Posts Tagged ‘Ultimate Challenge UK’

Martial Arts Supplies and Equipment

Posted on: November 23rd, 2009 by admin No Comments

To do extremely well in any sports or discipline and especially the martial arts, the competitor needs the right training equipment and gear. There are hundreds of martial arts styles all over the world and a lot of styles use some sort of equipment, especially the competitive fighting arts.

The mixed martial arts, which are a blend of some of the combat arts from all over the world, like Judo, Karate, Thai Boxing, and kung fu make use of some traditional gear as well as boxing equipment.

Some mixed martial arts make use of a punching bag, a speed bag, and a double end bag or floor to ceiling ball. These fighting bags all help increase various skills in a combatant. The heavy punching bag helps with clout, the speed bag with hand eye coordination and the double end bag improves punching accuracy and tempo as well.

Some martial artist make use of the Thai bag, which is an extremely long bag, sometimes up to six feet, that allows martial artists to practice devastating lower leg kicks.

Another great piece of martial arts supplies is the kick shield. This is nothing more than a large leather shield that is used for blocking and absorbing blows and kicks during a workout. The shield is great as the target can be moved around the room and also used for low or high kicks to practically any part of the body, including the stomach, chest, and legs.

Mixed martial artists also use focus mitts, which are also versatile. The focus mitts are great for accuracy and endurance for long bouts; they can not only be punched, but also for skilled martial artist can kick them held in a variety of positions. The function of this particular piece of equipment is to help fighters develop fast and fluid combinations.

Another important training item is the protection gear that professional boxers and fighters wear. The mixed martial artist sport normally wear a four ounce glove or similar. The boxing gloves average around ten ounces. For both styles, hand injuries can end the fighter’s career and participation in the sport, so the correct training and protective gear is vital.

No matter if you punch, grab, grapple, or box, martial art supplies can help you get the most out of your training and fighting skills.

Controversy regarding Shah “No Pain” Hussains fight emerges

Posted on: October 29th, 2009 by admin No Comments

Recently it was posted that Pakistani fighter Shah “No Pain” Hussain lost a decision in his recent Oct. 24th bout in the UK. After getting a chance to discuss the details of the fight in turns out that on Oct.24th along with a controversial Machida-Rua decision Hussain also suffered a controversial loss although it was quite different in detail from the Machida-Rua situation.

Turns out that Hussain lost on a technicality. The fight was ended during round two when Hussain was poked in the eye requiring medics to make an examination whereupon they deemed him unfit to fight because he could not see anymore.

Oddly enough despite being not able to continue, the judges scored the bout based on only one round. Because his opponent was ahead on points during the one completed round the fight was awarded to Hussain’s opponent.

Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan got a chance to talk to Hussain and got a blow by blow summary of the fight.

Round 1- “I attacked first with some heavy and snappy inside low kicks, Hamdan was looking to attack by constantly making out he was going for the shoot, but I knew he was doing so, so I would drop the hands and he could catch me with strikes. both of us were sizing each other out, and Hamdan caught me with a good left hook which immediately made my nose bleed, ref stopped fight to get the cut on my nose checked out by the medics, medics cleaned it up and gave the ok to carry on. strikes are landed from both of us and Hamdan goes down to an inside low kick, he claims to have been caught in the groin area, but I know it wasn’t that far deep, he falls to the floor claiming I have caught him in the groin area and gets some breathing time. He looked like he was gassed at that stage.”

Round 2- “Both of us are again sizing each other up at the start and again I go in with a round house kick followed by a high kick to which Hamdan blocks, I go for the shoot and take Hamdan down, in side control I control him well and keep a good strong base and punish him with strikes and hammer fists from side control. He reverses me, and from top headbutts me twice, my corner goes crazy and I look for the ref to make a statement, but the ref hasn’t seen it. I reverse him back and again strike from above. We both manage to scramble back stood up from the floor and I shoot and take him down once again but land with him on top, Hamdan throws elbows from above, (Ultimate Challenge UK- bar elbows from being used on the floor, due to fights getting stopped too early from the damage they cause) again ref doesn’t see as he is at different angle and I’m back in side control. From beneath me he tries to strike, but to no avail, as there is no power in his punches. He threw a few strikes and one of the strikes he came thumb first and then clinch a fist, too late as it caught me straight in the eye. I pull away in pain holding my eye and ref calls medics in, I cant keep my eye open and fight is stopped.

Obviously upset with the outcome Hussain summed up his feelings regarding the match

“I can deal with a loss no problem, but to have a loss like that, I just cant get over. As soon as I was back in my corner room, I demanded a re-match. I wont rest until I have that re-match. But for now i’m taking a week off as my left foot is swollen and I have swelling around the nose and eye area. Its back to training from next week onwards, and I cant wait for the next one…..
Just want to thank you all (Pakistani fans) and best wishes messages to Pak MMA – you guys are doing a great job!”

Capoeira

Posted on: October 29th, 2009 by admin 16 Comments

Capoeira is a striking art with origins as an Afro-Brazilian art form which combines elements of martial arts, music and dance. In the martial arts aspect of Capoeira, it focuses on striking particularly kicks accompanied by acrobatic movement. Similar to Muay-Thai and Indonesian Silat, Capoeira is accompanied by its traditional Afro-Brazilian music and is demonstrated in coordinance with the tempo of the music. Although almost non-existent in MMA, Capoeira has made its way in becoming a fully fledged sport.

There have been many theories about the styles that make up Capoeira, however one theory has been considered by many Capoeiristas that Capoeira may have been influenced by a ritual fight-dance called N’golo (the zebra dance) from Southern Angola, which was performed by people of southern Angola. Since the 1960s, the N’golo theory has become popular amongst some practitioners of Capoeira Angola, although it is not universally accepted.

Created by slaves brought to Brazil from Africa, during the colonial period, Capoeira is a martial art that grew from survival. People were brought from Angola, Congo and Mozambique, and with them, they brought their cultural traditions. They hid their martial art and traditions into a form of dance. The African people developed Capoeira not only to resist oppression, but also for the survival of their culture and the lifting of their spirits. After slavery, they continued to play Capoeira.

Capoeira was against the law for 20 years until 1918. The first Capoeira School ever to exist was that of Mestre Bimba. He was given permission to do so in 1937, after he demonstrated the art in front of President Getúlio Varga. Capoeira was finally recognized as a national sport.

The Jogo (game/match) in Capoeira is played in a Roda (the circle of people around the Capoeiristas), its circular shape is maintained to keep focus on the players and musicians and retain the energy created by the Capoeira game.

Capoeira does not focus on injuring the opponent. Rather, it emphasizes skill. Capoeiristas often prefer to show the movement without completing it, enforcing their superiority in the roda. If an opponent cannot dodge a slow attack, there is no reason to use a faster one. Each attack that comes in gives players a chance to practice an evasive technique.

There are two main styles of Capoeira that are clearly distinct. One is called Angola, which is characterized by slow, low play with particular attention to the rituals and tradition of Capoeira. The other style is Regional, known for its fluid acrobatic play, where technique and strategy are the key points. Both styles are marked by the use of feints and subterfuge, and use groundwork extensively, as well as sweeps, kicks, and head butts

The actual object of the game is different according to what style of Capoeira you are playing.

In Capoeira Regional the object is to try and floor your opponent. But still you do not actually floor him or her. You just show how you might be able to the moment you find an opening.

For Capoeira Angola the object is to try and hit your opponent in the face. That is why in general the arms are held up higher in Capoeira Angola to protect the face. Again, the object is not to actually hit your opponent but to show where you might be able to. Angola is played mostly close to the ground.

Yet having very little to do with MMA, Capoeiristas have managed to involve Capoeira in MMA competitions yet some have succeeded and some have not but still it proved that Capoeira is not useless in MMA and one can benefit from it with the right combination of styles.

Notable Capoeira practitioners in MMA:

* Elvis Sinosic
* Marcus Aurélio
* Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons
* André Machado Gusmão

Boxing

Posted on: October 28th, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

Boxing is a striking art. Boxing, along with wrestling is the oldest form of combat sport in history. There are Egyptian paintings depicting boxing scenes and boxing was introduced into the Greek Olympics in 688 B.C.

Boxing is typically used to describe a combat sport where two participants fight each other with their fists. Strikes below the waist are not allowed. A fight can be ended by knocking the opponent unconscious (KO), injuring an opponent to the point where he cannot continue anymore as deemed by his corner, referee or himself (TKO) and via judges decision based on points accumulated.

Professional boxers, like other combat sport athletes are known for their tough training regimen. Road work, or long distance running along with shadow boxing and bag work are what a boxer spends most of his time on. Pad work with a trainer and full contact sparring are also hallmarks of boxing. Other conditioning exercises used by boxers are known at floor work and consist of sit ups, medicine ball exercises and push ups. A strong core is heavily stressed by boxing trainers to absorb blows to the body and because the rotational power required in punches is generated from the core.

The first part of this video shows how boxing ranks next to other more traditional Martial Arts.

Boxing is often referred to as the “sweet science” due to the importance of technique in throwing punches and moving defensively. Boxes are recorded to have the strongest strike of any martial art or combat sport. This is due to the fact that boxers are taught to punch using their body and not their arms, the physics behind a boxers punch is to summon the maximum amount of ones bodyweight into each strike. In regards to defensive techniques boxing footwork and head movement requires years of practice to master. Bruce Lee incorporated many aspects of boxing into his Jeet Kune Do system.

To understand both punching power and perfect defensive movement watch this video of Mike Tyson training.

Most MMA fighters nowadays focus on boxing as their striking skill set. Although kicks can pay dividends in an MMA fight, the act of kicking leaves one vulnerable to getting taken down and so most strikes seen in MMA are fist strikes. Also, because of the small gloves used in MMA knockouts are far easier to achieve than in boxing fights where there is far more padding on gloves, so it is in the MMA fighters interest to utilize punches.

Some MMA fighters known for their pure boxing skills are Andre Arlovski and Marcus Davis. Andre Arlovski trains with hall of fame boxing instructor Freddie Roach and Marcus Davis was a pro boxer before competing in MMA.

Although boxing is considered a sport it must be remembered that it is a martial sport and should be viewed in the same category as other arts and sports such as Judo, Sambo and Muay Thai to name a few.

Pakistan has a growing boxing scene and is currently going up in the ranks in world competitions. A famous boxer of Pakistani origin is Amir Khan who won the silver medal in the olympics. He is also coached by Freddie Roach and is currently a world champion.

7 Ways YOU can Help Promote MMA in Pakistan

Posted on: October 26th, 2009 by admin 2 Comments

Every few days we get emails from individuals asking “what can I do?” or posts on our face page asking if there is a training center in such and such city. So for everyone who is interested in bringing MMA into the sport scene I have made a list of what you can do to help out.

1. Hold a fight night

UFC events air live on Show Sports 4. Invite your friends, have snacks and just sit back and enjoy the fights. Simple easy and fun. If you don’t want to get up at 8 am, then download the fights burn them and watch them later that night.

2. Promote the website

Spread the word about the website through internet forums and word of mouth. For those with even a bit of knowledge about MMA, knowing that there is something going on to bring it to Pakistan may set the convert them from casual to die hard fans. For those already training at a school tell your instructor about the website. Remember we are here to promote ALL martial arts. Tell your instructor what a great business move it would be to be profiled on the most viewed site regarding Martial Arts in Pakistan.

3. Bug your local Martial Artists

Call up or visit your local Martial Arts school and ask them if they offer MMA classes. Ask your friends to do the same. Hopefully after seeing that there exists a demand, local martial artists will start looking into what MMA is and offer classes.

The problem of course will lie in the quality of classes, but we all have to start somewhere and because MMA is a competitive sport, charlatans claiming to teach MMA but have no idea what they are doing will be exposed. MMA by its very nature will provide an evolution.

This being said remember ALL arts can provide the tools needed to fight in MMA competition. Remember, MMA IS NOT A STYLE, it is a competitive format but in order to be successful in MMA competition you must master all ranges of combat. Once Pakistani Martial Artists get that part then the Judo instructor will also add in some strikes to make his Judo more effective and the TKD instructor will start teaching take down defense to make his TKD more effective etc etc.

4. Write for the website

The more articles that the Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan website has the more often it will turn up in search results and hence the more exposure the site will get.

We are accepting articles on a whole range of topics. here are some ideas.

- You can go to a local Martial Arts club or boxing gym and do a review

- You can write about a style your interested in

- You can write about some aspect of Martial Philosophy

- You can write about a current event or tournament relevant to Martial Arts or boxing in Pakistan.

- You can write about a certain aspect of physical fitness or diet or include a workout program

The topics are endless. The only criteria being that any entry submitted should be at a certain standard. Articles written as if they are a text message are a no go. Send any articles to info@pak-mma.com.

5. Give DVD’s to your local DVD shop or demand MMA DVD’s

Go to your local DVD shop and ask if they have the latest UFC. When they say they don’t, ask them why the heck not, it’s one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Hopefully the DVD owner will look into stocking MMA DVD’s.

You can also burn them a copy and give it to them so they understand what your talking about.

6. Start your own club

This is probably the best thing you can do to promote MMA in Pakistan. As long as you have an internet connection and a love for the sport of MMA this is possible. You do not have to have a black belt to get some friends together and practice techniques that you get from this website (we’ll be including many of them soon) or off of the thousands of instructional clips available on youtube.

Even better, get videos and pics of you training along with an address of where you train at with times and you can become affiliated with MMA Pakistan. What that means is that your local club (even if it is 2-3 friends) will get listed on the website, get mentioned regularly on the fan page and will receive promo items from MMA Pakistan.

As the website and organization further develops we will have instructor courses available where you can come get certified.

This is not only a chance to do something you love, promote MMA in Pakistan but opens the possibility of having an extra source of income if you start getting a large enough class to warrant a proper school.

7. Send us your training pics and videos

If you are already a member of a club send us videos and pictures of you training. If you want to give back to the clubs that have taught you martial arts what better way then putting them out there and getting recognized.

These are just 7 ideas. There is plenty more you can do. it’s up to all us to work together to get MMA Pakistan off the ground. With some patience and teamwork there is no end to the success MMA Pakistan can have.

Shah Hussain to fight Oct. 24th in Ultimate Challenge UK -Dynamite

Posted on: October 21st, 2009 by admin 1 Comment
Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan got a chance to pull Shah “No-Pain” Hussain away from his busy training schedule to give a message out to the Pakistani Fans before his upcoming fight.
“I’m fighting on Ultimate Challenge UK -Dynamite show this Sat 24th in the Semi Final of the Middleweight Grand Prix event. My opponent is Abdullah Hamdan, who is of Lebanese Nationality. He’s a striker, has a similar MMA record to mine and has a Muay Thai background. My preparation leading to this fight really has been a bit out of the ordinary this time. I’ve had a few personal issues to deal with and my general workload etc just happened to pick up drastically. Not good when you’ve got a fight on Europes biggest MMA promotion!. Personal issues aside, I can honestly say that my training hasn’t suffered as much as I thought it would. I am in awesome condition, my diet has been good, I’m injury free, my weight is spot on and my confidence is high, I think for the first time I’m fighting on anger. Not because I have anything against my opponent, but more from life’s natural headaches.
This from an MMA prospective can be a good thing. Sometimes events in everyday life, frustrations, setbacks etc can actually produce positive results when controlling and directing that negative energy, in my case this energy will be released in the Cage! but always controlled. Believe it or not sometimes guys over psyche themselves before a fight and actually end up gassing (getting out of breath) as soon as the Cage door shuts.
In a nutshell, Im looking forward to fighting on Saturday and the way I see it is…. ‘theres one guy in my way in getting into The Final of the Middleweight Grand Prix in December, he’s trying to stop me from achieving my goal…I will be in that final. Im always positive, regardless of the outcome….fans of MMA Pak watch this space!”
We’ll have the results as soon as their up. If you have Sky Sports please check your local listings to see if you can watch the fights live!
Shah Hussain, you have an entire nation behind you!

10 Questions for Gohar Gul

Posted on: September 10th, 2009 by admin 4 Comments


In what is the first of what will be a continuing series of interviews with Pakistan’s top Martial Artists we got a chance to get some information from Gohar Gul who teaches Muay Thai, Karate, Kung Fu and TKD in Karachi.

You can visit his website at www.gmmapk.com which I suggest you check out after reading the interview. We’ll most definitely follow up with Gohar Gul later at some point and see how his training and teaching is going. On with the interview.

Q1: What is your opinion on the state of martial arts in Pakistan today?
A:The tragedy with Pakistan is there is abundant talent but nowhere to showcase it and no people to appreciate it. Martial Arts as a profession is not an option as a consequence there isn’t a bright future in it.

Q2: Why and when did you first start training Martial Arts? What is your Martial Arts history?
A:I am the only child of my parents and due to an accident my parents passed away. I decided to move to Islamabad and survived there in some very adverse conditions for a few years. Here in 1980 I got the chance to train with Irfan Bhatti in the art of Ninjitsu or Ninja form. With no other options I devoted myself completely to the art and soon became his number one apprentice. I earned my black belt in 1982. In 1986 they sent me to compete in Thailand where I managed to earn the 3rd place in the competition, a feat as I was the youngest fighter in the tournament.

Q3: What are your top 3 greatest achievements?
1. (Champion of the year(1982)
a. 1st Position in 3 events (sparring, nunchak, bo)
2. Muay Thai champion ship 3rd position (Thailand) (1986)
3. British open karate tournament 2nd position (England) (1992)

Q4: Do you follow MMA? Do you have any favorite fighters?
I’m aware of MMA and its increasing popularity. However, I am unable follow MMA because of many reasons. Although I’d like to! My student has shown me some fights of Anderson Silva, Mirko Crocop they are quite impressive.

Q5; Would you ever consider taking part in Mixed Martial Arts competition?
A: I’m a fighter, that’s who I am. I would love to take part in MMA competition although I am very fit 39, the key deciding factor would be sponsorship.

Q6:Do you have a favorite Muay Thai fighter?
Yes I like
• Master Apidej Sit Hirun,
• Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn,
• Samart Payakaroon,
• Changpuek Kiatsongrit,
• Bunkerd Faphimai
• Ramon Dekker

Q7: What is your favorite technique?
A: I don’t favor a particular technique; I do prefer a specific strategy, which is to always conceal your true intentions when attacking.

Q8: If you could do one Martial Art only what would it be and why?
A: Kyokushin Karate, This in my opinion is the most difficult well rounded martial art in the world.

Q9: What advice can you give people who want to defend themselves on the street?
A: Pakistan, can be a violent place sometimes, mobile snatching and robberies are common place. Although it is not wise to engage these hard core criminals, sometimes you have no options. The best weapon for that is your own body!

I’ll tell you a story, a few months back me and my wife stepped out to take a walk near our apartment. Two people on a motorcycle pulled up and I instinctively knew they were here to rob us. As soon as the motorcycle stopped the passenger came down and reached for his gun. At this point my wife started saying “ give them what they want”, but I was already in motion I grabbed his hand which was on the gun. Controlling the gun hand I blocked his attacks and punched him a few times, and then disarmed him. By this time his partner had ran away and a crowd gathered, we took the crook to the police station.

Q10: What is the most important lesson a person can learn from training in the Martial Arts?
A: Self Discipline and the belief that he can overcome any challenge, any difficulty

Thanks for your time! For anyone living in Karachi who would want to train with you where do you teach and what are the timings?

I’m running a Club, named by Gohar’s modern martial arts academy it is in Gulshan-e-Iqbal the timings are 10:00 pm to 11:30 pm
I also take private classes in Defense / Clifton timings are almost from 6:00pm to 8:00 pm.

Article by Fahad Rehman

Posted on: September 8th, 2009 by admin 1 Comment

The following post does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan. The post is to give fans of MMA Pakistan an avenue in which to express their opinions on anything Martial Arts. Please use these posts as starting points for discussions on martial arts in Pakistan. We appreciate the time and effort put in by our fans to make MMA Pakistan a reality in the near future.

-What is a practical Martial Art?

Martial arts. Meaning arts of war. Most people who are familiar with flashy martial arts moves, assume all martial arts are Chinese. But there are lots of other kinds too which are non Chinese in their origin. Lots of people around the world started getting martial arts training in the discipline of “un armed” combat popularly known as “karate” in 20th century. But everyone who joins a dojo has his own intentions as to why they join. Some want to get in shape, some need fancy dancy kicks and katas, some get bullied and want to learn how to defend themselves, while others also learn it to make it a source of earning.

But all those, who learn martial arts for self defense, somehow, at some stage, get disheartened- , disappointed coz they get beaten up in the street despite all the martial art techniques. Keeping Pakistan in view, its very common!! The reason this happens, is very simple. Martial arts, is of two types,#1:Sports or fancy martial arts #2:Real life updated martial arts. What happens in the street, is that a person, lets say a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, gets into a fight, he kicks, the opponent being in rage, takes that kick, but what next?? the Tae Kwon Do guy start getting beaten up coz the street fighter has now come close than the space needed by they TKD guy to throw next kick. The street fighter takes him down, and the TKD guy is in more trouble as he knows nothing about ground fight, and the result is, that he becomes the biggest advocate of the phrase “MARTIAL ARTS IS USELESS IN REAL FIGHTS”

But the fact is , he is wrong ,as I told earlier, he is a black belt in the “fancy or sports” martial arts, which is always useless in close range. Now a question arises. “WHAT works on street??” The answer is very simple. Any art, that tells you quick and simple moves and includes ground fights and locks works on street. In a street, no fight lasts long, no fight stays in erect position (both fighters standing), no fight obeys any rule or referee. That’s why, I will advise u ,to ask yourself a very simple question “What is that I need??” before joining any dojo . If you need to be a professional fighter, or know street self defense, never join TKD , YUN JUNDO, KAYOKUSHIN types of arts as they are “awesome sports”, but very bad street fight styles and if you want good stretching, fancy kicks , katas , do join previously mentioned arts , as they got all you need!!

Looking at the craze of UFC around the world, I want to mention, that in Pakistan ,there is no such dojo which can train for Mixed Martial Arts . Except those who practice “jeet kun do” and kenpo. A very experienced master named master Chan (Jackie lee Chan) has his dojo in f-8/4 below Nadra office and a very talented, experienced 4rth degree black belt master Billy Malik trains kenpo in f11 Markaz above Habib bank. Besides that, if there are any, I don’t know about them, but there is a very big need of guiding our youth towards martial arts which can help them on street and also in the ring of mixed martial arts.

But MMA is not only about punching, or kicking your opponent to a K.O. , its also not confined to locking your opponent and getting a K.O. by putting him in pain. What a lay man never notices, is suffocation. Locks which suffocate opponents are more effective than the pain locks as one can stand pain, but not suffocation. The very precious art called Kushti is entirely about locking your opponents. A slight modification to it can prove deadly in a fight regarding suffocating your enemy. And this modification cant occur unless we don’t have a gym of MMA. Dedicated only to improve MMA techniques.

But it doesn’t mean that if you don’t do MMA , you can’t be a good fighter. You can still be a very quick sharp and good fighter. But you should always know, that in a fight, front kick, side kick and back kick are the only three kicks worth something. Rest like tornado,, flying, spinning, and other fancy kicks are too slow to beat a raging street fighter. Regardless of what art u do, remember to keep your guard always up!!. If u closely watch TKD, 90% of the knock outs wont occur if they keep their guards up!! For example, the knockout in TKD gold medal match of Athens Olympic would never have happened if the Greek guy had kept his guard up. And finally, if your art doesn’t teach you ground fight, never let the attacker come close to you, or believe me, you’ll suffer.

Written by Fahad Rehman

The rise of Pakistani Boxing

Posted on: September 6th, 2009 by admin 17 Comments


Taken from the website of the National Sports Board,

“Boxing is among the very few sports, in which Pakistan has made slow but steady progress despite general deteriorating standards. One is astonished to mark the progress keeping in view the fact that there is not a single gymnasium or indoor stadium of international standard.

The Pakistani boxers also lack necessary equipment and other facilities which have made the other countries leading boxing nations of the world. More surprising is the tact that the Pakistani personalia have climbed up the top berths in the organisational set-up of world amateur boxing by dint of sheer hard-work and individualistic efforts. Mr. Anwar Chaudhry, a Professor of engineering in Karachi University was at present the President of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA). This is no small achievement by any standards.”

This tells me a lot about the future of combat sports in Pakistan. It gives me a lot hope that despite not being given adequate equipment, Pakistani’s are through grit and motivation beginning to make a mark on international boxing. Although the Pakistani government may not be supporting this sport just today Pakistan Boxing Federation was assured by the International Boxing Federation that it would grant 5,0000 US Dollars (4 Lakhs rps) of equipment to Pakistan. So lets see how that goes.

It seems that the Pakistani Boxing Federation has gotten serious because along with securing new equipment from the IBF they only recently hired a Cuban coach for the Pakistani team. Cubans are renowned for having good boxers, great coaches and an overall great national boxing program. Despite being the fraction of the size of Pakistan they consistently put out tough competition in International events. The MMA fighter Rogerio “Minatauro” Nogeuira has also trained with the Cuban boxing team for his MMA fights. The Cuban coach, Francesco Hernandez Roldan is joining the Pakistani team after this weeks AIBA World Boxing Championship being held at Milan (Italy).

Pakistan may or may not develop a domestic boxing scene, although there are promising signs with clubs being formed from the slums of Lyari, Karachi to upscale LUMS University in Lahore. But this rise in interest for combat sports especially one that is so important in MMA competition is very promising. Having good boxing coaches and practitioners means that this nations MMA competitors will have resources to prepare to become the worlds most well rounded fighters. In the coming months and years MMA Pakistan hopes to document the rise of some great Pakistani boxers and a general rise in popularity of boxing to the Pakistani public. Both as a sport and as a form of fitness.

For those living in Lahore please contact 0334 4137706 or visit Boxing Academy in Lahore the timings are 6-8 pm Mon, Wed, Fri or to schedule a time more suitable for you contact the number above

Trip to Mae Sai

Posted on: September 3rd, 2009 by admin No Comments

If you read some of the earlier posts, you’ll know that the blog isn’t 100% about Mixed Martial Arts in Pakistan but also about my training around the world and some of the experiences that come with it. Since we’ve gotten a much bigger following, I will soon update the website as to separate the two topics. Until then enjoy :)

Because I have been to Thailand for so long. I have a great deal of experience with what is known as a “visa run” what this means is that I have to leave the country every so often and re enter to have my visa re-issued. The majority of people then head to the nearest neighboring country, cross the border and come back, often staying in the country for less than 15 minutes, other will take a short holiday for a couple days or weeks. Before I had an education visa for a year, so I could stay in Thailand for 90 days before having to leave the country. This visa expired in April and so as of July I was on a month by month tourist visa.

Anyway, my visa was due to be up on the 4th of September and I needed to renew it. I would head up to Mae Sai, the Northern most city of Thailand and part of the fabled “Golden Triangle” and cross the border into Burma, check out the famous market and head back. I would get a 14 day extension which would be enough since I am slated to leave for the United States in two weeks.

I headed out on a motorbike to do the 400 plus km trek from Pai to Mae Sai against everyone’s objections. I was told that it would be a highly difficult ride and that it would be more tolerable if I went by bus. I however, wanted to leave immediately and get the thing over with, so I left in spite of everyone’s warnings that I would regret. I left around 5 pm, and when two hours later when reached the bottom of the mountain the leads up to Pai I knew that I was to be in for a long ride and it was now night time so I would not be able to go as fast as I could in the daylight when the objects coming up in the road would be more visible. It took me almost 6 more hours to reach Mae Sai. I would ride for sometimes 20 km without seeing another human being on the dark winding rural mountain roads. On the last part of the ride it started raining very hard, and I actually got kind of warning. Northern Thailand can flood very quickly due to the terrain, with water pooling at the bottom of the hills and if I were to run into one of these large pools, my motorbike would be out of commission until it dried off and I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with who knows what lurking about in the jungle. So I was forced to ride very slowly and carefully down the wet winding roads and luckily I got my destination unscathed. I checked into a hotel and crashed immediately.

I woke the next morning and headed straight to the border where oddly enough I waited behind a large group of American’s (generally a rare site, since Americans don’t travel as much as Europeans or Australians) what was even more bizarre is that a large portion of them had Southern accents. Definitely not the American demographic known for traveling Asia. What made it even more strange was that on the other side of the road out of a duty free shop country music was blaring. My first guess was, was that these people were missionaries. I got this idea from the fact that I had heard of missionaries going into Burma and northern Thailand to spread their faith, this cliche is evident in the movie Rambo, second the country music was probably there because the people of the area had been exposed to this type of music for a while and some may have grown to like it, finally, from what I could gather by watching the Americans demeanor and conversation was that these were not the type of people to go traveling through Asia only to appreciate the culture or have a nice holiday. They seemed to be here for some kind of purpose, they had some sort of agenda. Anyway, I went through the line and got my passport stamped and was given a border pass while the Burmese immigration officials kept my passport to be sure that I would come back and not venture to far into Burma. My pass was good for 10 days. Immediately after crossing the border I was approached by a tuk tuk driver who would give me a tour of all the nearby sites for 200 baht (approx. 6 dollars of 480 rps) I spoke to him in Thai and he lowered his price to 120 baht which would could be negotiated lower to 100 or 80 baht but that extra dollar would mean much more to him than it would to me and there is no point in being stingy. He took me to a wonderful looking Stupa and an interesting temple and then asked if I wanted to go see a long neck Karen village. These women of this tribe wear gold rings around their neck, stretching them to twice their normal length. Everyone has probably seen this type of woman in a National Geographic or other such magazine or program. I had heard that these places could be likened to a human zoo but because I had time to kill and it was half the price it was in Thailand I decided I may as well get this over with and kill the curiosity.

It was interesting but in no way can I say I enjoyed the experience. It was most definitely human exploitation. The place was 3 km outside of town and from what it seemed it was 5-6 women with their children. From what I understand it was an orphanage and the husbands may have died from Opium addiction or having been killed by the Burmese government for being actual or perceived Karen rebels. Like the “Long neck villages” villages in Thailand this one was quite possibly operated by a Chinese businessman who essentially has these individuals as a form of property. I doubt they can leave the 500 meter squared site, or if they would even want to and venture into town only to be gawked at. I wanted to take a picture but was actually feeling quite sick of the idea of taking a picture of a human like an animal in a zoo. So after sitting down with one of the woman who was making some sort of handicraft to be sold to tourists I politely asked if I could take her picture. I felt guilty after doing it though because although she did not mind, I could tell she had done this thousands of times, quite possibly to groups of insensitive people pointing and giggling at the same time as taking the photo. I left the area feeling rather sad but consoled by the fact that these woman and their children has a much better life then they would have had they stayed in their ancestral homes. Chances are their families would be harassed and killed by Burmese soldiers and their children would remain uneducated. When I was there, they had a clean and decent living environment and their children got an education, they were actually learning lessons as I was there. I guess there is a give and take to everything in this world. After that I was done with the sight seeing and asked my driver to take me to the well known market. Mae Sai itself is a plain Thai Border town but the market on the Burmese side is famous for it’s black market goods including counterfeit items from China, very cheap non counterfeit items from China and exotic animal parts for Chinese medicine. The last bit was very sad to see since there were some animal skins from leopards and what-not and I am guessing some of these animals are endangered. I understand that Chinese medicine is legitimate and I myself look into some of it’s treatments for myself, but when it comes to over harvesting limited plants and animals of the world I think that it is a responsibility of western science and experimentation to see if these things really do work and if they do to set up a system where these animals and plants can be harvested privately to avoid exploiting these organisms in their natural habitat. But that’s just my personal opinion. I walked around, bought a few things, got hassled by cigarette vendors determined to sell me either cigarettes, porn or Viagra none of which I wanted or needed and decided I had enough and it was time to go back to Thailand.

I crossed back in, got my passport had my self and body thoroughly searched for drugs, got my re entry stamp and got back onto my bike. The ride back although tedious as well, I had to deal with three separate storms this time along with a flat tire was much nicer because it was daylight and the scenery is amazing. I also got more evidence that the people I had seen before waiting in line were indeed missionaries because it seemed that every village that I saw had a small white board with “Baptist Church of New Love” or “Jesus loves you new life congregation” etc. These churches would be 500 meters from each other. I actually went into one of the villages and checked out the church which seemed very still and quiet and the door was locked. This led me to believe and I am not sure if I am wrong or right but that many of these groups go to a village, plant a sign make a small church and then go back home and tell everyone they have a new congregation in the mountains of northern Thailand. There were so many different denominations that I saw along the way that it really seemed as if churches were coming here just because others were and didn’t want to be left out of the mix. I really don’t know but this is the impression that I got. I would need to go back and talk with people and hang around for a few weeks to see the real situation. Regardless it was an interesting experience and gave me some food for though.

I finally got back to Pai last night, with a sore back and a really painful pinching in my neck from looking up from the motorbike on my 800 km ride. I took a day off training but will be back tomorrow. I also have confirmation that I will be returning to the USA September 16th. That means two months of working for MMA Pakistan before I come back to Lahore and lay the ground work.