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