Tristar vs. Thailand: The Ultimate Fight Camp

I just watched an amazing documentary about what it's like to train at Tristar in Montreal  Canada.  I looks like every fighter and UFC fan's dream to end up there.  George St. Pierre, Rory McDonald, and tons of other amazing fighters living together, eating together and training everyday.

It reminds me a lot of what happens here in Thailand.  Only, it's cheaper here, the weather is better and it's easier to get beginner and intermediate fights here in Thailand.  Watching that made me think though, how much would it actually cost to find a cheap apartment nearby the gym and pay for monthly membership and train full time.  For the first 3-6 months you'll be in the lower level classes with the general public, the guys that have 9-5 jobs, but you take it seriously and they see that you are there to train as a pro fighter, eventually they'll move you up into the big boy classes.

What really made me start thinking was when they showed the guy that used to train and fight out of 13 coins in Thailand and how he made got recruited to train at Tristar.  Maybe that really is the best way to do it.  Train in Thailand on the cheap, get tons of fights under your belt, and then make the move to MMA.  I think the one thing that that guy could have done differently was train some Jiu-Jitsu while he was here to mix it up.  I'm fortunate that I wrestled in High School and I did a bit of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the states, so even though I'm focusing 100% on Muay Thai this trip in Thailand, at least I always have it in the back of my mind and know how important it is.

I've met a lot good Muay Thai fighters who fought MMA and got taken down and held down for five rounds, having no idea how to get up.  Firas Zahabi, the head coach at Tristar is right when he says you have to at least be at par in everything.  If you have zero wrestling, you're fucked.  If you have zero Muay Thai, you're also fucked.  You need to be at least decent at all four major disciplines which are Boxing, Wrestling, Muay Thai, and Brazilian-Jujitsu

My fifth fight ever, and my first fight here in Chiang Mai has been scheduled for Monday January 21st here in Chiang Mai.  Not sure which stadium yet, who i'm fighting or any of the details, as this is Thailand and it could all change but I'm ready and I'm excited.

My head coach Chon said to me last night,

"I knew you were ready when I saw you sparring with Mirkko today.  If you can spar him without going down or giving up, you're ready."

What Chon doesn't know is I almost skipped yesterday's sparring session.  The day before I had the brilliant idea to bike to the base of Doi Suthep mountain here in Chiang Mai and hike to the top, which is 1,676 m high and around 40km round trip.  I'm sure it was good cardio, but it was more exhausting that actually beneficial for Muay Thai.  I know some people do the Doi Suthep run, where they normally park their motorbikes at Chiang Mai zoo at the base of the mountain and run the 12km up to the top but man, that is physically draining.

The photo is of a Monk I met half way up the Mountain that showed me a hidden path through the forest to hike the rest of the way up Doi Suthep. 

But when Mirkko asked me to spar with him, I knew I had to say yes since I have a fight coming up.  It was a bit different from Wednesdays session.  We sparred Muay Thai again, but this time, I was a bit more relaxed and focused than last time.  My goals were to keep my guard up and to pick my shots when there were openings.  I ate a few leg kicks, and got caught a few times with punches but overall, I was quite happy with the session.  Even though I went into it already exhausted, especially since I had already gave it 100% on the pads with Chon, I hung in there, traded big blows and never gave up or lost heart.

I really love it here in Thailand, and training hard, sparring hard, and preparing for my upcoming fight is a dream come true.  Even if I won the lottery right now I wouldn't do anything differently, I perfectly happy exactly where I am right now.


Enjoy the video,

Johnny at MyFightCamp.com