This great honor!

Hola people! Hope everyone is great after an awesome couple of weekends of fights and that crazy Superbowl. I first want to start out by saying I am in a great place right now. I have an awesome family, a passion for my career, and an amazing Muay Thai team. As we move through fight week I had to express what an honor it is to be in this position. It's really an unbelievable reality.
    To begin to understand why this is such a far fetched reality for a guy like me you have to first make some comparisons to major sports and how they affect the coaches and players that are involved in them. Take Basketball for instance. Started in 1891 by a P.E. instructor trying to figure out how to keep his students active on rainy days. Now basketball players of the stuff of myths and legends. Questions arise about who the best player is or was. Often these questions boil down to a handful of guys that are in my opinion the usual suspects. Boys and girls across the country have posters of their favorite player or players lining their bedroom walls or lockers. Basketball, with a few stars has changed the culture of sports and lives across the board.
     In 1869, American football was created. teams have come and gone and great players and coaches are once again debated by Monday morning quarterbacks around the world. Over one hundred million people watched the Superbowl this year. That is a huge tell regarding the love of football as well as the history from which it comes.
     In the U.S. and abroad baseball is no different . With a rich history dating back to the 1830's and maybe further, baseball is considered to be America's past-time. Players are making outlandish amounts of money and the game is played worldwide. Players even defect from their communist ruled countries risking imprisonment  and death for a chance to play in the big leagues.

      In sports around the world you often hear the players and coaches in championship victories saying things like,"I feel blessed to be here", "It's just an honor to have my name mentioned among the best", "I just love being involved with a sport with such rich history", and they are right. However, in my case and in the case of the other fighters and teachers(Kru) that are involved in Muay Thai, it is more than that. It is a spiritual undertaking filled with honor, humility, inner conflicts, and pain. This isn't a sport that you can look back and debate who the best is because he doesn't exist mainly because it isn't a sport as much as a lifestyle. The history is more rich than the sports of of today and had multiple applications in life as well as battle.
We don't have "bests" in Muay Thai, we have legends. This sport was being practiced and applied in military training in the 1500's and against the invading Burmese army in the 1700's. It is not a sport as much as it is a calling. It is a burning passion that I cannot hide and it draws many to me but only few can actually deal with the commitment even on a exercise and fitness level. It is complicated and yet simple, it can build you into a piece of iron or crumble you into sand but all the while it is connected to your very soul. I have been involved in it for 15 years now and only in the last 5 have I been somewhat comfortable as a fighter and only the last 2 as a teacher. I am honored and humbled to be able to share my knowledge with those willing to listen and undertake the huge responsibility of being a teacher. I am passing on methods and theories passed down for hundreds of years to students that have trusted me, in some cases, with their lives. This reality is not a joking matter I take it very seriously. I received my green belt in Taekwondo in 1983, I was 11 years old.
I have been a martial artist ever since. I was just some kid in the South side of Chicago that liked
Bruce lee movies. After all this time I am still in love with the arts and I learn something new everyday. I have conceded that this is the way it will be for me and I will continue to pay homage to the students, fighters, warriors, and teachers that came before me. I am Nak Muay, I am a teacher, I am Muay Thai!

The psychology of my canceled fight

What is up people?!! I hope you are living the dream and loving life. I am for sure starting new chapters in the LMT world. Spending time working on broadening the horizons of and for the LMT team as well as the reach of the movement. I am also getting ready to put on my first event. So all in all there are a lot of positive things going on however in the midst of all this good stuff I had planned on having a fight. Now, it was to be a tune up, keep me active fight leading into a big fight in May. I had started the grind of extra training, started going through the emotional rollercoaster, and the ideas of am I good enough ,should I be doing this,etc.. Everyone is different but for me it is always like this until the last week of training when I just move into a space where I just don't care about the voices in my head and only think "please just ring the bell". As I am dealing with all of that I get the news that my fight has been canceled. Just like that, the rug has been snatched from beneath my feet. It was extra crappy because I had to tell some of my team that they wouldn't be fighting either. It may not seem like much but for an older fighter with no coach, manager and self awareness enough to know that there aren't many opportunities left, it is a huge let down. After the shock and let down comes the doubt, maybe that was it the last hurrah. "There's no reason to fight anymore, I've done everything I can do", the mind is an incredible motivator and even worse negative Nancy. Once I have come to the realization that I am not fighting and the emotions have settled it becomes easier again just to focus on the fighters competing in the next month. That is until I start to watch fights on youtube or see fights on TV, read blogs, teach class, spar, and on and on. I am addicted to it. I am addicted to the grind of training, teaching, and challenging myself. I've come to the realization that it just won't change and I need to compete physically.So planning on spending the next month stretching, getting strong, making money, and getting ready for the challenge of competition as I know for sure I will be fighting in some way either Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu.
   I've spent a lot of time learning my craft and I was a really late starter for Muay Thai, but I truly love it. Some people will never understand the amount of work it takes to train, teach, learn, and apply but it is a labor of love to the fullest extent. I am more in Love with it now than ever. 

EPILOGUE: Shortly after writing this I slammed my finger in a steel door.. Ugh. So the plan is solidified. Train what I can with focus on healing body and mind. Sometimes the universe makes your path for you. 

Peace

Luck 

Be inspired!

Happy New Year to all of the LMT readers, fighters and folks that just like to the stuff I write, which still blows me away. I hope you all are ready for a blessed and beautiful new year. I stopped doing resolutions a long time ago an started just creating goals regularly that way I am constantly in pursuit and never disappointed by unrealistic expectations. So on that note I had a great 2014 doing just that. I had a beautiful daughter.

Me and Nin

I was able to win my 3rd belt, compete in Jiu Jitsu,  watch my fighters bring home some awesome victories, and help some people reach their own goals in Muay Thai. I was able to get on Sean Fagan's kick ass Muay Thai Guy podcast and and make contact with Duke Roufus and Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu. I felt like i'm finally getting to be part of the bigger community furthermore I felt successful as a coach and a fighter but then something else happened. I got extraordinarily inspired by how hard they work at their art.

Duke Roufus

I am at the gym teaching or training an average of 5 to 6 hours five days per week and compared to what they have accomplished I feel like i'm going so slow that i'm moving backwards. I can do more and I can accomplish more so my goals for the future are to do just that. I plan on being inspired by those that work harder than me until I can inspire others the way they do. I have heard plenty of fighters talk about how they work really hard to promote the growth of the sport and as I look deeper I realize that as usual a lot of people just talk.

Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

I have to say that though I write this blog, it's not enough. If we expect Muay Thai or kickboxing to become more mainstream so fighters don't have to work full time jobs while trying to train for a fight that might or might not happen because of the lack of promotions, we have to do more.

    Though I just ranted about growing our sport I want to remind all of you and on a daily basis myself, that we have to be inspired in our lives. Allow the passion you might find in others that are making steps to accomplish their goals be the spark that lights the fire in your own passion.

Sean Fagan

When I was on the Muay Thai Guy podcast Sean asked me how I deal with haters and I don't really have many but I try to ignore them when they do pop up. The truth is don't focus your energy on those that are offering negative energy but focus and embrace those that are providing a path to follow with their positive energy. It's a great thing to be challenged but don't be challenged by ignorance be challenged by constructive criticism. 

     So that's it the first blog of the new year is a thank you. Thank you Sean, Sylvie, Duke, my family, fighters and friends that provide me with a vision of passion fueled by hard work. My goal is to be more like you as I pursue my goals. Peace and blessings. Big fights and big things coming soon.

Here are links to Sylvie and Sean's websites:

Sylvie- http://8limbs.us/

Sean- http://www.muay-thai-guy.com/

Muay Thai and Race

My man Patee in Thailand

Hello all, hope this finds you all happy and healthy as we close out this year. It was an amazing year for us at Lucky's Muay Thai and I am so proud to be a part of such a great group of people. We are already scheduled for a couple of events in the new year and I am stoked. I wanted to touch on a subject that some find uncomfortable, and that's race relations in Muay Thai or Martial arts in general. Maybe it's a good thing that it makes people uncomfortable to talk about race or it could just be, the way that I see it, in Martial arts it just doesn't matter. It matters in other places in society e.g. politics, certain neighborhoods, social issues, etc, but in Muay Thai in my experience, it just doesn't matter.

Matthew from Switerland and Jihad from France

When you walk into a gym or dojo anywhere in the world the focus is on the discipline and technique. It's about uniting your mind, body and soul. Yes something about being hit in the face or kicked extremely hard is spiritual. I'm not sure why we don't think so much about race when we train in Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu, or Taekwondo, or other arts. Possibly because we are spending most of our time trying to learn how not to get knocked out or choked to sleep. All of us seem to realize that we will progress faster individually if we work together as a group. We are more when we are training as one. Not to say we don't have our opinions on the social issues of society but the reality is when we get matched up at a tournament or in a ring or a cage the last thing we care about is the color of our opponent. We care about how well we trained, how hard we worked, how our coaches and team feel about the efforts we've made and can we express ourselves fully when the bell rings. What I find unfortunate is that some may read this and say, well you forgotten where you came from or you're not where i'm from. All of that couldn't further from the truth. I know exactly where I came from. I had great great grandmothers who were slaves, I grew up in Chicago where at times it was one of the most segregated cities in the country, I lived in Texas where I was called the N-word by cops and chased on more than one occasion by idiot racists with guns. So yes I get it things are not fair for everyone in society, particularly minorities but in every place i've lived and with every group I've had the honor of training with one thing rang true. Race was never an issue. From my Israeli friends that teach and train Krav Maga to my Brazilians that train Jiu Jitsu, all the way to my Thai friends that train Muay Thai and beyond.

MMA class 08'

We all love each other just the same and putting our heart into getting better at our arts and using that to make us better human beings is the goal across the board regardless of race. As most of my readers know I have a new baby, she is now five months old and she is bi-racial or mixed, or whatever label people are using now but to me she is just my baby. I didn't even realize she was light skinned until people would ask me,"who's baby is that", or "is that your baby?". No joke, i've heard that and more. As she starts to get older the only place I feel really comfortable with her being and people I feel comfortable being with are those that walk the Martial path because those are the people I know will instill in her a sense of love and compassion not based on her color and I love that. I wanted to add some pictures of people I've had the pleasure of training with from different parts of the world and of all different races but it would just be a never ending collage. So I just added a few but know that I think of you all and have truly enjoyed meeting you, training with you and growing with you.

       Only one thing left to say and that is thank you for letting go of the insensitivity of the outside world to become more sensitive and aware of your true self. Peace and blessings through the holidays and much success in your training and fighting in 2015

Last night's training all colors, all creeds, all L-O-V-E

Guess they haven't seen Kevin Ross fight

What's up people?! Hope all is well out there in your world during this holiday season. Before you jump to conclusions about the title of my post let's get one thing clear, though I am ma huge Kevin Ross fan this post isn't about how sick his spinning elbow looks or how he throws that sneaky head kick off the misdirection. No, this post is about us, the participants and fans of said fighting acumen. See we have a bit of a problem here in the U.S.. The problem is that in the midst of a combat sports renaissance world wide, from MMA to Jiu Jitsu, and even boxing finally making a comeback. Kickboxing whether it be Muay Thai, K-1, or Glory just isn't getting the love in the states. I'm not sure of the reason, because watching a high level kickboxing match is every bit as exciting as anything else on television.
           Maybe that's the problem, no major television deal. I mean we have Lion Fights on Axs which is awesome except for when I talk to people about it most of them don't know if they "have that channel". Not only that but they are not at all familiar with the fighters. If not knowing the fighters is an issue then an organization like Glory with an amazing show including dancers, pyrotechnics, smoke, and some good marketing, should have no problem promoting the fighters. Well, Glory does do a great job marketing it's product, unfortunately most of the fighters are European. So yeah, that doesn't help the American kickboxers almost at all. Leading the charge in Glory was Joe Schilling winning the middleweight tournament. Glory let his contract expire. So yeah, instead of seeing an awesome glory card featuring a fight between Schilling and Manhoef we instead had to tune in to Bellator MMA to watch the awesome knockout that should have further helped the growth of kickboxing in America. MMA wins.
           Speaking of MMA winning it just reminded me of how women's MMA has blown up and it was primarily kick started by one Gina Carano and carried on by now MMA champion Rhonda Rousey but let's keep it real, Gina is the original and was the first true face of MMA. There's only one problem with that situation and that's that Gina was a Muay Thai fighter first and had there been an outlet, maybe kickboxing could have shared in the success of women fighters.
          I don't know if we are that far away from enjoying some of the lucrativity that MMA has garnered, I don't even know how much of that we even want. How would it change our community if we were blessed with Muay Thai on Fox or Glory on ESPN a couple of times per month? Might not be in a good way as the market as we know can be oversaturated. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want fighters to have an organization that offered  good pay, promotion, marketing, and a way to let the fighters use their personalities to acquire some sponsorship dollars.
          So you see when I that "I guess they haven't seen Kevin Ross fight", what i'm really saying is I guess they have never seen Kevin Ross, Joe Shilling, Angela Hill, Tiffany Van Soest, Miriam Nakamoto, Angela Hill, Wayne Barrett, Joseph Valtellini, Chris Mauceri, Raymond Daniels,...etc..etc..because if they had they would realize that they have been missing out on seeing some of the most exciting fighters this country has to offer.

My interview on the Muay Thai Guy podcast with Sean Fagan

MTG 059: "Lucky" Lloyd Walton and I Discuss The Muay Thai/Kickboxing Divide, Balancing Life With Training and More!

You gotta be a little crazy

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm in most of the country. Pretty stoked about the holidays this year. not to say that I'm not normally but this year is special. Got a new babygirl to celebrate with, my sister is moving down, the team is strong and my woman is a badass. I say that because it takes a special kind of person to deal with a fighter because we are all a little crazy. And in lieu of my bad segway, i'll just get started..
     So what does it take for a human being to want to challenge themselves against another human being in hand to hand combat. Some might believe that it's money, well that's a huge misconception. Unless you are one of the top guys in the entire world, you're making some seriously average pay. How about fame? Nah, you can become moderately famous if you're winning but again unless you're getting some top billing internationally then you're just as local as the guy throwing boxes at UPS.
 So what is it then? The answer just isn't that simple, some people need it to keep control of some emotional fire within them, some do it to challenge themselves and their martial spirit, others just like to fight but all have one thing in common. We're all a little crazy. Not the kind of crazy that gets you put on the evening news... okay, a bit of that is also involved but it's not the main ingredient.
      No, what we are is a combination of bravery, heart, intelligence, passion and the ability to say at the moment the bell rings, I'm ready to face all of the potentially horrible possibilities as a warrior and I will go out on my shield if need be. Although that in itself might seem a little nuts, it's not nearly as crazy as the eight weeks of training we put our bodies through preparing to face somebody of the same mindset. Yes the actual fight can be brutal but the training is the truly insane part. What the average person sees on television or at an event is a fraction of the amount of time spent beating our bodies up in training. Between sparring, strength and conditioning, running, and visualizing it can drive a fighter to the brink. We are emotional especially in training camp, we fight our fight a thousand times in our heads, going over every possibility. It is a roller coaster ride of emotions, losing, winning, questioning why we even do it. The fact of the matter is it's in us, we are passionate for it and we do it even to our own detriment but it is a special thin we have, we are a brotherhood and a sisterhood of fighters and most will never understand us. Some might call us crazy, but we would rather be deemed crazy and know we tested our very existence against another willing to do the same, than to live a life so ordinary.
      That being said let's be clear, all of the best ever, greatest of all times, number ones, etc were a bit crazy. From artists, to intellectuals , to fighters. In every aspect of life the majority of the time the ones that were best at their crafts had a little extra crazy in them. The obsession for being great, they hate losing more than they like winning. If there is a chance you can tap into that even for a moment why wouldn't you try. I encourage everyone of you to go out and get obsessed about something you love, pour your heart in it and see what happens. The payoff is being able to say you did what others said you couldn't and doing what other people just won't. Be different, be brave, be challenged, and be a little crazy. Ossss...