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