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I'm going to tell you a bit about my best friend. He's a great guy and has helped me alot and without him... yadayada, I'm getting all weepy.... anyhow, he's a cool guy that has lived here in Thailand for 8 years now. He's the only Farang (foreigner) I have ever met here that speaks PERFECT Thai. I don't mean he sounds good, I mean he sounds like a native and people here refuse to believe him when he says he's only been here 8 years. He's the type of guy that really throws himself into whatever he's after and when he wanted to speak Thai he studied and practiced for hours every day. His name is Mike Gillies. He's a TKD instructor from Canada like me teaching TKD in Thailand and also like me has trained Muay Thai and fought in the ring here. He fought 5 times and the first 4 fights were all joke fights, meaning he won them VERY easily. He either knocked them out with a good punch or body knocked them out with spinning back kick.
I'll tell you about his 5th fight since that is the most exciting one. Somehow he got hooked up with a promoter that wanted to fly him to Cambodia to fight the ex Cambodian champion. So off he goes to Cambodia, when he gets off the plane there is a cheering crowd waiting for him (they billed him as Canadian Tae Kwon Do Champion haha) and they put something similar to a leigh around his neck and treat him like a superstar, filming the whole thing. They send him off to a 5 star hotel and treat him like royalty. The fight is nationally televised and Mike is feeling a little freaked out at all the attention. On top of all that, the promoter is some huge promoter guy from Thailand that is famous for handling top fighters and champions, apparently NOBODY was sent to be Mikes corner man so the famous promoter had to go in the ring and be Mikes corner man! Now Mike has a picture of this famous dude rubbing his legs getting him ready in the ring, Thais see that picture in his TKD school and FREAK OUT.
So the bell goes, the opponents close on eachother and Mike throws a fast front snap kick to the Cambodians chin right up between his guard and drops him like a sack of poop. Mike is standing there staring at the guy trying to figure out what just happened (even though he threw the damn kick). The ref is counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.... then the ref looks at Mike standing there and gets all mad and stands up and leads Mike back to his corner and then goes back to the fallen Cambodian and RESTARTS THE COUNT! It was like a bad scene in WWF wrestling haha! The famous promoter was flipping out, Art (Mikes friend) is screaming, everyones yelling and freaking, nobody could believe what was happening. So after the initial 8 seconds, another 8 for walking Mike back to the ring and then the restart which is a few more seconds... the Cambodian finally got back up. So the fight went on.
The Cambodian was WAYYYY better than anyone Mike had ever fought or sparred and was wearing Mike down. Mike landed a couple of full power spinning back kicks right in the torso of the Cambodian and sent him flying across the ring both times, the Cambodian was visibly winded but just shook it off and trudged forward again. Mike was a tad freaked out by that. Mike got in a few other good shots but all in all the Cambodian dominated. It lasted 5 rounds and then the Cambodian did what he was being paid extra to do... he cut Mike wide open with elbow strikes. Mike found out later that he was being paid PER STITCH. So Mike was cut open and the ref called the fight. The Cambodian had won.
The promoter dude and Art were red in the face mad and calling foul about the blatant cheating to make the Cambodian win but there was nothing they could do. Mike didn't care at all, he went to get his picture taken with his opponent and his opponent apologised for cutting him open and said he was just doing his job. Mike told him not to worry about it and that he really enjoyed the experience and thanked him for the excellent fight.
Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
I'll tell you about his 5th fight since that is the most exciting one. Somehow he got hooked up with a promoter that wanted to fly him to Cambodia to fight the ex Cambodian champion. So off he goes to Cambodia, when he gets off the plane there is a cheering crowd waiting for him (they billed him as Canadian Tae Kwon Do Champion haha) and they put something similar to a leigh around his neck and treat him like a superstar, filming the whole thing. They send him off to a 5 star hotel and treat him like royalty. The fight is nationally televised and Mike is feeling a little freaked out at all the attention. On top of all that, the promoter is some huge promoter guy from Thailand that is famous for handling top fighters and champions, apparently NOBODY was sent to be Mikes corner man so the famous promoter had to go in the ring and be Mikes corner man! Now Mike has a picture of this famous dude rubbing his legs getting him ready in the ring, Thais see that picture in his TKD school and FREAK OUT.
So the bell goes, the opponents close on eachother and Mike throws a fast front snap kick to the Cambodians chin right up between his guard and drops him like a sack of poop. Mike is standing there staring at the guy trying to figure out what just happened (even though he threw the damn kick). The ref is counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.... then the ref looks at Mike standing there and gets all mad and stands up and leads Mike back to his corner and then goes back to the fallen Cambodian and RESTARTS THE COUNT! It was like a bad scene in WWF wrestling haha! The famous promoter was flipping out, Art (Mikes friend) is screaming, everyones yelling and freaking, nobody could believe what was happening. So after the initial 8 seconds, another 8 for walking Mike back to the ring and then the restart which is a few more seconds... the Cambodian finally got back up. So the fight went on.
The Cambodian was WAYYYY better than anyone Mike had ever fought or sparred and was wearing Mike down. Mike landed a couple of full power spinning back kicks right in the torso of the Cambodian and sent him flying across the ring both times, the Cambodian was visibly winded but just shook it off and trudged forward again. Mike was a tad freaked out by that. Mike got in a few other good shots but all in all the Cambodian dominated. It lasted 5 rounds and then the Cambodian did what he was being paid extra to do... he cut Mike wide open with elbow strikes. Mike found out later that he was being paid PER STITCH. So Mike was cut open and the ref called the fight. The Cambodian had won.
The promoter dude and Art were red in the face mad and calling foul about the blatant cheating to make the Cambodian win but there was nothing they could do. Mike didn't care at all, he went to get his picture taken with his opponent and his opponent apologised for cutting him open and said he was just doing his job. Mike told him not to worry about it and that he really enjoyed the experience and thanked him for the excellent fight.
Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
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