Sitmonchai, a Thai team with a difference

Two hours west of Bangkok, close to the border with Burma, lies the Kanchanaburi province of Thailand.

The Khwae Yai River runs through this land. Westerners know it as the River Kwai, a central presence in the award-winning World War II movie ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’.

In the south of the province lies Tha Maka district; it is here that the Sitmonchai Muay Thai camp can be found.

It was thirty years ago that retired police chief Chang Sri Prasert and his wife Lek decided to use some of the land they owned to set up a training camp which fighters could live on and fight out of.

Having been a fighter in his youth, Chang loved Muay Thai and his wife shared his enthusiasm. They named the gym after their first born son, Monchai. The ‘Sit’ element - as found in many thai gym names - comes from ‘luksit’, the word for student.

These days the gym is famous both in Thailand and to fight fans the world over, home to top talent such as Pornsanae, Thepnimit and Yodkhunpon (83-21-1, 51 KO’s).

Much of the team’s business is handled by Abigail McCullough, a Canadian ex-pat who has been with the team for several years and speaks fluent Thai as well as her native English.

“Aside from Monchai, the Sri Prasert's second-born son Ae also grew up in the camp. He fought a few times himself, though he didn't pursue it as a livelihood. He studied at university instead,” she relates.

“After university, however, he found himself becoming more involved with the gym and wanted to distinguish their fighters from the countless MT fighters in Thailand. It was at that point he came up with the so-called Sitmonchai style, which is going after finishes with heavy hands and low kicks.

“After growing up in the stadiums and watching so many fights, he thought it was much more entertaining to see a fighter just go for a win with all their heart rather than fight to win on points.”

Gambling is a huge presence in the Muay Thai scene, so the Sitmonchai fighters try to avoid any tendrils of corruption by smashing their opponents into unconsciousness and taking the fight out of the judge’s hands.

“This very premise has defined the training at Sitmonchai for almost 20 years now,” says McCullough.

“That way they don't have to leave the decision to the judges, which can sometimes be suspect with the influence of large betting syndicates in Thailand.”

A side-effect of that has been that the team has developed a fighting style which is more akin to that seen used by modern international kickboxers.

Muay Thai and Kickboxing are similar but different.

In the former, the clinch is heavily employed and fights tend to go at a slower pace. The fights often have a chess-game element and fighters compete at intervals of several weeks or less, which means they sometimes play safe and seek to avoid injury.

In the latter, the clinch is extremely limited - no more than a few seconds - and the fighters are conditioned to look for the finish rather than play for points. The pace is faster and the mindset is more aggressive.

Thai fighters have crossed over with success into Kickboxing - for example Buakaw Por Pramuk - but adjustments are necessary to take account of the different rules and fighting style. It isn’t only clinching which goes out the window.

“Buakaw is known by everyone in Thailand and his success has really given young fighters a lot of hope and inspiration. GLORY has already given Yodkhunpon a taste of life fighting outside of Thailand and it's a dream come true for him to have this opportunity,” says McCullough .

“Yodkhunpon actually signed the contract with GLORY on his 19th birthday - 27 November 2013 - after being approached by a GLORY talent scout who runs the SuperPro Gym in Koh Samui.

“At that time Yodkhunpon really wanted to fight outside of Thailand as he had become increasingly disillusioned with the Muay Thai racket in Thailand over the years.

“Neither he nor his trainer knew anything about GLORY rules before he signed, only that there were three rounds instead of five and no elbows or clinch, which was definitely appealing. Sitmonchai fighters generally don't like the clinch.

“But some of the other rules were a surprise, like ‘no sweeps’ for instance. Sweeps of the standing leg are something Muu does very instinctively. So in his first fight for Glory he held back a lot because he was concerned about being docked points for fouls.”

In Thailand, the fighters are often taken in by camps as young boys. Usually they come from impoverished families and are fighting to earn money which will put rice in the family food bowls and keep a roof over their heads.

This was Yodkhunpon’s background. He saw fights on the television as a youngster and said he wanted to try it and earn money. Fighters can begin competing under professional rules from as young as nine or ten years old in Thailand, which is why many have more than 100 fights to their name by the time they are 20.

A highly traditional and ritualized sport, it is customary in Muay Thai for fighters to be given a ‘fighting name’ when they are adopted by their camps, rather than using their real name. ‘Yodkhunpon’ is one such name.

“In the absolute literal translation, it means ‘the highest (YOD) ranking person (KHUN) in the military (PON)’. But in the more widely understood general sense it means ‘Supreme Warrior’.”

Training at Sitmonchai starts at 6:30am daily with a six-mile run, followed by rounds of padwork and bag work. Fighters then lift weights, run through their strength programs and do a lot of abdominal exercises to strengthen their core.

The fighters and trainers then generally sleep through the onslaught of Thailand’s midday heat before returning to work in the afternoon. A run of a few miles commences around 3:30pm before the fighters return to camp for more pad and bag- work plus around 30 - 45 minutes of clinching.

It is in the afternoons that most of the sparring is done, after which fighters will cool down, stretch and then spend some time relaxing before bedding down early and getting ready to do it all again the next day.

On Saturday June 21, Yodkhunpon will take part in the four-man Featherweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES. The event airs live across the US free on SPIKE TV.

The winner is dubbed ‘The Contender’ and will go into either a straight title shot or a spot in the next World Championship Tournament. Either way, the GLORY World Featherweight Championship title belt is within touching distance.

Victory would bring considerable financial reward for Yodkhunpon. It would also catapult him into star status with the mainstream Thai populace.

“Just like the Thais support of Buakaw, they will love to see a young, notable Thai fighter like Yodkhunpon go up against some world class talent,” says McCullough.

“An event like GLORY appeals to even the most diehard Muay Thai enthusiasts if Yodkhunpon is fighting.”

GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES will be followed by GLORY: LAST MAN STANDING, which airs live on pay-per-view ($34.95) and features the eight-man Middleweight Championship tournament plus a world heavyweight title fight between Daniel Ghita and Rico Verhoeven, and Marc De Bonte defending the welterweight title against Canadian contender ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini.