fighting in the ring

Since the beginning of this year I have not had a Kru and have been training for about 2 years. I would love to fight in the ring but I do not have any Muay Thai gyms to help me get involved or help set up fights would it be possible to fight in the ring without being part of a certain MT club ot gym I train at my home everyday and have developed quite a good standard of Muay Thai but I have never fought in the ring/

[Damian Mavis]

If you want to fight in the ring at the amateur level you gotta spar in the ring with a training partner on a regular basis. Pretty hard to develop the reflexes and timing necessary to survive the ring all by yourself..... but maybe your an amazing natural! Everytime I fight in the ring against a club member I learn a little more and get a little sharper. Hopefully down the road a bit I'll get my Kru to set up an amateur fight in another city for me.

It's really too bad theres no club in your area....

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

if there's no club.. who are you going to fight?

I understand about the timing and reflexes helped by continuous sparring, I have hepled this by sparring with Karate and TKD practitioners. Isn't there a way to fight against othere clubs rather than just other students in your own club ?

[Damian Mavis]

Hmmmm... ok I'm a TKD instructor and I run my own school so when I tell you this its with some experience sparring TKD and Muay Thai style. I was even Canadian national champ one year for my division and federation in TKD. Sparring in Muay Thai is like starting all over from the beginning, even after 12 years of sparring TKD style. I'm seriously a begginer in Muay Thai.... my defence for thier style of fighting is really bad compared to the level of defence I have in TKD....its completely 2 different worlds.

The reason I'm tellling you this is because I feel that if you are sparring TKD and karate style to get ready for the ring your not preparing yourself for the realities of what a Thai fighter is going to do to you. The timing and reflexes I mentioned before were in regards to someone trying to take your leg out full contact and you knowing when to shield (with your shin) and kick back instantly or when they are grabbing you for the clinch to pummel you with knees and you knowing how and when to neck wrestle out of it. Anyway.... I'm sure you know all this already.

As for fighting outside your club that is usually set up by your Kru and involves travelling to another city and fighting a complete stranger. I'm not sure how else you could get a fight set up as I think you need a Kru to vouch for you... someone would definately have to have the connections to find the fights too....

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

you might try calling around to diffrent promoters and asking them if they could get you in a fight. or maybe you could get into kickboxing through a TKD school and than use that experience to cross over to mauy thai.