??????????????? beacuse.....

1) I can't live my life normally. Im constantly cautious about weight.....training....I can't go partying....I can't plan holidays coz I need to train for a fight.....

2) I usually give myself 4 - 6weeks hard training before a fight and I can't plan it without knowing the exact dates!!!!...(No you can't just keep training hard all year long!! You get burnt out......)

3) I can't plan other fights in last minute coz if a promoter says Sept 13th. Then I wont be able to book any other fights in 2 weeks before or after Sept 13th..depending on injuries and all!!

4) Its just ridiculous waiting around for fights like this....like I have NOTHING better to do???
I got my own business to run.....I could go get DJ gigs....I could go partying with my friends....go visit my mom for her birthday!!!!!!...Visit my buddies in London and head over to a festival!!!!!

But no...................Instead I put Muaythai infront of everything......and in the end shit like this happens. It's very demoralizing.....and it's now been about 3 months since my last fight.

Anyways,just letting off some steam.....Now you guys know what fighters have to go thru and what we have to deal with sometimes.

Right,I better sign out before I write even more nasty stuff and promoters who read this will never take me for fights again!!!!

Hopefully the next blog entry won't be so negative!!!!

LaterZ

25th July's ChemistryFactory @ The Mainroom in Supperclub!

Hey Everyone,

Last Sat night was heaps of fun as I DJed in the Mainroom of Supperclub at Odeon Towers. Supperclub is a really nice club and has one in Amsterdam,London,San Francisco and of course or own sunny Singapore!!! So playing in the mainroom has prolly got to be one of the best gigs this year so far. So I can tick another famous club that I've played at!! =) Hopefully there'll be more to come!!!!

The visuals that night...At least it wasn't "Fix Fec" or "Six Sax" like some fights posters in Thailand!!

One of my good friends,a Supperclub resident DJ and Juice DJ Quest 2008 Winner,E.J offered me a mainroom set at the club,playing the 12am - 2am slot....Which is a prettty hard slot to get!!! So I was quite flattered about it and abit nervous too! E.J has heard me play on a couple of occasions has always given me really good feedback about my sets. E.J herself is a really talented DJ and her music selection and her mixing is flawlesssss!! So her compliments and feedback are always appreciated!! You can check out E.J's music and promo mixes here. http://www.myspace.com/mynameisej

I dont usually get nervous DJing......I mean come on...I've had punches,knees,elbows and kicks thrown at me!! =) hahah But yeah I was abit edgy about this gig as I've played a couple of venues and it's been mainly in a smaller room and they aren't so strict on the music and you can tend to be abit more experimental with your music selection. I been to Supperclub numerous times and Ive always preffered the backroom where the music is abit more "intelligent".

Anyways,I took some time to plan a set for the mainroom gig and made sure I selected a few tracks here and there that I thought would work in the mainroom. Ranging from Deep House - Tech House - Minimal - Electro - Techno. (No Trance....!!!!!Sorry!!!!) I always try a range of sounds when DJing....Find that it works better than sticking to ONE paticular sound all night!!!

Lucky for me the tracks I selected and planned worked a treattttttttt and I didn't get bottled off the decks by 1215am!!!! hahahah I started at the stroke of Midnight building it up slowly and by 1am it was THUMPING!!!! =)

Pretty good turnout at Supperclub that night!!

Most of the guys from BNM Gym came down to have a boogie. My buddy and winner from the "R U Menshealth Competition 2009"Clement Ong brought down a decent crowd from his Dragonboat team and Shimah sent a mass mail out to everyone in Standard Chartered so we had a prettttty big turnout!!! Thanks guys for putting the word out and getting loads of people down to the event.

The flashing lights were awesome! The VJ and me did a good job on working the lights and sound that night!!

This image pretty much sums up what my night looked like from my point of view!!

So back to the real life of Muaythai.......Ive got a fight lined up in Sept and hopefully October too. Fight promoters can be a real pain in the ass sometimes with dates and keeping to their promises!!! So am not sure when the next time Im gonna be free from fight training to DJ again? =(

But once I do know when the next gig is I'll definetly keep everyone posted on Facebook or on here.

Alright before I pen off,enjoy my DJ mixes here on www.soundcloud.com/zigzach

LaterZ

Fights ,Fights,Fights & More Fights!

Hey guys,

Been awhile since I've updated the blog. But it's been a hell of a busy month of June & July for me. Busy is always good....Busy = $$$ =)

There have been lotsa fights lately with some of Contender Asia Season 1 stars in it. One of the biggest lineup was over in Jamaica on the 26th June 2009 called,"Champions of Champions 2".
What a cool place that would have been to go for a fight!! When you mention Jamaica....immediately people think," dreadlocks,bob marley,rum and smoking loads of marijuana!!!".....I'm not a fan of any of those..and DEFINETLY not reggae music!!!! So if I ever go to Jamaica,I'll just be in a corner stuffing my face full of Jamaican Jerk Chicken!!! Yummm yummmm!

Jamaica's Champion of Champions 2 line up was pretty damn spectacular. I'll list a couple of em and I wont tell you the results incase you haven't watched it. The way the fighters were interviewed and showed them in training was very much like Contender Asia. Very cool how they've done the production work. Anyways,you can click on the link and watch the video at my fav website for watching fights kimjudas.blogspot.com!!

Eugene Elkeboom vs Ryan Simpson

Eugene known to be a strong grappler and a tough guy that never goes down taking a real dutch legend,he is prolly one of the oldest fighters still in the game,Ryan Simpson. I actually met Ryan Simpson on the streets of Amsterdam on my first ever visit to Holland.....He has been fighting for YEARS and has fought some of the biggest names in muaythai and kickboxing....to name a few...Yodechha Sityodtong,Jomhod Kiatisak,Lamsongkran Chuwattana and Ramon Dekker!!!!

Kaoklai Kaennorsing vs Clifton Brown

There was controversy over the first time these guys fought and who should have won. Kaoklai is a thai guy with BIG BALLS!! (not literally) He weighs 78kg and fought in K-1 with all the heavyweights,sometimes giving up as much as 40kg weight difference. He won some of em on points and even managed to knockout Mighty Mo with a SPECTACULAR headkick. Clifton Brown is one of the best fighters out of Canada. We trained in Koh Samui many years ago and I remember watching him train and being so impressed and he would help talk to me and give me tips. He also spoke fluent thai which reallly impressed me.

Paul Slowinkski vs Patrice Quateron

Paul Slowinkski K1-Europe GP champ in 2007 takes on Patrice Quateron. Patrice is seriously one BIG dude! I mean Paul is just slighlty taller than me and 115kgs....have a look at Patrice at the weigh in!! Never really met him so not gonna make any comments on that. Patrice is also known to be abit of a Raffik.....but I dont know I've never met him so I won't comment on it....but maybe they are misunderstood...and it's just a french thing? =P

Liam Harrison vs Anuwat Kaewsamrit

Liam Harrison is one of the better non thai muaythai fighters and at his weight which is really competitive. He's fought a couple of big name thais in his time. Having had a war with Saenchai 13 Coin Resort a few months ago..he now takes on Anuwat Kaewsamrit,a thai fighter who packs a SERIOUS PUNCH!! (and leg kicks!!)

John Wayne Parr and Buakaw Por Pramuk

My buddy JWP going up against the lean mean fighting machine,Buakaw Por Pramuk. Two of the biggest names in the sport. A rematch that has been talked about since their fight in K-1 4th March 2006.

Sean Wright vs Marco Pique

Sean Wright filling in for Dzhabar on this fight. This was meant to be a rematch as Dzhabar had beaten Marco Pique in the 8man K-1 Rumble of the Kings in Sweden last year. Marco Pique apparently has been confirmed as one of the fighters in Season 2 of Contender Asia. So watch out for him. You gotta watch this fight. All I can say is that punch came out of NO WHERE!!

Yodsaenklai Fairtex vs Cosmo Alexandre

Last but not least the always hungry eating machine,Yodsaenklai. I helped him out at the seminar he did here at BNM and he was in top form at training. He was supposed to fight Steve Wakeling....then supposed to fight Artem Levin...and then it changed lastly to Cosmo Alexandre. I dont think Yodsaenklai really cares who he's put up against... haha Cosmo didn't put up a good show in this fight but he is a pretty tough guy usually.

Nathan Carnage Corbett vs Tyrone Spong

This fight was the most talked about and was the one fight loads of fans were waiting to see. There were alot of issues before this fight took place.... talks about who was the best in the weight and then there was the talk about how much money they'd fight each other for.....and then the talk about the rules of the fights,K-1 or Full thai rules......and even after the fight it is still the most talked about fight as there was more controversy at the event! A seriously MUST WATCH Fight!!!!

Other fights that night were Julie Kitchen vs the lovely Angela Parr and Mosab Amrani vs Andrei Kulebin

And more recently the K-1 Max Final 8 on 13th July just a couple of days old. Check out some of the awesome fights from that night.

Arthur Kyshenko vs Andy Souwer

Arthur Kyshenko one of my favourite K-1 fighters. Just an all round good fighter with good hands and kicks. Already made a huge name for himself in the last few years at the K-1 event. Check out his fight in the final 8 with Andy Souwer.

Albert Kraus vs Giorgio Petrosyan

Giorgio Petrosyan who is another favourite of mine shows how he is fast becoming one of the rising stars in the sport. Awesome in the boxing department and just as good with his left leg and mid section kicks making him another perfect fighter for K-1. My dream match up would be to see him and Yodsaenklai go toe to toe...battle of the best southpaw!

Masato vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

This was a special event. K-1 vs MMA. Masato the star of K-1 taking on Tatsuya Kawajiri an MMA star in Japan. Always good to see Masato in action. He is retiring soon from fighting so it'll be good to see what they've got lined up for him.

Dzhabar Askerov vs Hinata

My brother from another mother,the hard hitting Russian,Dzhabar getting the by and getting a chance to fight again after his loss to Petrosyan in the K-1 Max Final 8. This was a classic case of Puncher vs Kicker. Jabba keeping the workrate up and never backing down. Taking loads of punishment but at the same time dishing it up as well. Awesome fight....could have gone either way. Dramatic ending!!!

Watching fights makes me miss fighting alot and training hard. But Singapore just isn't conducive to professional training and fighting. =(

Look forward to a couple of fights I've got lined up in a month or two so fingers crossed everything works out according to plan.

Enjoy the fights everyone.
Many thanks to kimjudas.blogspot.com for the videos. Keep up the great work!!

LaterZ

White Collar Boxing Singapore

Hey everyone,

This is actually a very late write up about the White Collar Boxing. My apologies Ian!!

So what is the White Collar Boxing you might wonder? "White collar jobs" was a way of describing workers of relatively high status that always needed to dress up in suits and ties when turning up for work. White Collar Boxing started awhile ago in the 1990s over in America. It allowed people of White collar background to be able to train and compete on a more level playing field. Meaning they would be competing against guys who were working long hours in the office rather than competeing against a guy who would be working part time as a waiter at a restaurant that had a whole load of time to train and get fit and have a huge advantage over the White collar guy. So White Collar Boxing kinda leveled it out a fair bit.

White Collar Boxing arrived in Singapore in 2007,promoted by Ian Mullane who is the founder and owner of Vanda Boxing Club & Vanda Promotions. The first event done was held in a small function room in one of the hotels here and had a crowd of 300 - 400 people attending the fights to support their friends. Fast forward to just two years down the road to April 2009 and the last event was held in Suntec City Convention where they had pyrotechnics for the fighters as they walked out,lights,lasers and 1000 people attending the event!! A huge change in numbers attending,and a huge change in the production of the event and a huge sucess if you ask me?!! However,not only have they managed to turn their local events into a huge sucess....they've also now started to do events in HongKong,Bangkok,Australia and Japan!!!!

An awesome setup for the event.

I've been to 2 White Collar Boxing events so far and it is by far one of the BEST events I have attended in Singapore. Everything was well organized and very professional! I was sitting there thinking to myself,"Damn these guys fighting are SOOOO lucky!!" I started out fighting in some dingy function room with no airconditioning or proper lighting?! The microphone BARELY worked!! And the organizers forgot ice and water for inbetween the rounds!!! So yeah you would kinda be jealous when you saw all this =)

Yup she got that right!!! It was my 2nd time round at the event!!

White Collar Boxing events go that extra mile...wait...let me correct that...Extra 100MILES!! to make the event special. The event isn't in a stadium or in an arena where people just walk up and buy tickets,sit around eating hot dogs and munching on popcorn!?!...No No....There's Glitz and Glamour at these White Collar Boxing events. In other words its a "White Collar Boxing - Black Tie event!". Confused yet!!? =) Anyways,the women are all beautifully dressed in nice dresses with their hair and make up all done with lotsa bling bling jewellery. The men come in their expensive suits and dress shoes looking sharp! It's almost feels like you're at a red-carpet event that you watch on TV!! On top of that everyone is seated at a table where a very yummy 5 course meal is served as the fights go on. Good food,beautiful people and fights.....Have I died and gone to heaven?!?!?

The venue before people arrived & after everyone's had a couple of drinks!


P.J,Jaime Yeo,Me & Jaymee Ong!

Vanda Promotions selects the applicants. All these guys have a kind of a story or reason to fight or just even the fact that they are unlikely people to ever get in the ring to fight. The selected candidates are put thru 12 weeks of intensive training. The group of selected fighters train 3 times a week,building great friendship and teamwork to push each other past their own limits. It gives Ian and his team of trainers and event organizers a great sense of satisfaction to see these guys start from ZERO or not much experience in Boxing to then finally take center stage of a huge fight night!!

The action at White Collar Boxing events and fighters got better each time too!!

However the event isn't just about getting a bunch of over worked,over stressed middle aged guys into a ring to vent their frustrations!! Vanda Promotions also ties the event in with different charity groups to help raise money. The previous event they managed to raise $114,000 for Children's Surgical Centre in Cambodia . To raise money there is an auction midway thru the event. With items like Muhammad Ali signed gloves,Lewis Hamilton signed helmet,Nadal's signed tennis racket,Pele & Maradonna's signed football jersey all items framed nicely!!

The amount that was raised and handed over to Dr Jim Gollogy

At the end of the evening,White Collar Boxing isn't just another fight night that just happened. It's an AMAZING fight night and all for a good cause. The fighters get to have fun and feel like real professional boxers with all the lights,pyrotechnics,crowd cheering for them. The crowd get to dress up have a nice meal and cheer on for their friends who are there to fight or to catch up with other friends in the community! The people who buy these signed and framed sports memorabilia get to spend money on an amazing item and not feel so bad about it,knowing that the money goes to charity!!!!! =)

Days like this,I wish there were proper promoters to do a good Muaythai event here in Singapore. Who knows maybe at some point maybe do even a White Collar Muaythai event??

Ian if you ask me,Hell Yeah I'd be up for Round 3 at another White Collar Boxing event!!

Thanks for everything,buddy!

LaterZ

New Part-Time Job!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late update once again. The days seem to just vanish when you're busy!! Especially now that I've got a new part-time job!! No no..I haven't traded in my muaythai gloves and shorts for oven mits/rubber gloves at McDonalds!! haha

Im actually now working part-time at Baan Nak Muay (BNM). Baan Nak Muay means ("Home of Muaythai fighters"). BNM is a really nice gym,seriously check out the gallery! BNM currently has 1 permanent Thai trainer and another 2 that are always on rotation coming from the famous Fairtex gym.

How the job came about was because I've helped Francis,the owner of BNM to run some of the Company events that he has done at the gym and he really liked the way I held the classes,so he had asked me to help him organize and structure the classes on Tues and Thurs,6pm - 730pm & 730pm - 9pm as those were his busiest days at the gym.

I've been running the classes for about 3 weeks and so far it's been pretty good (I THINK!). I've had some of the students come up to me and Francis to say that they really liked the way I run the classes and how classes have suddenly gotten alot more tiring for everyone since I've started running the class!! I take that as a compliment =)

I do enjoy running the big classes actually. It's good practice for me as I've done seminars too and the first few times it was rather awkward trying to organize 30 - 40 people!! But now Im slowly getting the hang of things walking around during the class and trying to help and explain as much as I can but at the same time trying to make it a fun and great workout for everyone.

So if you're keen on joining lessons conducted by me,you know where to find me at,Tues & Thurs 6pm - 9pm at BNM Gym!!

Lastly check out the ZoCard,that was designed by one of BNM students Grace (She also designed the BNM Website!)!!! The photo was taken by Carolyn Strover,who took this without using a speed shutter meaning she caught the kick in mid air EVERY TIME..was pretty impressive!!! The ZoCard was designed to promote the gym and ME coming on board as one of the trainers now at BNM. Serioulsy,how AWESOME is the Zig Zach ZoCard!! So I've been on buses,magazines,posters,tv,radio and now Im a POSTCARD! =P Playgirl magazine here I come!

LaterZ

A New Super Cool Sponsor!!!

Hey Everyone,

Not sure if you've noticed but I've added to the list of "SPONSORS",a new logo. The one I've added on is 3rdborn. 3rdborn is an independent street & surf wear brand coming out of Bali,Indonesia. 3rdborn was started by Australian,David Eagles who has now been living in Bali for over 10years and has been selling his 3rdborn brand since 2001!! David is no stranger to street & surf wear and has over 20years of experience in design. At one point even working on graphics for the super famous Quiksilver brand for 9 years!! He has since sold 3rdborn to dozens of stores in Australia,USA and Japan!! (Hopefully Singapore soon!) He also has been painting and exhibiting since the 80's!!

David Eagles: Nature's Own

How David came up with the name 3rdborn is as random as how I found out about the brand!?! In 1997,his parents admitted to him that they had wanted two children....and OOPS! Out came David. hahaha The story behind me finding 3rdborn was just as random and just as much an accident! I was out at the Oasis concert in at the indoor stadium here in Singapore and I saw this guy wearing a really cool tshirt with a very stylish Lightning Bolt across the chest. Me being "Zig Zach" thought it would be appropriate to try and get hold of it to add to my collection of Lightning Bolts and Zig Zag tshirts!

The cool Tshirt that gave me so many sleepless nights!! haha

So instead of going up to the guy like a complete dork and a freak I actually loitered around and tried to find out the brand name. (Yeah...!! Like that was a much cooler way to do it!!!!) I managed to find out the brand and it was 3rdborn. That night after the concert I went on google and searched for it and managed to find a website and a contact. So I asked them if they knew which design I was talking about and said that I was more than happy to pay for shipping and whatever else as long as I could get my hands on it!!

Sadly David replied saying that this was an old design and they had sold out of it. I was gutted about it,but....."What's meant to be...will be." He signed off his email saying,"Next time you're in Bali drop by the gym and train kickboxing with us!" haha So we then chatted casually about Marital Arts and it turns out he has trained in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with one of the early founders of BJJ in Australia...The legendary, John Will!!! When David moved to Bali,he started a Kickboxing class as there weren'tt any proper classes there and he couldn't find anyone to wrestle with in Bali. 8 years down the road his kickboxing classes are still running in Bali with a small group who attend religiously each week to train and keep fit.

After alot of emailing back and forth with David,he has agreed to be one of my sponsors. =) I guess both of us being martial artist and the fact that I really like alot of his 3rdborn designs was a very cool connection. The internet is AMAZING isn't it!? Never met David before and just by chatting and having a cool understanding between us he's agreed to sponsor me =) Thank you very much David,I really appreciate it.

David has sent me 4 Tshirts and I called up a good friend and a very talented photographer,Daniel Lois to help do a cool photoshoot and this is one of the designs that I've selected to use from now on. This will be my new DJ profile picture when I send it out to club promoters whenever they wanna do a flyer or poster.

So if any of you are interested in 3rdborn products and you're headed over to beautiful Bali anytime soon. Check out their store there. The address is:

3rdborn

Jl. Raya Seminyak XSeminyak,

Kuta, Bali 80361,

Indonesia

Tel: +62 361 733 760

If you are not going to Bali anytime soon...! As the aussies like to say,"CRIKEY!!" haha Uhmm oops I meant the other saying thatAussies like to use,"No worries mate!!" You can check out their internet store www.3rdborn.etsy.com to get hold of their stuff. They are slowly uploading images on to the online store as they are busy with their store in Bali and mailing out orders to their international distributors.

Also check out their Facebook fanpage to see some of their older Tshirt designs and to get updates on what new designs are coming in!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/3rdborn/29260689689

Im really hoping to make my trip up to Bali at some point this year for a nice holiday,some good food,some awesome partying and definetly to hold a Muay Thai seminar for David and his students! Thank you David for becoming a sponsor. Im looking forward to wearing your Tshirts to DJ gigs and parties!!

As they say in Bali,"Sampai Jumpa"

LaterZ

Video of my latest fight in Bangla Stadium,Phuket. (12-05-2009)

Hey everyone,

So I got back yesterday afternoon from Phuket and been rushing around the island to do some photoshoots and interviews. Ahhh what a tough life!! haha I fought at Bangla Stadium on Tuesday and was only up there for a couple of days. Sadly this time I didn't get to train at all in Thailand before the fight. Works been busy and I can't keep leaving clients hanging all the time....It's not very professional.

So I did my own training here in sunny singapore. Running and skipping most of the time to get my stamina up. Hit BNM a couple of times to hit the pads and bags. Do some strength & conditionng work. So I felt pretty good. I usually cycle to all my clients so that KINDA helps abit I guess? Since I bought my bicycle in the 2nd week of October til today I've done 2118.4Km on it to be exact!!!! Thats a whole lot of cycling.....even the guy at the Treknology shop was pretty impressed when I told him how much I've done on my bicycle!!

Fight night felt DIFFERENT this time. I really didn't feel like I was there to fight. Maybe coz my mates Dan and James who came up with me were there partying all the time and coming back with funny stories the next day and it kept me amuzed and my mind off the fight. haha

I arrived at the new Bangla stadium and I told the staff at the door that I was a fighting tonight so they said ok check your name. I looked and saw "Fighter - Singapore FIXFEC" hahahahhahaha Right the thai's can't seem to ever get my name right...Phi Phi was "SIXSAX" and now it's "FIXFEC" hahaha So I got in and it was already the 3rd fight of the night and Bao,Bangman's son was fighting. Bao won his fight on points and looked good doing it kicking,blocking and clinchng his way for 5 rounds!! He has improved alot since his younger days. Who wouldn't if your dad was Bangman!! haha

I was fight number 5 so after Bao's fight was over I got ready. Met my fighter as he was getting ready and I just smiled at him politely. He acknowledged. I saw he did't look as fit but then again neither does Bangman look fit and he's won almost all his fights still with bloody knockouts!! So never underestimate any thai!! Bangman gave me some advice on what to do in the fight as he taped my hands. Hands taped,oiled up,warmed up and before you know it,I had my arm bands tied on my arab headress over and down we went to the ring.

Did my full wai kru this time and got a good cheer from the Thai's who always appreciate when someone does a good Wai Kru. Bangman says a prayer for me as he removes my headdress and off it was Rd 1.

We both started out just slowly testing with kicks,push kicks. He hit me with one or two kicks and felt pretty strong. I went for his back leg a couple of times with some hard low left kicks and it kind of bothered him abit. He landed a left kicks on my glove and I remember thinking.."Bloody hell he's pretty quick with that,right hands up!!". I tried to high left kick him and he leaned back making me miss. I could really tell that me not sparring in my preparation for this fight was not a good idea!!! I just felt awkward and couldn't gauge my distance and felt abit jumpy when he came in close. We got tied up in the clinch and he tries to elbow me but doesn't hit. Ref breaks us up and I go back to working the low kicks. He threw a punch combo and finished with an Elbow. And Im glad I had my hands guarded high up coz I felt that Elbow on my left glove and I thought,"Right he means business..." so I gave him a little smile and a shrug to wind him up abit. We were close to my corner and he lands another left kick and I didn't manage to block it and so I contered with a right low kick to his standing leg hard!! And then the bell goes.

I get to my corner and Bangmans saying to me,"Take your time you're doing good just block and see what he's got to give. Don't miss kicks and don't rush.Take your time and wait for a good chance then work the elbows."

Round two starts and I do low kicks again. Making sure I land them even if he blocks at least it's doing SOME damage and it looks better to the judges when it lands!! I had to stop making him look like the better fighter!! I kinda sensed he wanted to stay on the outside and kept using pushkicks to keep me away. I tried to kick and he lands a push kick throwing me off balance. Im feeling abit annoyed at myself now. I try breaking the distance and come in with a push kick and kicking his inside of the left thai. Then landing hard low kicks again. I tried another left kick to the mid section and and bloody hell of course it misses he couters and I brought my leg up in time to block it!!

Grrrrrrrrr I felt really rigid and really bad with getting my range. So I said to myself "Right change of tactics see how he likes me in close then?" I step in with a Jab and he sticks his arm out to hold me out and I did the "B-man Special" on him!! Bangman is the elbow specialist!! I always work elbows soo much with him when we're training together and there was one of the techniques that he drills into me all the time. And I put that into good use this time....I land an elbow HARD on him and he goes DOWN Im actually surprised he got up again. After that I knew that right hes doesn't like me up close I keep pressing in and changed worked the punches,knees and elbows dept. I pressed forward and landed a straight knee and as I threw a right elbow he leaned back and I miss..."D'OH!!" He actually elbowed at the same time too and mised me so was pretty lucky!! He counters with a kick and i just stay close to him. I tie him up and land another elbow again on him but he shrugs it off. He presses forward knowing that he's down on points he's ready for a right elbow so I switch and step in with an uppercut elbow and it misses him by an inch. We get tied up in the clinch again and I slip out and land an elbow that catches him!! I see him falling and as he goes down I throw another one. Ref gives him an 8 count and I press in again I fake with the right and throw a short left elbow. I dont really think it hit him but I think he had enough and didn't wanna risk getting hit by anymore elbows. FixFec wins Round 2 Knockout! =)



Bangman was very happy with my performance. He said that I did everything we had trained before and put it into good use this time and I looked realy strong in the fight. I thought I did well and the only thing I would work on was the distance and my reaction. This is why sparring is so important when preparing for a fight. You see your opponents moves better and notice things better!! You don't get so jumpy and nervous when they move in.

So I sat down to watch some of the fights and took pictures with some of the crowd who approached me. There was an english couple who actually were on holiday and recongnized me from Contender Asia =) haha There were two swedish girls who sat infront of us and congratulated me and I just made friendly conversation and said yeah I've been to Sweden and all that. And turns out she actually trains,runs her own gym and used to fight too...and funny enough she knows EVERYONE that I know in Sweden!! From my brother Yukay to the Playboy Hugh Hefner of Sweden....Bingo!!! But yeah it's a smaaaaaaaaaallllllll world. So who knows maybe next time Im in Europe I'll get to do a seminar in Sweden!! =) She also writes a blog but it's in Swedish!!!

http://www.fightplay.tv/author/susanne

Right so I got out of this fight injury free!! =) So I'll mayb try to get another fight in 2 or 3 weeks time. We'll see. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

Many thanks for dropping by Laterz!!!!!!!!