Thailand's 10-count

I had my fight, if you can call it that. Unfortunately for me, it was more of a beating. I was beat, in both the sense that I lost the match and that I was battered up and bruised by the 'same-same' Mohamed, who turned out to be more than anyone bargained for. The gentleman that I traded blows with was, by many estimates, 4-6 inches taller than me and at least 10 kilos heavier. The promoter informed me of his 1 month of muay thai experience in Thailand; this was no lie. Nonetheless, neglected to inform me of his years of muay thai training outside of Thailand and according to Tiger Muay Thai owned Will, he looked like he had much boxing experience on top of his muay thai.




I arrived at the stadium late with a lot of anxiety and was greeted by a team of trainers from Tiger, ready to prep me for the fight as soon as the first few fights had finished. I was too nervous to even watch, so I bumped my iPod and tried to channel my Chi, or whatever it is those heroic Asian fighters do in the movies. Once it was time, the trainers dressed me in the Tiger trunks, massaged, cracked, and vasaline/hot oiled my entire body, head-to-toe. We looked around for quite a while for the elusive Mohamed, hailing from France, but could only find a large middle-eastern giant who clearly was fighting in the heavier 180 lbs fight of the night. It turns out, however, that his scales must have been tipped in his favor and he was fighting me at 165lbs. To be honest, they had understated my weight and was closer to 170, but Mohamed was most likely nearer to 190 or 200.





We had discussed turning down the fight in the event that he turned out to be much larger/more experienced, as the match-ups are sometimes quite underhanded in Thailand. Nonetheless, I came to Thailand for a solitary experience, above all others, and that was to fight; I wasn't about to turn down a fight, and especially not to a Frenchman. I fought; I took on a challenge; I did my best under the circumstances; I wasn't successful. I put up a good fight, having an even first round, while we felt each other out and delivered some choice shots to his legs and body. However, despite a good first-round effort, the second wasn't so forgiving and after landing a thundering right, he pummeled me into a stupor. I had several knock-downs, even receiving a 10-count from the referee after the 3rd, but insisted on continuing the fight. I was, however, out on my feet and ended up doubling over and then having the ref call the fight.

Regardless, the trainers have had me hold my head high and have told me that the fight was 'impossible' and 'unwinnable'. I'm taking a bit of solace in the fact that 'Magical' Ray Elbe, the MMA instructor from our school, is set to face the very same fighter who defeated me next week. Good luck to Ray and I hope he kicks some ass. The fact that a vet of more than 30 MMA fights and such an experienced and skilled fighter should be pitted against the fighter I fought is a testament to the mismatch that I experience.



No Regrets. Only one more day to go in Phuket... [more photos and the fight video to come!]