In Chiang Mai plus Student profile

Got to Chiang Mai this morning. I spent 12 hours on a bus getting here from Khon Kaen. I had to sit next to one of the fattest Thais in Thailand. Some seriously obese 60 year old who was taking up half my seat and kept jiggling into me on every bump. There were a lot of bumps and my head kept hitting the window next to me. I left at 8 pm and arrived 8 am, travelling at a top speed of 40 mph with the air conditioner on full blast. Needless to say, i did not get much sleep. However, I got a nice hotel room for cheap with free wireless and I downloaded the latest UFC, Silva vs. Leites. Had a good time unwinding from that bus ride. Tonight I am heading to Thae Pae stadium to watch a fighter from True Bee compete. I don’t know anything about the guy or what to expect so I’ll fill you in on a later post. Chiang Mai is a nice city in the mountains of North Western Thailand. It’s the second biggest city in the country but is not as fast paced as Bangkok. It has a lot of history here, many temples scattered throughout the urban sprawl. It has a very distinctive feel and vibe to it like many other great historical cities like London, Casa Blanca or Moscow. A lot of nice views even in the city itself, just like this one from the balcony of my hotel. I was going to go train but changed my mind after I did not get the nap I wanted to, due to watching the UFC. I have a thing about training on a lack of sleep. It doesn’t seem like you would get too much benefit out of it. Anyway, I save some money by not having to pay for training and taking a ride out to Lanna or Chai Yai, I’m gonna need it to pay for the entrance fee to the stadium. Should be a good night of watching Muay Thai and seeing old friends. At least the fights should be about 3 hours long instead of 8 and a half like last time at the village festival.

Like, I said earlier I was gonna add another profile of a student of mine. The students name is Mashood Ahmad and he actually just started training on my last visit but has shown himself to be a dedicated student committed to learning all the technical aspects of MMA. Like a lot of Martial Arts players here, he has really taken to the ground game due to the novelty of it. Also the fact that I toy with everyone I roll with despite only being a blue belt shows them that this stuff works. You can do that with MMA and especially the ground game, showing someone a fancy trick and a kata and assuring them that it will work takes faith, not rationale. Before I left I asked some of the guys to give me some info about themselves and Mashood actually wrote it out for me so i am going to include what he wrote as is, with no corrections.

“I am a great fan of Martial Arts. I have gone to many clubs to watch fighting skills.I found ninjas to be the best. Once I watched MMA match on TV I saw it combined Muay Thai with Jiu Jitsu. I wished if it were in Pakistan. I was pleased to know that its been started in Pakistan. Now I am training MMA and hope it would spread in Pakistan very soon.”

We know that MMA isn’t only Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu, but I think the point is, is that he noticed it combined a striking game with a ground game.

Anyway, Mashood is 21 years old and is very new to the MMA game but I think he has a bright future if he keeps it up. He is one of the few students that really pays attention to other students and myself rolling and then asks questions about how I did a certain technique or what a counter to a certain move would be. Very analytical fighter this guy. Wish him the best of luck and thank him for his support and for serving as a good role model to other guys who train with me.

Anyway I going to post this later but I just got back so I will do it really quick now. I just got back from the fights at Thae Pae Stadium. Pretty good time. The crowd was all farang which was a novelty for me. I am used to seeing at least one large section of loud Thais going Owaii! The two guys from true Bee Gym fought well. I have never trained with them so I have no perspective to which to judge how they performed in their fight. One guy lost due to knees to his hip, he had had issues with it before as well. One of those nagging injuries, before that he was doing really well and walking his opponent down. The second fight was won by the guy from True Bee due to a punch to the solar plexus in the second round. The fight was entertaining before that. I would say the guy (his name is Matt) had the upper hand most of the time but it was still a pretty close fight.

Anyway off to Pai tomorrow in the morning to begin some serious training in the mountains of Mae Hong Son.

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