#114 Fight In Another Country

4 year old ninja me

As long as I can remember I have been enamored with martial arts. As a young child I begged my mother to let me take karate and I began formal lessons when I was 4 years old. By the age of 9 I had earned my first degree black belt. I trained daily until I was a teenager when life finally got in the way. I stopped training but always felt that something was missing in my life. When I was 24 I started training again but instead of taking traditional karate classes I joined a mixed martial arts school. Within a year I had my first golden gloves boxing match. One fight turned into two and then five and then ten and so on and so on.

Getting my hands wrapped for war back in the states

Although fighting is a physical chess match it is about so much more than punching and kicking. For me it gives me the platform to test myself physically, mentally and emotionally. Each bout and opponent brings it's own challenges to overcome. I've learned through fighting to be patient, to control my emotions, to accept humility and how to never, no matter what give up or give in. When you walk in the ring you walk in by yourself and you either succeed or fail on your own accord. There is no one else to blame....it's true accountability. Each and every time I leave the ring I leave a different person and fighter than I was when I climbed in through the ropes. That growth although occasionally painful is beautiful and pure.

Muay Thai Fight in Pennsylvania

I love all combat sports but my personal favorite is Muay Thai. Muay Thai comes from Thailand and is known as the art of the 8 limbs as you can use both hands, legs, knees and elbows to strike your opponent. It is the most aggressive form of kickboxing. Getting the opportunity to train and fight in Thailand is like traveling to Mecca for all Muay Thai practitioners. It's one of the holiest places a fighter can train and fight and to be honest it's something I never thought I would get to experience. When I added "Fight in Another Country" to my bucket list I honestly thought that maybe...just maybe I'd get to fight in Canada someday. Never in a million years did I think #114 would get put in the books in Thailand.

Thailand Pre-Fight Oil Massage

Thailand Pre-Fight Oil Massage

If it wasn't for my dear friend Sylvie Von Duuglas-Ittu I would have never had the opportunity to check this off my list in Thailand. Sylvie is currently living in Chiang Mai pursuing her dream of being a full time professional fighter.  Before she left on her voyage a year ago we discussed me coming out at some point to stay with her and train. It took about a year but we finally made it happen. I was aware a few weeks in advance that I would be fighting for sure while in Chiang Mai but only shared the information with a small select group of people. Frankly....I didn't want my mother worried sick the entire time I was there. Besides as my mother she's pretty used to the "Mom, don't be mad BUT...." phone call.

Closing the ring

Receiving my pre-fight blessing from Den

The fight

I trained for 8 or 9 full days before I fought. Training days are 7 hours long and split up between a morning and evening session. The training is grueling but the amount of technique and information you receive is overwhelming. I would get on a plane tomorrow and go back if I could. It's that good.

Not my blood....

Taking instruction in my corner between rounds

Spectators and gamblers looking on

Were going for a ride

I fought a girl who was the former channel 7 champ. She was a lefty with 40+ fights. Our fight was a good fight and I felt we complimented each others skill set well. The two goals I had set for myself for this specific fight was to cut hard angles and land an elbow. In the United States as an amateur fighter very rarely are you allowed to throw elbows so having the opportunity to throw them was a big deal. I had specifically trained them all week with Den. Thankfully I managed to complete both goals multiple times. In the fourth round I finally let go and let the elbows fly. Towards the end of that round I hit her with some strong elbow combinations followed by a knee kick to the head which earned a standing 8 count. She rallied back hard in the fifth before I finished the fight with a well placed elbow knocking her out and knocking this off my list.

My corner: Neung to the far left in back in the white T-shirt (he is a WBC world champion boxer), Sylvie up front in the dapper vest, Little Neung in the Pirates hat, Off behind him, Den (over 300 pro fights) in the orange Lanna shirt and Deang hiding behind him.

Sylvie in the corner with me right before the 5th round. (Photo credit Kevin Von Duuglass-Ittu)

I did a guest blog on my experience fighting in Thailand on 8limbs.us. It gets much more indepth about the challenges I faced in this fight and how I prepared ect. Click here to read that post.

Be sure to check out my other bucket list blog posts from Thailand:

#111 Blow into the Trunk of an Elephant

#139 Pet a Lion or Tiger and not get Mauled

#67 Travel to Thailand

In addition check out Michael White's Muay Thai Photography facebook page. He is a fantastic photographer that I commissioned to shoot my fight. If your ever in Chiang Mai and need a photographer look him up!!!

#139 Pet a Lion or Tiger and Not Get Mauled

Sylvie the tiger whisperer

Don't even ask me why this is on my bucket list because it's ridiculous and frightening as hell. If I had to self diagnose I'd say it's on here because it could kill me therefore making it fun??  I don't know for sure but it's adventurous and hard to do so it finds itself appropriately at slot #139.

I'm not really sure you could ever snuggle an adult tiger in the United States. There are entirely too many rules and regulations here. So while on my trip to Thailand my buddy Sylvie took me to a place in Chiang Mai called Tiger Kingdom where the practice of petting and snuggling up on adult Bengal tigers is totally acceptable. When Sylvie told me the name of the place we would be going I did some quick research and discovered they had 3 serious maulings on tourists in the past 18 months. You would think this would deter me....yea...no not at all. It however did put the fear of god into me about my visit.

When we arrived at the facility they offered packages of visiting various sized tigers. They had little cubs, small tigers, medium sized teenager tigers and then full fledged adults. The most expensive being the cubs and the cheapest being the adults. It totally freaked me out that the ones that can actually maul you or rip half your face off with one clean swipe are the cheapest and most financially accessible to visit. WTH? We choose to visit the adults, teenagers and cubs.

I'll rub your butt....please don't eat my face. 

Being locked in a cage with 3 or more Bengal Tigers is pretty crazy and exhilarating. But you have to keep calm because they will absolutely pick up on how you feel. Sylvie knew I was a bit nervous and quickly reminded me not to blow into the tigers face like I had the elephants trunk on an earlier excursion. Hilarious, Sylvie. Laugh it up.

This was the scariest moment of my life. Sylvie basically rode the thing around the yard making her that much more scary. 

The tigers are huge and they feel like....well....rugs. But when you are with them its awe-inspiring. When you touch them you can feel their energy and life force. It's powerful. It's also scary to know the only thing protecting you if it decides to use it's energy to eat you is a Thai guy with an 8 inch bamboo stick.

Belly rubs

Visiting the teenagers was less scary then the adults and visiting the cubs was entertaining as hell. One cub was clearly the most ill behaved and would not stop attacking the other cubs therefore sealing him in as our favorite. His antics were rather amusing but I noted I was especially happy to have met this tiger while he was a baby rather than when he was full grown.

Also, while there we visited the sole Lion on the premises. You are not allowed to pet this Lion and he is kept just out of reach. He was breathtakingly handsome and his contrast to the tigers was intoxicating. He had such a sense of power I don't think I would have wanted to pet him even if I could have. But lucky for me snuggling with the tigers was enough to get #139 Pet a Lion or Tiger and Not Get Mauled into the books and officially checked off the list.

Read about my other excursions and bucket list items completed in Thailand:

#111 Blow into the Trunk of an Elephant
#67 Travel to Thailand
#114 Fight in Another Country

#111 Blow into the Trunk of an Elephant

This bucket list item was inspired by my amazing friend Sylvie Von Duuglas-Ittu. Sylvie is incredibly intelligent and funny and I love and appreciate the way she thinks and expresses herself. She has this uncanny ability to explain and decipher situations that is almost poetic. At the same time she is edgy and pure and of course is a total flippin badass. About two and a half years ago she came to stay with me in Pennsylvania for a long weekend while preparing for a muay thai fight. One night after training we went out for some well deserved wings and drinks at a local pub and while there we discussed the 3 month long trip she had taken to Thailand. During that conversation she had mentioned that if you blow into the trunk of an elephant that it will remember you forever. Elephants live to be as old as 85 so who wouldn't want their memory to be trapped inside a prehistoric giant for a lifetime? It quickly found its home on my bucket list in slot 111.

Don't worry that elephant isn't trying to eat me. I'm stuffing his face with bananas so we can be friends.

Flash forward two years and here I am in Thailand visiting Sylvie who has been living here for a year while fighting Muay Thai professionally. Sylvie being the awesome person she is booked us a day trip to ride elephants in the jungle with Patra Elephant Farm. Kinda the perfect environment for trunk blowing if you ask me. Let me just say wrangling a 12,000lb elephants trunk is entirely more difficult to do than I had ever anticipated. In hindsight I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Good thing I'm no quitter.  

Swimming with my elephant

Sylvie with her swim buddy

Sylvie getting her scrub on

I had about 6 hours to complete my conquest. During that time we made friends with our elephants, cleaned them, went swimming with them, bathed them, ate an awesome lunch and then rode them through the jungle for about 2 hours. Sylvie excelled at cleaning her elephant I on the other hand did a subpar job. I just wanted to hangout with it. Besides the elephant I swam with was a legit rebel and she didn't want to listen to anyone. It's quite a feeling to be on the back of this tyrannosaurus rex like creature and its just does whatever the hell it wants. At one point in the water it scared the living hell out of me by flopping down on its side. About halfway down I abandoned ship throwing myself off into the water, mind you I'm no Michael Phelps. I just flailed around like spaz case while my elephant handler assistant guy thought I lost my mind. 

This was Sylvie and I's staged fight photo. This is what happens when you put two girls together who can't behave. Pretty cool pic tho huh? 

Riding the elephants through the jungle was AMAZING. Elephants only breath about 3 times a minute so when they do it's like a whale coming up for air. And their ears are like gigantic sheets of leather that flap against your legs. When they get hot and they don't have any water to cool themselves they blow snot all over your legs but you can't even get mad because your in the jungle riding an elephant.   

All aboard!

Please note Sylvie not helping....only heckling. Total jerk. :)

Sylvie and I opted to ride together on the same elephant which in the end was a great decision. Our faces hurt from laughing so hard and we totally went crazy when our elephant ripped a tree down and ate it while we were riding it. We had the best elephant on the whole trip. 

When we finished our ride Sylvie got right down to business about blowing in a trunk.  Her master plan was get our elephants attention by stuffing its face with bananas and then I'd have to just grab a hold and give a good blow. Let's just say way easier said than done. Not to mention I probably looked like a maniac trying to do it. Sylvie got it on the first try but unfortunately for me I wasn't ever able to wrangle the trunk and was quickly watching my quest slip through my fingers. Enter baby elephant.

After this picture was taken we were told petting or pushing on the head could get us trampled and killed. Oops. 

Baby is actually trying to push me over but it's cool...we're bff's now.

Baby elephant was four months old and looked more like an aardvark on steroids than an elephant. It was an extraordinarily jubilant little specimen that weighed around 400 pounds. It's most favorite activity was ramming tourists and trying to sit on the elephant handlers. Sylvie shares her own entertaining experience with wrestling the baby elephant here. While playing with this baby elephant we watched one of the handlers give it water from a water bottle and then gently and playfully blow in its trunk. Sylvie and I's jaws dropped and we stared at each other in disbelief. I can't even describe how quick I jettisoned my backpack on the floor and scrambled for my water bottle. It took about 2 minutes for me to pied piper the baby over, grasp his soft little trunk and seal myself in there for ever. Mission accomplished and #111 in the books!  

Read about some of my other adventures in Thailand here:

#139 Pet a Lion or Tiger and Not Get Mauled
#114 Fight in Another Country
#67 Travel to Thailand