Video of Thalita 'Mad Dog' Vergilio's win in Yasothon

Big thanks to Lotte for the video.  Enjoy!

Legacy Gym 3 - Others 0

Last Saturday the 6th of November, Legacy sent three fighters, Ajarn Nuay, Hampus and Thalita,to Ban Kor Wang in Yasothon. All three fights were very important for different reasons: Ajarn Nuay fought a rematch of the fight he lost by decision six weeks ago, Hampus faced his toughest opponent to date,in a bid to extend his current winning streak to three, and Thalita made her first appearance in over a year since having reconstructive shoulder surgery.

The fight card was packed with talent and all of the fights were closely contested. The event kicked off with a couple of kids' bouts and then it was straight into the good stuff...

Thalita was the first Legacy fighter to take to the ring in the fifth bout of the evening.  She had a lot of support as two pick-ups had made their way from Ubon packed with Ajarn Nuay's friends and family and the majority of the Danish National Muay Thai Team who are currently at Legacy preparing for the World Amateur Championships in Bangkok.

Although Thalita took the fight on only 4 or 5 hours notice, she looked sharp and caught her opponent with a number of powerful right hands early in the fight.  It looked as though 'Mad Dog' might get the KO as she continued to dominate.  But her opponent was very game, and managed to last the distance.  The fight went to a judges'decision and there was no doubt who had won the bout when Thalita's arm was raised.  She was extremely happy to get her first win in Thailand and to emerge completely unscathed after four rounds of action.  Well done Thalita.

Next up was the evening's main event.  Ajarn Nuay's recent defeat in a bout he took at very short notice had left a stale taste in his mouth.  So MongkholKhao(The White Dragon) came out of his early retirement and got back to training once more.  It was obvious from the initial bell that the skill level on display here was far above that of the other fights on the card as both Ajarn Nuay and his opponent put on a superb technical display worthy of the big stadiums in Bangkok.

The opening rounds were a tit-for-tat battle with Ajarn Nuay landing a number of savage leg-kicks while his opponent concentrated more on the body.  With the power on display, it was hard to imagine the fight going the distance and in the middle of the third round, MongkholKhao landed a very quick combination and finished his opponent with an uppercut elbow.  All of us were delighted with his win as he's one of the friendliest faces at the gym and a great trainer to boot.  It seems the victory has breathed new fire into 'The White Dragon' as he now has another fight scheduled for the 19th of November.  Congratulations Ajarn Nuay, well done.

A couple of bouts later 'SuperHam' took the spotlight.  It was Hampus's third fight in recent weeks and, taking a step up in class this time, he took on a much more experienced opponent.  The trainers had been warning him for a couple of weeks about this guy's ability and cunning, so he was prepared for a tough battle.  But as in each of his previous bouts, Hampus wasted no time in launching an all-out attack with elbows and vicious knees to the head.  He took a couple of hard leg kicks and was rocked early in the second round by a combination of punches but, once Hampus smells blood, he is relentless.  He finished his opponent with a flurry of knees in only the second round and has as yet never made it to the third round in his entire fight career.  The trainers were so impressed with his performance that there is talk of him facing off against former Legacy trainer Muuhin, or even SuperClinch in the near future.  Now, that's a match worth writing about: SuperClinch vs SuperHam!!!!!
Well done Hampus.

Catching up

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates on the blog recently, I've been away on holidays and I'm only just starting to catch up with everything.

Well, first things first, big congratulations to Ole 'Iron Fist' Laursen who won another MMA fight in Singapore on the 16th of October 2010. It was the final Martial Combat event of the year in Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa complex to wrap up what has been an extremely successful inaugural year for their organisation.

Ole starred in the co-main event of Martial Combat 12, taking on Malaysian newcomer Chee Jian Kai. With Ole’s unbeaten 2-0 Martial Combat record and Legacy’s overall 6-2-1 record at stake, there was a lot of pressure on him to finish this year’s campaign with another victory.

He didn’t disappoint, finishing his opponent viciously by ground and pound TKO in the first round.  Although Martial Combat won’t return until mid 2011, Ole plans to continue training hard and fighting smart, with his next fight scheduled for Sweden’s Rumble of the Kings event later this month.

Hampus from Sweden also fought again, easily defeating his opponent by first round TKO. Niki from Denmark had his first muay thai fight, which he took on short notice. He did well in the first couple of rounds, but was unable to come out for the third round and lost the fight. There were also three Legacy fighters in action last weekend, but I'll blog about them tomorrow when I have the videos.

New Legacy Gym website

The new Legacy Gym website is now up and running. Check it out for information on the gym, videos, photos, frequently asked questions and up-to-date news: http://www.legacygym.com/

Another two TKO victories for Legacy Gym

Hampus, from Sweden, fought again last Sunday, less than a week after coming back from his MMA fight in China. He headlined the card promoted by Ajarn Lai in the village of Na Yia, 30km away from Ubon. Hampus was supposed to fight Pa Yu Yai in a most anticipated muay thai rematch, but ended up having his opponent swapped a couple of days before the fight for local fighter Nu Ang Kor.

Hampus started the first round strong and pushed the pace from the very beginning, not giving Nu Ang Kor space to land his strikes. He caught the Thai fighter with a couple of clean knees to the head that would easily have dropped most mortals. But Nu Ang Kor had a hell of a chin. He landed a couple of big right hands and a good elbow, but Hampus seemed unfazed and kept pressing forward.

In the second round, Hampus was relentless in his attack and determined to end the fight. He utilized his height advantage well, looking for high kicks and knees to the head - and landing them! It wasn't long before Nu Ang Kor got a standing 8 second count by the referee. Hampus continued his flurry of strikes to the point that his opponent was no longer answering back - the referee had no choice but to end the contest and give him the win by TKO.





Nut, the newest Thai kid to join Legacy Gym, also fought on Sunday, on the same card as Hampus. He had a tough battle against an older opponent, who was getting the best of the fight until the last round, when Nut's superior fitness won him the fight. Nut's opponent dropped to the ground in exhaustion, seconds before the end of the last round, and the referee called an end to the fight - another win for Nut, and another TKO for Legacy!







Ajarn Nuay, one of the muay thai trainers at Legacy, came out of retirement to fight in Sisaket that same night. He had only two days' notice after a period of over a year without training. Ajarn Nuay went the distance, but lost on points, and feels like it could perhaps have been a different story had he had more time to train and get ready for the fight. Rematch on the line?

Well, this is it for now. Videos of Hampus's and Nut's fights will be posted here soon, watch this space!

Hampus and Marcus are back from China

Hampus and Marcus are now back from Yulin, China, near the border with Inner Mongolia, where they had a couple of tough MMA fights last week. They were accompanied by Ole Laursen, who flew from Singapore to be in their corner straight after being cornerman for Malik and Isa at Martial Combat 9 and 10.

Marcus fought well and lost a controversial decision on points. The referee's interventions, breaking the action and re-starting the fighters in the middle of  the ring was, at times, hard to justify. Especially since the fighters were re-started in the stand-up position, not the same position they were in when the referee intervened. Marcus had his opponent in a tight armbar at one point (as you can see in the picture above), but was made to let go by the referee, who re-started the fighters in the stand-up position.

Hampus's fight was declared a no-contest. He got repeatedly stomped on the face 20 seconds into round one. The referee stopped the fight and seemed to hesitate a while, before raising the Chinese fighter's arm in victory. After much controversy, the decision was ruled out and changed to a no-contest. Such severe infringement of the rules would, in any other place, mean a sure win for Hampus by disqualification.

Hampus is disappointed that his first MMA fight had to be stopped so early, but he has a muay thai fight scheduled for this weekend, and says he can't wait for another chance to kick some arse again!

Click here to watch a video of Hampus's fight.

Legacy's MMA stars at Martial Combat

The videos of all fights from Martial Combat 7 and 8 are now available to watch. It took a long time, but they were worth waiting for.

Ole's three round battle against Nicolas Lecomte, Vaughn's demolition of Korean Hellboy and Nick's ferocious ground and pound victory against Victor Wang, as well as Alex Niu's defeat at the hands of Vuyisile Colossa can all be found here.

Southeast Asia MMA and Martial Combat have also published a couple of articles about two of Legacy's MMA fighters:

Malik Mawlayi - A History of Violence

Isamu Himura

Natural Born Killer bags another win in Singapore

Malik Arash Mawlayi returned to Resort World Sentosa last Wednesday to fight as the main event in Martial Combat 9. He submitted China based Thai fighter Arthit "Ah Ting" Hanchana in the second round, with an arm triangle. This was his second victory at Martial Combat against a muay thai based opponent. Once again he used his superior grappling and ground skills to secure a victory. Malik has been back in Sweden for a while, training hard, and all of Legacy are looking forward to him returning to Ubon some time next year.

Isamu Himura squared off against American Xavier Macay. It was his second appearance at Martial Combat and his first representing Legacy Gym. By all accounts, it was a close fight and this was reflected in the judges' scorecard, with the fight being scored as a draw - the first one in Martial Combat history. Isamu was very disappointed with the result, as he felt he clearly got the better of the ground fight.

The videos of both fights will be available in a couple of weeks, watch this space. Once again, pictures from ringside at Martial Combat come courtesy of Brett L. Thanks, mate!

World famous wrestling coach comes to Legacy

Legacy Gym is very proud to welcome one of the world's top wrestling coaches, Jason Townsend, to our small corner of Thailand. He is here as a guest coach to work with our mma guys and I recently had the pleasure to have a chat with him.

Jason Townsend was a champion wrestler as a youth. He has since gone on to coach the USA national grappling team, helping them win three world titles. He has been a wrestling coach at some of the world's most famous mma teams and has been one of the figures behind the movement responsible for the adoption of grappling as an official wrestling style by FILA (International Wrestling Federation). As a result, grappling is soon expected to be recognised as an olympic sport. Jason is currently an active member of the World Pankration and Grappling Commitee.

Interview
1) Why are you in Thailand? How did you find out about Legacy gym?
I've been working in the Youth Olympic games in Singapore. I have always wanted to come to Thailand and, when I met Ole at Martial Combat, he invited me to come and train at his gym. I am honoured to be a guest coach at Legacy. I like being a coach, helping make people into better fighters. I feel my 27 years of experience aren't going to waste if they go into making fighters better at what they do.

My parents sacrificed a lot for my wrestling career. Lots of money and lots of time. They were always very supportive and I feel a deep obligation to them to take that investment and pass the knowledge I gained on to others.

I plan on learning some thai boxing while here. I like learning new things and I believe it is never too late to learn a new skill. The more you learn and diversify, the more you understand mma and fighting in general.

2) How long are you here for? What do you hope to achieve during your time here?
I'll be here for 11 days and, while I am here, I would like to help the guys as much as I possibly can, give them as much knowledge as possible, help them understand. It's a short time, but we're recording everything on film so the guys can go back to it and practice, drill the techniques, etc after I've gone home.

3) How did you get into wrestling? How long have you been wrestling?
I've been wrestling since I was 7. I'm 34 years old now, so that makes it 27 years of experience. I believe wrestling is in my blood. When I was only 6 years old, I asked my father if I could start learning wrestling. I didn't even know what it was, but I knew I wanted to do it. He told me to wait a year and, the following year, he signed me up to start wrestling classes.

I worked hard at the gym and started competing. In 1992, a the age of 16, I was state champion. It was around then that I first saw the UFC on TV. I think it was UFC 2. I was fascinated and started practicing armbars and other submissions I saw. I learned a lot of moves from those guys.

In 1994/5, I was lucky enough to have UFC champion and olympic wrestler Mark Kerr as my coach at Syracuse University. He was a huge inspiration to me. I then transferred from Syracuse to Hofstra University, where I competed in wrestling. I was a Varsity wrestler at both Universities and was ranked as high as 10th in the country.

My team at the time was full of really great guys who went on to become well known professional fighters. Phil Baroni, Rich Attonito, Jay Hieron were all in my team and we became good friends, as well as training partners.

Unfortunately, 1999 was the year when tore my ACL and ended up having reconstructive knee surgery. I had to take a year off from wrestling, and it was then that I started to work on grappling and jiu jitsu.

4) When did you start coaching?
In 1999. I moved to Fullerton, California and became assistant wrestling coach at Cal State University in Fullerton. I stayed there until 2005 when I moved to Vegas and started coaching at Xtreme Couture and Marc Laimon's.

5) What was your greatest achievement as a wrestler? As a coach?
I was two times state champion from Maryland. I was also a Junior National and Espoir National All-American in freestyle wrestling.

As a coach, I am proud to have worked at Xtreme Couture and at Marc Laimon's Cobra Kai Jiu Jitsu in Vegas. I have coached two world teams for USA grappling, bringing home the 2007 no-gi world title and both the no-gi and gi world titles in 2008.

I've always thought that I underachieved as a wrestler, but I feel that I've more than made up for that in my coaching career.

6) I know you've coached a number of very talented fighters. So, who is the best fighter you've ever worked with?
Yeah, I've worked with many good people: Frank Mir, Heath Herring, Jay Hieron who is a good wrestling and training partner, Martin Kampman and others. It is hard to pick who is the best. My aim is to help fighters find their wrestling skills. I suppose, if I had to choose, Frank Mir would be up near the top because of his credentials in the cage, but I definitely won't take the credit for his wrestling skills, he was a state champion in Nevada before I met him.

7) Why is wrestling important in MMA?
Well, most fights end up on the ground. If you are on top, gravity is in your favour and, as far as strikes go, it is best to have them coming down. Also, takedowns and top control score highly in mma. It is pretty much always better to be on top and have gravity help you.

Oh, and the occasional slam is cool too.

8) What do you think the future holds for MMA in Southeast Asia?
Southeast Asia is the wide open frontier right now, with so many places getting involved and new shows in so many countries like Laos, Macau, Singapore. It is really the new frontier. With countries like Thailand, where fighting is such a big tradition and has such deep roots, there is no doubt that mma is going to take off, it is just a matter of time. The level of fighters and competitions will continue to improve. In fact, I've been impressed with some of the styles like sanda and sanshou, that I saw for the first time in Martial Combat. These styles are a good base for mma fighters, and new styles are very interesting, they help evolve the sport.

Kong vs. Muuhin: Battle of the Ajarns

On the 31 August, the spectators at Ubon stadium were treated to the highly anticipated re-match between current Legacy Gym trainer Ajarn Kong and former trainer Ajarn Muuhin. Their previous bout went the distance, with Muuhin proving to be the stronger fighter in the clinch. He used his size and strength advantage well to overpower Kong throughout the fight and get the decision. Ajarn Kong was really disappointed with his performance and eager to have a rematch.

Ajarn Kong spent the whole of August training hard for the fight, and many hours improving his clinch work with Ajarn Nimnuan. It seemed Muuhin was training hard too, as he was spotted running around the lake on numerous occasions.

On the night of the fight, a large crowd gathered in support of both fighters, despite the heavy rain. Ajarn Kong's supporters included nearly all the staff and fighters at Legacy, some of his personal friends, and even a very loud drummer. Both fighters lost a noticeable amount of weight since their previous encounter, and looked mean and ready for a reckless war.

Rounds 1 and 2 were slow paced, with each of the ajarns seemingly searching for holes in the other's technique. The action started to pick up in round 3, but it was round 4 that decided the bout. Ajarn Kong won in convincing fashion, dominating not only in the clinch but also in the striking game. Below is a video of the fight in full, including Ajarn Kong's amazing acrobatic celebration as the decision was announced.