Legacy brilliance in Benchalak

Last night, in the small sub-district of Benchalak, in Sisaket province, a trio of Legacy fighters turned in impressive performances to seal what has been a great opening week to 2011. In the 5th bout of the night, Aidan "The Yardman" from Ireland had his first ever fight against local fighter Fardaisay. Aidan has been training part-time at Legacy for 5 months and was eager to see the results of his hard work. Like most first fights, this fight wasn't exactly technical, but The Yardman showed great punching power, some very hard knees in the clinch, and pushed the fight to an incredibly high pace from the first bell. He floored his opponent early in round 2, and finished him off soon after by KO. He was ecstatic with the victory and says he can't wait to get in the ring again in February.

Later the same night, in what was billed as one of the main events, Thalita "Mad Dog" Vergilio took on the well supported and highly regarded local fighter Banchom. Thalita had a very hard fought 5 round battle against an opponent who she considered to be her strongest to date. In a fight that really seemed to get the crowd going, both girls threw a huge amount of kicks and punches, and Thalita also landed some very nasty elbows. Mad Dog's performance gained her a few new fans as, after she got the decision, a number of spectators came to congratulate her and her trainer, Ajarn Nimnuan.

To round off the night, the "retired" Ajarn Nuay had his second fight in just over a week! He stepped up to replace a friend of his who had come down sick a couple of days before the fight. With very little pre-fight training, "Mongkol Kao" still managed to get the decision after 5 hard-hitting rounds. Both he and his opponent were obviously in a league of their own, with speed and technique that outshone the rest of the card. The fight was very close, with both fighters exchanging lightning quick combos in the opening rounds. It was only when Ajarn Nuay dropped his opponent with a clean rib-cracking body kick in the 3rd round that the balance tipped firmly in his favour.

After the fights were over, the event sponsors presented both Ajarn Nuay and Thalita with trophies for their impressive performances. All in all, it's been a pretty good week for Legacy Gym.

Videos of last night's fights will follow soon.

Legacy Gym off to a great start in 2011

Hello and Happy New Year! Although I wasn't here to witness it, Legacy Gym got 2011 off to a great start on 1 January. At a local fight event in Det Udom, Marcus Waters, our BJJ coach, made his muay thai début. He won by 4th round TKO, forcing the referee to stop the fight with a barrage of unanswered punches. Unfortunately, there is no video footage, as the rest of the gym was recovering from New Year's eve celebrations.

Ajarn Nuay, aka Mongkol Kao, continued fighting through his retirement with another impressive knockout victory on the same day. He stopped his opponent in the second round.

Nut rounded off a great start for Legacy with a 4th round stoppage, which was made more impressive by the fact that he had just fought two nights before and lost a hard 5 round decision.

Congratulations to all three fighters and, once again, Happy New Year to everyone from all of Legacy Gym!

Malik Arash Mawlayi beats Carlos Prada in Rumble of the Kings 2010

The Natural Born Killer is back again! This time, Malik faced off against young up-and-coming Swedish talent Carlos Prada in a very exciting MMA fight that took place in Stockholm as part of the Rumble of the Kings 2010 event. Prada started off strong, but was soon overwhelmed by Malik's striking power. Malik landed a number of spinning back kicks cleanly before closing the distance and delivering a flurry of unanswered punches. The referee had no option but to stop the fight, giving Malik the victory by TKO in the first round.

You can watch Malik's fight here.

New fight videos

Here is a video of one of Hampus's recent fights that I missed when I was away. He won by TKO in the first round. Enjoy!


And here you can see Bank in a couple of really tough fights.

First, his fight at the airport stadium in Ubon Ratchathani.




And here is his fight in Khong Chiam, Isaan.








Finally, here is Bo's fight, also in Khong Chiam.

Mikkel wins first fight with head kick KO

Mikkel from Denmark had his first muay thai fight last Friday and defeated his opponent with a beautiful head kick in the very first round. You can watch Mikkel's fight below - thanks to Dennis for the video!

Ajarn Nuay's rematch in Yasothon

Once again, thanks to Lotte for the recording.  Now everybody can enjoy MonkholKhao's comeback victory.

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/