MBK Fight Night: Night of the Champions

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You might have already figured out that I love to go to the MBK Fight Night. The fights are always very diverse, so you never know what to expect, but there are always good fights to watch and…it is free! Actually I should get paid to write this, as I am creating lots of publicity for them.

Anyway, this night was advertised as the night of the champions, a much promising event. As I arrived, it was clear to see that the marketing department had done their work properly, as it was crowded with people. One thing that I always like is, besides the always good atmosphere, the perfect mix of foreigners of all kind cheering side by side with the nationals.

The night started for me with a demonstration of classic Muay Thai. I am always fascinated by styles like this, where they use techniques that really effective and in some cases can be lethal. I am determined to learn this and will in the near future take lessons in Muay Thai Chaiya, an ancient form of Muay Thai. But you will undoubtedly read about that later.

This night was really in the theme of foreign vs Thai, as there were many fighters from China, a fighter from Brasil, one from France and more. Since there were many Chinese, let me cover that first. It was soon clear to me that the Chinese fighters have a different style from the Thai. My guess is that they come from a Xanda school. This is Chinese kickboxing, in which you can throw each other out of the ring and can not use elbows, however I am not sure they come from such an academy. One thing they have in common though, is they have a very good frontkick. It is a real fast kick that lets them put their entire bodyweight into it. When a Thai fighter makes a ‘teap’, he makes sure he keeps his balance. If he might miss, he doesn’t fall behind his kick. Thai fighters make a snapping kick, it snaps out and back in. The Chinese however, make this kick in such a way, that if they miss, they fall behind their kick. One is not necessarily better than the other in my opinion. It is always good to see different styles meet each other in the ring.

One thing the Chinese boxers did not excel in,was the clinch, but what do you expect, it is after all called the Thai clinch. They did lose a lot of points here and in several fights it was the reason the Thai won. The fight that really stood out of the Thai vs Chinese series, was one of two fighters that were a little heavier than regular thai fighters. I am guessing they are around 85 kilograms. The Chinese fighter looked really impressive and physically fit. The Thai did not look bad, but not as bulky as the other. But when the fight started, I was really impressed by the Thai, his reflexes were awesome and he had a perfect timing. I really enjoyed this fight and although they were both good fighters, the Thai rightfully won.

An other fight that I really enjoyed was the Brazilian fighter who faced a Thai champion in the ring. The Thai entered the ring with three ring girls carrying his titles, so I suspected him to be of some quality. As his opponent entered the ring calmly, without titles, I know that a title is not everything and it is all about that moment in the ring between you and the other guy. Those titles will not help you when you have to go toe to toe.

Both fighters started out carefully and calmly in the tradition of Muay Thai. As the second round began, they both really stepped it up. They were well matched in my opinion and showed some excellent Thai boxing. At one point, the Brazilian fighter kicked and the Thai held his leg, sweeping him om the floor. As he fell to the floor, he received a hard kick to the body, while he was basically already on the floor. This caused him to get angry. When he got back up, you could see his face turned a bit more grim. Now he was really putting the pressure on the Thai, but due to his anger, he did not think of his technique. His defense got sloppy as he only thought about attacking. This resulted in a huge elbow to his chin, causing the guy from Brazil to go down. Miraculously, he stood up, but only to get put down again by a straight punch, high kick combination. It was a spectacular finish to a most entertaining fight and a most enjoyable night.

They will see some more of me at MBK, that I can promise you…

Photos made by the organization of MBK Fight Night